Manuscript Assessment: What an Editorial Assessment Is

A manuscript assessment is a read-through of a complete draft that produces a written editorial report on what is and is not working, without any markup of the text itself.

It travels under several names: manuscript assessment, editorial assessment, manuscript critique, editorial report. The editor reads the whole book in something close to the way a reader would, then writes a report on how it works as a story.

What the report covers

Premise. Whether the central idea can carry a book, and whether it is the idea the book is actually about.
Structure. Where the story begins, where it sags, and whether the ending pays off the setup.
Character. Whether the protagonist wants something and changes, and whether the supporting cast earns its space.
Point of view and voice. Whether the choice suits the story and stays consistent.
Pacing. Where attention drops, named by chapter, not "the middle is slow".
Market position. What shelf the book sits on, what it sits beside (its comp titles), and whether the length and category line up.
Priorities. The two or three changes that would make the biggest difference, in order.

What it leaves out matters as much. There are no margin comments, no line-level notes and no corrections. An assessment will tell you the prose is overwritten; it will not show you eleven examples with rewrites.

Manuscript assessment vs developmental edit

The difference from a developmental edit is depth, not subject. An assessment diagnoses. A developmental edit diagnoses and works through the manuscript with notes in the text, showing where each problem happens and often staying with the book through revision. Length of report varies a great deal between editors, so for either one, ask to see a sample.

When to get one

You do not know which edit you need. An assessment is the smallest way to find out whether your problems are structural or at sentence level, and so whether to book a developmental edit or a line edit next.
You expect to cut a lot. Detailed notes on scenes that are about to go are wasted. Get the big picture, revise, then get detailed notes on what survives.
You have revised books before. Experienced writers often need to be told the one thing they cannot see, once, clearly.
You are about to query. The question is simply whether the book is ready, and the report answers it before you spend your agent list.

It is the wrong choice for a draft that is not finished, since an assessment of half a book tells you about half a book, and for a first novel, where the abstract notes are hard to apply until someone points to your own pages.

Final Boss Editing does not sell a standalone whole-manuscript assessment. The nearest options it lists are a short paid look at your opening pages and a full development edit.

Frequently asked questions

What is an editorial assessment?

An editorial assessment is another name for a manuscript assessment: an editor reads your whole draft and writes a report on how well it works as a story, with no notes in the text itself. It is also called a manuscript critique or an editorial report.

What is the difference between a manuscript assessment and a developmental edit?

Depth, not subject. Both look at structure, character and pacing. An assessment gives you the diagnosis as a report; a developmental edit adds notes throughout the manuscript showing exactly where each problem happens.

When is a manuscript assessment the right choice?

When you do not yet know what kind of edit you need, when you expect to cut a lot in the next draft, or when you are an experienced reviser who only needs the big problems named. It is also a sensible check before querying.

Does a manuscript assessment fix the book?

No. It tells you what is not working and why, and the revision is yours. No kind of edit rewrites the book for you.