How I approached my manuscript appraisal for Dynasty Codes Book One

I finally get to share with you the news that I've finished reviewing my manuscript post manuscript appraisal, and it's now gone back to the team to see what they think. Over the last three months, I've been enhancing my manuscript based on the recommendations the editor gave me. Now that I've finished, I wanted to share with you how I approached my manuscript appraisal in the hopes it might show you a little bit more about what goes on when writing a book and the journey that's involved in bringing a book to life.

When you get a manuscript appraisal, sit back, relax, and just casually read through it all first.

What to do when you receive your manuscript appraisal (well, what I did)

Get a tea, sit back, relax, read the whole thing

The first thing I did when I got my manuscript appraisal back was make one of my favourite hot drinks, get comfy somewhere, and just sit and read the whole report. At this stage, I wasn't worrying about processing anything, making notes, or figuring out what I was going to action. It was just getting an idea of everything the editing team thought and an overall view of the whole thing. No worrying about all the work that was involved, no worrying about anything, in fact. It was really refreshing to get an idea of what a professional thought of my manuscript.

Analyse and group the feedback

I treat writing my books a little like business projects: planning, actioning, reviewing, updating, repeat. So, once I'd read the whole appraisal, I then went back to analyse and group the feedback I'd been given so I could identify the points to enhance it.

Turn the feedback into actionable lists

Once I'd analysed and grouped the feedback from my manuscript appraisal, I then wrote myself two types of actionable lists directly into the document I wrote my manuscript in. One was a list of everything that needed to be worked on throughout the manuscript, e.g. checking I had character descriptions in a logical place when we first met them, continued character descriptions throughout the book, revealing character thoughts on settings or economic details on the settings, ensuring character accents were strong throughout. Then, at the start of every chapter, I wrote little lists of things that were relevant for that particular chapter, e.g. revisit age of character here, why did this person do this thing here, and mention this bit earlier on too to add hints to this plot point.

Having these actionable lists (one to visit in the whole doc and one for me to review in each chapter) made it obvious the things I had to achieve before sending the manuscript back to the team.

Lists, lists, lists. So much to action. You'd not believe how many post-it notes I have ALL over my desk.

Time to action those lists! The adding stage.

Now that I had planned my approach to the appraisal and had my lists, I would read the overall points to make sure I had a clear understanding of what to add to the whole book, and then I worked chapter by chapter on the little lists I'd identified for that chapter. As I finished an item from that list, I deleted it. Thus I continued until the whole list was deleted from that chapter, and then I moved on. Now and then I'd leave one open if I wanted to revisit it and check it later at a time I'd do a run-through of the whole manuscript, but generally I was pretty good at finalising all the points before moving on.

It was a long process, but I did find it fun to run through the manuscript again chapter by chapter, sometimes taking it apart a lot, other times having to carefully decide where to insert details and rewording sections, other times just checking a few little details. I must admit it was really enjoyable to see chapters that had little to no direct points to action, so I was able to review it with just the 'overall' points I'd gathered for the whole manuscript.

I must admit, this part took a very long time! With only an hour or so each day to action it before work, sometimes being able to give myself time after work too, the days passed quickly, as did the weeks and months.

I loved how my friends sent me nerdy sword gifs when I was in the word cutting stage!

The read-through, tightening up, word count reduction, cutting, finalising

Once the weeks had flown by and I was sure I'd actioned all the points I'd identified and analysed from the editorial team from their appraisal, both from the list of overall points and ones specific to each chapter, I was finally ready to work through and tighten it up.

I work very much on the 'add absolutely everything and more and THEN go back through it and tighten it up and remove content'. That way, I can be sure that, hopefully, everything left is absolutely necessary and I'm not fighting to add content. I love overwriting and then cutting, and it was a LOT of cutting. I'd gone over my planned word count by tens of thousands, again, just like before the appraisal process, so I knew it would involve a lot of tweaking and fiddling.

Step one of the cutting stage was, of course, planning and analysing. I looked at the main plot points and which chapters were included in each plot point and figured out that each section had to be roughly the same word count to make it flow well. Then, I figured out how many words I had to cut from each section to make them similar in word count. THEN, I figured out how many words on average I had to cut from each chapter in that section. It was scary but less overwhelming than one huge, solid number. With it down to merely hundreds (or over a thousand in some cases) of words per chapter, I was ready to go.

Then, once again, I went through chapter by chapter, reading it and deciding any huge chunks that could go, being strict on 'does this go towards the overall story or plot?' It was hard, but it helped me cut huge chunks at times, like scenes or paragraphs. Then, I could look at a finer level, cutting sentences, cutting words, shifting sentences around to say the same thing but in a more refined, smooth way. I looked for repetition not just in words but in essence in sentences or paragraphs. Some times I reached my word cutting goal, others I sorely missed it, but I was positive that each decision I made was for the greater good of the overall book: anything I kept was for the benefit of the book, anything that wasn't kept didn't need to be there, and other things I refined were better for it.

Am I? Who knows! I can't wait to find out what's next. Stay tuned to find out more.

My thoughts on my manuscript appraisal process

It was a long time. Of course, I'd gone into it thinking I could be done in just a couple of months, but it took closer to three. But, of course, the time it takes doesn't matter, it's how I feel about the result. I really enjoyed working on the appraisal; the team gave me great feedback, it gave me the chance to add details and life and culture where I'd originally been hesitant, and I got to refine the text I did have and add some really cool scenes and develop some of the relationships that I thought may have been too much, but actually that the team said it would be good to see. So, overall, it was hard work that was fun and paid off, though I will admit I'm glad to have a bit of a brain break from it now! I'll be ready to look at it again with fresh eyes whatever happens next.

Word counts:

I thought I'd share some of the word counts I've been working to so far to show you what's been happening. I'll keep you posted on these as the publishing process continues.

• After first rough draft: 120,000 words

• After rewriting, revisions, adding details: a whopping 175,000 words

• After major cutting and self-editing: 135,000 words

• Into appraisal: 135,000 words

• After adding more details, revisions, adding a few extra scenes: 165,000 words

• After more major cutting and self-editing: 149,000 words

• Back into the manuscript appraisal team: 149,000 words

Now, I'm hoping to continue working on refining it and working with the editing team to see if we can get it closer to 140,000 words.

Either way, it's really fun to see the growth of book 1 of my adult fantasy Dynasty Codes series. To see how it's evolved from the first rough draft through all my self-editing stages to actually go into the team to review was a big step. But now, with their help to guide me even further and offer even further feedback, I already love how it's growing. Nothing's better for an author than having a strong editing team behind you.

Thanks, team <3

Let's see how it goes and what comes next!

#authorlife #manuscriptappraisal #writingabook #selfediting

What it's like to receive a manuscript appraisal back from the editorial team

I'll admit from the start that I'm fortunate enough to know my editorial team personally. I work with them and see them daily and how they engage with edits and manuscripts, so I have the benefit of knowing how awesome they are and how professional they are when they deal with people's ideas and legacies. I think that will really impact how I feel going into a manuscript appraisal or an edit, as opposed to someone who doesn't know their editing team personally, or even anything about an editing process. So, when I talk about what it's like to receive a manuscript appraisal back from the editorial team, I'll try to bear that in mind!

My publishing journey so far

I have a couple of books on the go at the moment, all in different stages of the publishing process. Some are even still in planning and writing, while two are actually on their way to getting published.

It's an awesome journey, and as I have the benefit of knowing both sides of the journey, being on the publishing team and the author side, I thought it would be cool to write about it so others got to see what the journey to publishing a book is like.

At the moment, in the publishing process, I have a children's picture book in illustration and a new adult fantasy book in manuscript appraisal.

I've received that manuscript back from manuscript appraisal and have started working on the feedback, so thought I'd describe what it's like to receive your manuscript from a manuscript appraisal.

Get your notepad ready to take notes on your manuscript appraisal!

How you feel when you receive your manuscript appraisal

Waiting for a manuscript appraisal can be tough. It's weeks of anticipation, no matter how much you try to occupy yourself with other things! Even moving back to writing book two in the same series or discussing illustration details for my other book didn't distract me from wondering how the book was going. Even knowing my editor didn't help! I kept worrying about her not liking the story or wondering if I'd left some dodgy grammar or spelling in there (which, me being one of the proofreaders of the publishing company, I thought they'd give me some friendly teasing over if I had), or whether they thought it was an awful book that should never see light of day again.

Of course, I'd worked super hard in planning, writing, re-planning, re-writing, re-writing, editing, editing, editing, checking ... the process goes on ... that I knew it wouldn't be like that, but still, I still worry!

(When you work super hard on something for years, of course you worry. Especially when you care and you want it to be one of your life careers.)

But, I was also stupidly excited. After so long looking at my book and all those versions, I couldn't wait to hear a third party's thoughts, particularly a professional's, on how I could further enhance my book to make it even better for myself and my readers.

So, the day it came back, I was over the moon. Nervous and over the moon. I couldn't wait to see what the feedback was and what I could work on next.

And this, I think, is the key thing to remember: you got a manuscript appraisal for a reason—to learn how to make your book better. So, when you see that feedback on there how to make it better, remember that's what you got it for. Not to be told the book is perfect and needs nothing done to it (unrealistic, every book can always have something done to improve it, but also pointless. Do you really want to pay money to a professional to be told there's nothing to do?).

It was awesome. So much great feedback on the benefits of the book and how to make it even better: just what you need and expect from a manuscript appraisal.

What kind of things does a manuscript appraisal look at?

This might vary from company to company, depending on the publishing house, but you can bet that most manuscript appraisals look at similar things. These are the sorts of things you can expect to find on a fantasy or fiction manuscript appraisal:

• Concept

• Story summary

• Structure (of the overall book down to the sentencing)

• How well it's executed

• Conflict

• Writing skill

• POV

• Perspective

• Language

• Characters (major, minor, traits, descriptions ... the whole shebang)

• Settings

• Plot development (and which story structure did you use or is recommended)

• Style

• Marketability

• Overall conclusion and next steps

• Action points on how to improve each of the above and more

• Plot holes, missed areas, extra questions, etc.

It's a lot, so you can see how super helpful this will be in helping you figure out where you are with your book and how you can work to improve it before going into editing.

For example, think you can work on your plot structure? This will show you what you have and how to improve it! Want to know more about the marketability of your book? Read no more than your own, personalised manuscript marketing review!

Want to know how to improve your manuscript and more effectively self edit?

How is a manuscript appraisal helpful with writing a book?

This is where a manuscript appraisal is great: it shows you what you can enhance yourself before you go into edit, where you're paying for an editor's time. Ideally, you want to do as much as you can on your manuscript yourself so that your manuscript is in the absolute best condition it can be before heading to an editor. Then, you're using the editor to make it even better; to push your writing abilities and book beyond your current capabilities into the next level, using their pro knowledge to push yours.

This is where knowing all of these things in the manuscript appraisal and how you can approach them yourself is great.

When you're writing a book, particularly if you do it properly and have several rounds each of planning, writing, rewriting, self-editing, and reading, you know your story too closely and start missing those missing areas, developmental issues in characters, and structural inconsistencies. Having someone else look at it and identify those areas is the best thing since white rice. (I'm allergic to bread and live off Japanese cooking, so instead of 'the best thing since sliced bread', it makes sense to me to say 'since white rice'!)

What did I do when I got my manuscript appraisal? AKA: how to review your manuscript appraisal.

The first thing I did when my appraisal pinged into my inbox from the work team was print it. So old fashioned, but I wanted to sit away from the computer and just sit back with a jasmine tea, relax, and read through it all to process it.

So I did.

I made my hot, calming cup of jasmine tea (refer to Uncle Iroh image below for jasmine tea appreciation), found a comfy place on the floor to lie down with a cushion, and just casually read the whole report—not in full detail, but a quick read through to get the overall feeling of it.

Shout-out to Avatar the Last Airbender's Uncle Iroh

Then, I walked away, happily texted those I loved in my life who'd kept asking me to let them know when I got it, and sent a text to the editor to say thanks (likely with a gif, knowing us).

I let it all tick over in the back of my head while I went to do other things, which I remember clearly was a doctors appointment for my annual flu jab and dinner with a friend. Busy night.

The next time I sat down with my appraisal, I was at my desk and opened the manuscript. This time, I went through it bit by bit, making notes of the action points and what I had to do or what I wanted to do. Ever the perfectionist, I wanted to make a note of everything I could possibly do--even if the editor said it was already good, I thought I could always do more if I knew it was something that had been identified as a strength.

I'll talk more about how I approached the manuscript appraisal and acted on it and the journey from there to complete it. For now, I'll just note that it was great to review each of the points, looking at the strengths of my style or my concept or my plot, and ways I could further enhance it or the plot points I'd missed or the time one of my main character's accents slipped in one of the chapters. These small things make the whole essence of the book, and it's great to see them fully reviewed.

Thinking about getting a manuscript appraisal for your book?

Again, because I work in the publishing industry, I feel like of course I would say 'yes' to this, and I really would. Both on a professional level and a personal, author level.

As someone who works in the industry, I'd say that a manuscript appraisal really offers great ways to learn more about your own book, your writing skills, and how you can further enhance your book and your legacy and your future as an author.

As an author, I'd really encourage other authors to get a manuscript appraisal to help them after their self-editing stage and before their editing stage as it offers a full, well-rounded insight into their book that other parts of the process don't. It helped me see how I could grow as an author and the parts I needed to work on, and since working on them, actioning these areas has been a great move for my book.

Now you have your manuscript appraisal, you can type away again to get your manuscript ready for edit.

To sum it all up: what it's like to receive a manuscript appraisal back from the editorial team ...

And now I go back to the way I opened this post—how it might be different for me working with my editing team.

I think it's hard for some writers to give their book to editors, in more than the usual 'nerves'. We hear so many stories about scams, or paying lots of money to an editor who does a bad job or doesn't do much that it can be hard to trust editors if we don't know them. I think this is where it's easier knowing the editorial team. I had no doubt whatsoever sending either of my books in to them for appraisal or editing, and would happily send all of my books from here on to infinity to them. I work with them daily, I know what they're like, how seriously they take their work, their skills, and their great advice, so I trust them completely with my books, which are arguably some of the most important things in my whole life. I've wanted to be an author ever since I was a tiny child, so it's really important to me to know I have the best editing team behind me.

I think this is why I have a different viewpoint here. I never need to worry about them not understanding my book or not doing a good job. I just worry about whether they enjoy it or not, as my key goal in writing is for people to enjoy my book.

And, to that end, I hope that anyone else who decides from here to go and get a manuscript appraisal can see the huge benefits of getting one, what it's like, what they look at, and just how important an awesome editorial team is, and how much it impacts even the early stages of a book's editing journey.

Next I'll write about my process to approaching my manuscript appraisal!

#ManuscriptAppraisal #PublishingABook #BookEditing #AuthorLife