Manuscript Evaluations with Aaxel: Everything You Need to Know
With so many books being published every day, it’s crucial for your manuscript to stand out. A manuscript evaluation can give you an honest, expert review of your work with feedback you need to publish with confidence. In this post, we’re answering your frequently asked questions on Manuscript Evaluation. Read on to discover everything you need to know!
Why Should I Get a Manuscript Evaluation?
It’s easy to lose perspective after spending countless hours on your manuscript. At the Aaxel Author Group, our manuscript evaluations provide you with an objective and unbiased review of your work, including:
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- Actionable feedback that helps you improve your work by pointing out areas for revision.
- Identification of structural weaknesses, such as issues with pacing, transitions, or character development.
- Highlighting of strengths, which helps you recognize the parts of your manuscript that shine.
- Practical suggestions for improvement, ensuring you know exactly what steps to take next.
What Does a Manuscript Evaluation Assess?
When you get a manuscript evaluation with us, your feedback will include a thorough examination of several key aspects of your writing, including:
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- Organization and Clarity: Your manuscript should flow logically and be easy to follow. A manuscript evaluation ensures your content is well-structured and that your ideas are clearly presented, to create a smooth reading experience for your audience.
- Transitions: Smooth transitions between sections and chapters are essential for keeping readers engaged. An evaluation will assess how well your narrative moves from one part to the next, ensuring there are no awkward breaks or jumps in your plot or logic.
- Character Development, Dialogue, and Pacing (for fiction authors), to make sure your characters feel real, your dialogue sounds natural, and your pacing maintains reader engagement.
What will the evaluation consist of?
Manuscript evaluations include three elements: 1) your manuscript with comments throughout; 2) a separate report with more general comments for each chapter, observations about your writing style, and a list of recommendations moving forward; 3) a consultation call with the editor to go over the evaluation and for you to ask any questions.
How much does a manuscript evaluation cost?
Each manuscript comes to us at a different stage of its development, which is why we always do a customized assessment before providing a quote.
How long will it take to receive my manuscript evaluation?
The average turnaround time is between 4-6 weeks, depending on the length of the manuscript. For shorter manuscripts, turnaround time can be 3-4 weeks.
Will you also do a proofread at the same time?
Proofreading is a completely different type of edit, and should only be done once a manuscript is finalized. Moreover, for an editor to assess content while also performing a proofread would severely compromise the quality of the evaluation. For these reasons, we never bundle editing steps.
A manuscript evaluation is a critical step in refining your manuscript. With the Aaxel Author Group, we’re committed to providing you with expert feedback, so you know that your final work is as polished as possible. It’s an investment in the quality of your book that can streamline your path to success, so you can navigate the publishing process with confidence!