If you’re wondering whether the book you’ve written is worthy of
publication, and whether it might find a good market, you might avail
yourself of this critiquing service.
Here you will get my honest opinion about your book’s potential
market, its strengths and weaknesses, and how much and what kind
of editing it needs. You will also learn if your book is likely to be
of interest to trade publishers, or whether you will need to
publish it yourself.
AFTER YOU HAVE STUDIED THE CRITIQUE, you
will be entitled to a fifteen-minute follow-up telephone consultation to get answers to any questions you may have. At that time we can
discuss the amount and type of editing your book will need, whether it's just a
little clean-up with light copy editing, or
substantive content editing that
takes longer and costs more.
NOTE: If you live in the United
States, I will telephone you, but if you live in another country, you will
have to stand the expense of this follow-up telephone conversation.
What a Written Critique Will Discuss
NONFICTION BOOKS:
the overall quality of your writing—what you
have done very well
and where there is room for improvement;
Whether your book is appropriately written for your intended audience and is
likely to
hold readers' attention;
Your book's structure, and whether chapters and sections are appropriately
titled and flow logically, with particular attention being given to how each
chapter opens and closes;
How content within each chapter has been presented, and whether it also flows
logically and has appropriate subheadings; whether you have provided sufficient
information or are assuming knowledge on the part of readers; whether any how-to
instructions in the book are clear; whether you are repeating yourself or
discussing the same topics in more than one place and need to bring those
discussions together;
Supplemental information included in the book (or needed), such as a resource chapter,
appendices, or bibliography; sidebars, special tips or quotations; graphic
elements or illustrations; checklists or worksheets.
FICTION BOOKS: If yours is a work of fiction, I'll
also comment on:
Your book's opening and ending—whether it grabs me at the
start, and leaves me satisfied or disappointed at the end; also whether your
story has good momentum and is credible;
Your timeline—whether your plot holds together as you move the story along,
and whether you always let the reader know when things are happening and
are using past and present tenses properly;
Your characters—whether they are adequately described and
developed so I can see them in my mind and care about them; also whether
your descriptions of places and things are your descriptions of places and
things;
Your dialogue, both its style and substance—whether it is appropriate
for each of your characters and moves the story along, or whether it is
mundane and boring.
