Coached Manuscript Evaluations: What Are They, and Why Do You Want One?
My “working together” photo, symbolizing what I love to do most—talk about books together.
I now recommend what I call coached manuscript evaluations to most authors who come to me asking for a developmental edit. I’ve developed this service as a collaborative, flexible approach designed to help you strengthen your manuscript while also giving you the opportunity for ongoing support as you revise—and to maximize results on a smaller budget.
A coached manuscript evaluation combines the in-depth feedback of a manuscript evaluation with the interactive guidance of book coaching. You’ll receive both a professional editorial assessment and the chance to talk through your ideas with me in real time, so you leave with a clear plan and the confidence to revise.
How It Works
Submission: You send me your manuscript draft a week or two before our meeting, along with any questions you’d like me to focus on.
Editorial Review: I carefully read your manuscript and draft a preliminary revision plan, focusing on three to five top issues. (Three to five is the maximum number of issues most authors can successfully revise for in one round.)
One-Hour Face-to-Face Session: We meet via Zoom to discuss my observations, brainstorm solutions, and tailor the revision plan to your goals and preferences. It’s essential to me that I get your buy-in, so if my ideas don’t resonate with you, we’ll come up with something better.
Written Feedback: After our session, I finalize your personalized notes (typically about three pages for a standard-length manuscript) and send them to you, usually within a day. Because the aim is quick turnaround and a lower initial investment, these are no-frills notes. I aim to give you everything you need to revise, but I don’t do anything fancy here! I’ll also send you additional resources if I feel they’d be helpful to you (e.g., selections from books, worksheets, and/or recommendations for further reading).
Optional Ongoing Support: If you’d like more help—whether a deep dive into structure, character arcs, or showing versus telling—you can book additional coaching sessions or submit another draft for a second coached evaluation. My intention is that you never have buyer’s remorse about choosing a coached manuscript evaluation rather than a more expensive option, such as a full developmental edit. If you feel you need more developmental support, we can always add that!
Why I Recommend This Approach
Better results, happier authors: Authors who start with this approach usually feel more supported and make stronger revisions than those who jump straight into a full developmental edit.
Multiple rounds, affordable fees: Most manuscripts need more than one round of big-picture feedback, but multiple rounds of developmental editing are beyond most authors’ budgets. Coached evaluations are designed so you can work with me in stages, making the process more affordable. There’s no obligation to keep working with me after the initial coached manuscript evaluation, either.
Support, not overwhelm: Receiving an extended editorial report accompanied by hundreds of comments (as you would with a full developmental edit) can feel daunting. A coached evaluation breaks the process into manageable steps and ensures you’re not left on your own to sweat through revisions.
Priority scheduling for returning clients: While my wait list for new clients can be long, I prioritize scheduling returning clients for follow-up coaching or evaluations within days or weeks, not months.
Typical Author Journey
Every author is different, but here’s one common trajectory for authors who choose to continue working with me beyond the initial coached manuscript evaluation:
Start with a coached manuscript evaluation.
Book one or two coaching sessions to delve deeper into key craft issues.
Revise their manuscript independently.
Return for another coached manuscript evaluation or two on the revised draft, either midway or after finishing.
Add optional book coaching support along the way if needed.
This flexibility means you always have the level of support you need, when you need it.
How It Differs from Other Services
Standard Manuscript Evaluation: Similar to a coached manuscript evaluation, except that the editorial feedback I send you is more extensive and more polished (usually twelve to fifteen pages). The turnaround time is also longer, which means I spend more time thinking about your book. (If this appeals to you, it can be supplemented with coaching and additional rounds, just like the coached version.)
Developmental Edit: Involves two full readthroughs of your manuscript, a detailed twelve-to-fifteen-page editorial report, and extensive comments throughout the manuscript itself, aimed at helping you implement my feedback. It’s a bigger upfront investment and can be overwhelming to tackle in one go. Some authors prefer this more traditional approach. I happily offer full developmental edits too!
Pricing
Coached manuscript evaluations are priced per 10,000 words, plus a base fee.
Additional coaching is priced hourly. A typical coaching session consists of two hours: one hour of face-to-face time plus one hour for me to read your work and send follow-up notes.
Please see my Services page for current rates.
For an 80,000-word book, if you go through two rounds of coached manuscript evaluation and book two sessions of additional coaching, the entire process would cost significantly less (over $800 less, at the time of writing) than a single full developmental edit for the same book.
Why I Love This Service
Frankly, part of the reason I suggest this service is that I love working this way too. Just like most authors I work with find a collaborative approach more enjoyable and successful, I do too. I love building enduring relationships, and I love getting to see the magic when a book begins to transform into its best self. And I learn from the process too: The more closely I work with my clients, the better I understand what works for them and why.
Last, because it’s so popular, I don’t have to worry about selling higher-priced services.
If you’re interested, reach out and book a discovery call here. I look forward to meeting you!
