The gift of a brutal manuscript assessment

Sending your novel out to publishers without first seeking a review is like putting the cart before the horse.  A manuscript assessment can often reveal why a book might not be accepted by a publisher.  I learned this lesson the hard way.

After 10 years of writing my novel and editing it more times than I can count, I believed I was ready to send my manuscript to publishers.  However, after several rejections, I began to question my ability and creativity and even considered giving up. Instead, I took a breath, reminded myself of the significant amount of time I had invested in pursuing my dream and decided to keep going. To understand why I was being rejected, I had my manuscript assessed.

I can’t share the report, but I can talk about how it humbled and redirected my efforts to rework and improve my book.

My biggest takeaway from this process: don't expect a sugar-coated response when you put your manuscript in for assessment.  Your assessor is being paid to provide an honest opinion and review of your novel. They are presenting insights into where you are strong and where you could improve, so expect more critical feedback than praise – unless you have written a masterpiece.

My assessor was thorough.  Before reviewing my manuscript, she sent a form requesting what I hoped to gain from the assessment.  I wanted to determine whether it was framed appropriately for the correct genre and whether the story was well-structured. 

I was excited to submit my novel and eagerly anticipated my assessor’s response.  However, after the longest seven-week wait, the only word that came to mind when I read the assessment was brutal.  Well, that's the word that went through my mind on my first read.  There was no ‘you have a great baseline for a story’ or ‘I think this has potential.’ I felt she dived straight in reviewing my manuscript as if I were a first-year university student handing in their first assignment, and in many ways, that’s precisely what it was: feedback to me, a first-time novelist, from an assessor on my first novel.

On the second read of the assessment, I found encouraging points in what my assessor wrote.  She started with the positive in my writing, which I had immediately forgotten on the first read, as I had moved on to the next section, which noted where I needed to improve. She had also included a list of chapters that read well and needed little editing.  Her feedback was constructive, and in parts, she challenged me on what I wanted to achieve with the story. 

Now, I am incredibly blessed. My assessor is distinguished in her field and has significant experience and expertise in editing and publishing.  So, as I read and continued to reread her assessment, I discovered I had been given a gift.  The report provided many nuggets of gold, guiding me with thoughts to consider which would improve the story.  What I realised, however, is that I need to be honest with myself when reviewing the manuscript and carefully consider the relevance of each section of the story.

The outcome from the assessment was that my novel was far from ready for publication.  There are many aspects I need to evaluate, and I must be bold in significantly editing parts of my story. 

I should note that my assessor never said, ‘Give up.’  Reading between the lines, I read her saying, ‘Fix it.’ 

My recommendation to anyone beginning or on the journey toward publication is to have your manuscript assessed and use a Writers’ Association to help connect you with the right person.

Most importantly, if your assessor's report isn’t as positive as you hoped, grab a drink (of any kind), sit down, and take the time to reread it.  Then read it and keep doing so.  As you review and edit your story, have that assessment next to you to reference continually. Unless your assessor writes ‘step away from the laptop’, take the feedback as great advice and use the guidance to sit back down and write again.

As I continue my writing journey, I keep in mind that this is my story, and I must stay true to it.  However, I must also weave my assessor's feedback into it to make improvements.

Based on my assessor’s feedback, I plan to take the next six to twelve months to edit my book.  Once that’s done, I’ll either seek another assessment or work with a mentor to further refine the story. This could add another two years of work before I can even consider submitting my manuscript to publishers. But with all this effort, I’m hopeful that one day, it will bring me closer to my dream of being published.