After completing a manuscript, many writers seek professional feedback from a developmental editor on their work to gauge the effectiveness of their story, especially with regards to their plot, pacing, character arcs, and relevant genre considerations. A developmental editor is someone who has a professional grasp of story structure and preferably a comprehensive understanding of the conventions and expectations of the story’s specific genre. An editor can pinpoint where there are lapses in the story or breaks with genre conventions and how to solve them in the rewrite in preparation for either self-publishing or pitching to an agent. The Manuscript Evaluation is a written report from the editor about these findings, often referred to as an editorial letter.

A developmental editor is someone with expertise in story structure and genre literacy that can identify where there may be problems in your manuscript and clear ways to solve them. A beta reader, on the other hand, is a reader that is closer to your general audience who can give you general impressions of your story before going out into the world. A beta reader can tell you that something ‘feels off’ but a developmental editor will be able to tell you exactly why and how to fix it.

The timing of an evaluation depends heavily on the author’s ability to revise. Typically, I suggest the Eval when the author has exceeded their ability to revise the story themselves and needs to tag someone else in to look at it with fresh eyes. If you have been revising but it still doesn’t quite ‘feel right’, not sure how to solve the story based on feedback from beta readers, or if you need a professional opinion before publishing or pitching, then it may be time for a Manuscript Evaluation.

I take very seriously the author's intent, and my goal is to help you actualize your vision for the story, not what I think the story is or should be. The process typically looks like this: When I receive your manuscript I first do a blind reading for a general impression.  Before I make any suggestions, we will meet to talk about it. I’ll ask you questions to get clarity about your vision, what is most important to you as the author, and your intentions. This allows me to 'diagnose' where you achieved what you set out to do and where the story can be improved. From there, I curate the Eval for the highest impact changes you can make and how to implement them to ensure your manuscript follows with your vision. When I do a Manuscript Evaluation, it’s not a deluge of miscellaneous feedback, but an organized "hit list" of adjustments to the story that will solve the story's most important problems. Lastly, we'll meet one more time to discuss the letter and my suggestions, answer questions, and ensure that you know exactly what your next steps are.

Absolutely NOT! I didn’t spend ten years working with writers and studying stories to outsource my thinking to someone else. I’m proud of the humanness of art and editing is no exception. I will never use AI in any part of the process whatsoever. That means: no AI summaries, no conversations with AI about your work, no AI-checkers, no whatever the heck else people are using AI for. I sit down with your Word document or PDF and read your work closely. I leave comments in your work that reflect my thoughts, questions, suggestions, or any time you wrote something that made me laugh. If I need a conversation partner, I’ll walk around and talk to myself (and, of course, you on our scheduled Zoom calls! :)). All of my feedback will then be compiled into a comprehensive editorial letter that I will write myself. It will take me about a week to work through all of my own thoughts, everything you told me, and formulating it into a letter that is organized and reflects your unique goals for your story. The editorial letter is written to meet the precise needs of your story and your vision for it. That’s why I only take one manuscript evaluation at a time and allot 6-8 weeks just to read your manuscript. You’ve spent a lot of time crafting your story, and I’m proud to spend mine giving your manuscript the time and attention it deserves.

It typically takes me 6-8 weeks to do my initial read of any manuscript under 100K words. After our first meeting, it takes about one week to create the editorial letter.

The goal is that by the end you have a comprehensive document laying out the core of the story, where you are already on target, what needs to be improved, and clear solutions you can take with you into your next draft. If, after you have applied the Eval to your next draft, you would like me to do a re-read, we can happily arrange this as well!