I'm doing manuscript critiques again

If you are interested, contact me at mette@argonautfilms.com and we can talk specifics. Basically, I charge $1 per 250 words and I prefer to read YA MG and adult genre fiction (sf/f). I usually ask for you to send me a one sentence description of the book before I go forward with it, and I critique the manuscript, query letter, and synopsis all at the same time. I send comments in text in Word and then also write an extensive revision letter like you might receive from an editor.



I have had some people complain that my critiques are harsh. I do try to make sure that I tell you what I think you have going right in addition to things that need to be fixed. Also, for those who are new to the YA field, there may be terminology I use that you don't expect, like the fact that YA is considered "children's." I do know the field well and while I can't guarantee publication, I do think I can give you a good idea of what to work on to move it to the next step and how people are responding to it if you've sent it out. I can also give you some insights into the commercial aspects of the publishing world.



I do need to charge money for this service in order to justify the time away from my own writing, but I honestly do it because I want to help other writers. I remember being in that situation where you feel like you are almost there and you think that if someone would just tell you what was going on while they read the manuscript, it would help you enormously to go from rejection to at least a revision request.