Manuscript Professional Critique Service

DON’T SUBMIT THAT MANUSCRIPT…Without a professional review from the professionals at Writer’s Digest!

Before you send out that manuscript to an editor or agent, make sure it’s got a fighting chance. Send your work to 2nd Draft and get specific, tailored advice you need to get an extra edge on the competition—and make your work more marketable.

After a thorough evaluation of your submission, one of the professional critiquers from 2nd Draft will give you detailed feedback and recommendations. You’ll not only learn what’s working in your writing, but what’s not, and—most important—how to fix it.

Price & Length Requirement

Price: $3.00/page
Length: Minimum of 50 pages formatted to the specifications below

 

 

What Can You Expect From a 2nd Draft Review?

 2nd Draft is a high-level review of your work, pointing out reasons your work may be getting rejected, or may not meet the standards of traditional publication. It offers:

  • An overall evaluation of the manuscript’s strengths and weaknesses
  • For works of fiction, specific comments on elements such as plot, characterization, dialogue, and setting.
  • For works of nonfiction, specific comments on focus, development, organization, clarity, visual elements (if applicable)
  • Specific comments on appropriateness to proposed target market
  • A red flag on consistent issues of grammar, mechanics, spelling or style
  • A clear idea of how to revise

SAMPLE MANUSCRIPT CRITIQUE  |  MANUSCRIPT TESTIMONIALS

What Can You NOT Expect?

2nd Draft reviewers will not:

  • Rewrite or revise for you, except in the case of providing an example of how to revise on your own.
  • Correct grammar, mechanics, and spelling. This requires a professional copyeditor or proofreader. However, a reviewer will point out any patterns of surface-level error that may pose a significant problem for you.
  • Check and correct for style (e.g., Chicago Manual of Style or AP style). This requires a professional copyeditor or proofreader.
  • Provide any fact-checking.
  • Provide answers or advice on legal issues.

Process and Requirements

  1. First, you must complete the 2nd Draft information and payment process at WritersDigestShop.com. You will have to indicate what genre or category your work is and also specify how many pages you want reviewed.
  2. You will receive an automatic confirmation of your order with instructions on how to submit your manuscript to us via e-mail. (Sorry, but we cannot accept hard copies.)
  3. Our staff will be in touch within 3 days about the assignment of your project to a professional critique editor.
  4. After a professional critique editor is assigned, they will e-mail you to introduce themselves, and estimate a timeframe for turnaround.
  5. The critique editor will e-mail you an editorial review of your manuscript in an attachment. If you submitted your manuscript as a Word or RTF document, they will also return this with any related mark-up or in-text comments.

FORMATTING REQUIREMENTS
All documents must be submitted electronically in ONE of the following formats:

  1. Word document (.doc or .docx)
  2. Rich Text File (.rtf)

All documents must adhere to the professional manuscript formatting standards, which are:

  1. 8.5 x 11 page size
  2. Double-spacing throughout
  3. 1-inch margins on top and bottom
  4. 1.25-inch margins on left and right sides
  5. Arial, Courier, or Times font
  6. 12-point font size

If your manuscript does not meet these formatting requirements, we will either return the document to you for correction, or we will apply these settings ourselves when possible, and only critique the number of pages you have paid for.