Manuscript Evaluations Explained
This is the first installment of explainers aimed at de-mystifying the editing process for writers. If you’ve ever found yourself on an editor’s website wondering what kind of service your manuscript needs, or you’re unsure where to start, this series will help you book the right services for your story.
What is a manuscript evaluation?
A manuscript evaluation is usually the first step in the editing process. It’s particularly helpful for writers booking an editor for the first time or with a smaller budget. An editor will read through your manuscript and give you big-picture feedback. I categorize my feedback in six areas:
Plot Structure
Character Arcs
Setting/Worldbuilding Elements
Point of View and Point of Telling
Time as a structural device
Genre and Marketability
What to Expect
A good editor will highlight strengths and weaknesses in your story. They may provide you with helpful books or other resources as you revise. They may choose to comment on a handful of specific instances in your story to focus on in your revision, like a character’s arc, a particularly weak plot point, or whether your use of point of view feels effective.
Most of my manuscript evaluations fall between six and ten pages. I may write a lot about one area of the manuscript and not have much to say about another—it depends on your story and what you’re ready for. I try to tailor feedback to what would be most useful for the writer at that moment. If there’s a lot of work to do on plot structure or worldbuilding and setting, I may not have much to say about genre and marketability. That doesn’t mean a specific story won’t appeal to audiences or won’t sell books—if I don’t think the genre and audience are nailed down enough, there’s not much point in discussing some elements at length when you may make huge changes to your manuscript. In general, helpful, high-quality editing services should aim to give pertinent feedback that maximizes the author’s effort during revision, and that’s what the editing process was created to do.
If you found this article helpful or have further questions, I’d love to know! You can reach out to me through my website or email me at abby@apediting.com.
