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Submission critique

About us

Our Submission Critique can help you get your submission package into the best possible shape
  • Are you ready to submit your synopsis and sample chapters to agents or publishers, but worried about whether you are presenting your work in the best possible way? It's dispiriting to receive rejections just because your submission package is not up to scratch.
  • How you can give your work its best chance when you submit it to agents or publishers? You'll get just a few moments to convince the reader to take a closer look, so your submission material needs to work hard and to give the best possible presentation of your work.

This service will give you a professional view of your submission material and clear suggestions for any improvements.

  • The Submission Critique Service will look at your submission package – the synopsis of your novel or the outline of a non-fiction work, your sample chapters and your submission letter and any biography or other material you may be planning to include. We would generally recommend that the sample chapters in your submission package should not consist of more than 5,000 words.
  • The editor will be an experienced professional with many years of experience in editing and the skill to advise you on how to improve your submission material. This service requires a rounded knowledge of the publishing business, considerable expertise and familiarity with the market.
  • Send your submission material to us in one file as an email attachment in Word or RTF, and we will also comment on the layout and presentation.
  • The Submission Critique Service provides constructive criticism and specific suggestions, showing how you can rework the synopsis and sample chapters to improve them and give yourself a better chance of finding an agent or publisher.

What it costs

The fee for the Submission Critique Service is £130. This includes assessing the synopsis or outline itself, sample chapters, your submission letter, and any other material you may want to include up to a maximum of 6,000 words. In the case of this particular service the expertise required is greater than the reading time, which is why the fee is relatively high.

This fee is payable in advance.

Please send your material in one unzipped Word file, not as separate files.

Your Submission Package

Making submissions

A fictionalised account