FAQ
What isn’t part of manuscript assessment?
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Editing. I don’t correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation. I may point out the types of errors in the text that need the author’s attention.
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Proofreading. I don’t proofread the text - remove extra spaces, typos, change lowercase to uppercase - or do any typesetting-related corrections.
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Substantive editing. I don’t work on the overall structure of the novel - add or rearrange chapters, add/remove characters or create new ones, develop the author’s ideas. I work only with the text that has already been written.
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Cover design, indexing, fact checking. I don’t provide these services but can advise you where to find people who do.
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I don’t verify footnotes, quotations, and licensable content. Copyright issues are beyond the scope of my service. The author must ensure to abide by the rules of fair use as they may be held liable in court for misuse thereof.
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I don’t assess the book’s marketability and how it fits into the current trends. Trends come and go, and publishers themselves are often wrong about what what’s going to sell. I can only do my best to ensure that the book you put out there is the best quality it can be (at least in terms of content) and readers will decide the rest.
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I can’t guarantee that a manuscript that has been assessed by me will be published. I don’t pass texts on to agents or facilitate signing of publishing contracts.
What style guide do you follow?
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Manuscript assessment doesn’t involve actual editing, so I won’t need to apply an editing style. I am familiar with the different styles, though, and I will take into account the style you’ve used when making my comments on the types of errors that appear frequently. If you’re mixing up British and American punctuation in dialogue, or are confused about the use of the Chicago style versus AP when it comes to numbers, I can clarify these issues for you.
Do you assess texts outside of your area of expertise?
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I do assess books that deal with things outside of my direct area of expertise and/or my comfort zone. There are, though, subjects that I will reject, for example, anything that requires very specific knowledge, like engineering and medicine. I do have expertise in a plethora of subjects (see the About me section for details) and a keen interest in plenty more. There are hardly any subjects I haven’t done some sort of research into.
I don’t assess books that glorify all sorts of despicable, immoral and illegal behaviours, basically anything that should be condemned rather than normalised. Call me old-fashioned but the world is messed-up enough as it is. I am very much OK with sensitive content and difficult topics - novels are indeed the perfect medium to hash such stuff out - it just needs to be presented in the right way.
I won’t assess texts that are meant to harass or incite hatred toward any group of people based on race, religion, gender, etc.
How do you mark up the text?
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In Microsoft Word I use Track Changes to mark up the relevant sections and insert comments. Since it’s not a line or copy edit, I won’t alter the text itself. You can remove all changes by accepting or rejecting them in the Track Changes panel in Word’s main menu.
I can also mark up EPUBs as they’re convenient to work with on the go. I highlight the text in different colours and add comments to that.
I do accept PDFs and other text formats as long as they’re comfortable to read, but I have yet to figure out how to ensure consistency with the markup. I have had some bad luck with the PDF viewers, so at the moment I only provide a separate report with this type of file without any additional notes in the manuscript itself.
How do I contact you?
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The best way to get in touch is through the form on the Pricing page. You can use it to order a service or ask about services that aren't listed there.
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