Send a chapter and get an editorial letter on what's working and what needs another look, with every note quoting your own pages. An AI tool drafts the analysis but never touches your text: it only tells you what to work on and why. A person reads and edits every letter before it's sent, and you make every change yourself.
Free during the test phase, no card needed. You'll create an account, upload your pages and answer eight short questions. Letters usually arrive within a few days.
What a note looks likefrom a real read
I was lit up, wired; I couldn't for the life of me sit still on the grandstand and talk the way I'd imagined it, so I wandered, now and then all but hopped, restless, between tired planks and mutinous nails.
Suggest cutting
The pacing between tired planks and mutinous nails proves it better than the adjectives claim it. Trust the image.
Effect on the reader
Told he's wired, the reader takes the pacing as an illustration instead of feeling it land. The response is collected in advance.
Try next
Read the paragraph once without «I was lit up, wired». If the pacing still carries it, cut the clause and change nothing else.
This is a rough passage from a novel in progress, with notes from a real letter. The manuscript was read in Norwegian; the excerpt is translated into English so you can follow the examples. Below it, one of the letter's nine findings in full, and a second one click away.
Chapter draft, first pass · a son calls his father · excerpt from a real readRed = change · yellow = works, keep it
Dad picked up a little faster than usual, as if he'd been sitting there waiting for the answer key to all the speculation he'd been building up — and for all I know had even been debating it with his wife, Theresa. Was it money trouble, was it things with Margareth, was she pregnant, had I quit my job, or was it something else entirely, something he didn't have the imagination to speculate about? He didn't know. But he'd clearly heard that something in my phrasing earlier that day was slightly off, and it was obvious he found the whole thing a little exciting:
— Can I ask an old sea dog for advice?
I was pleased with the opening line. It set up a nice distance and took some of the danger out of what was coming, and it confirmed that something big was under way. I was lit up, wired; I couldn't for the life of me sit still on the grandstand and talk the way I'd imagined it, so I wandered, now and then all but hopped, restless, between tired planks and mutinous nails.
— You are, after all, the most experienced man I know in the field.
I meant his three marriages and, shall we say, somewhat overlapping transitional arrangements, but I wasn't sure he'd caught it yet. He cleared his throat; I could almost hear him straighten his back, senses sharpening:
— Go on, then.
I couldn't be bothered to beat about the bush any longer:
— I'm considering leaving Margareth.
The notes link back to passages in the draft. The findings below explain the reasoning and name the writing techniques involved.
From the feedback letter
The finding behind the notes above, in full. Select a quotation to find the passage it refers to in the draft.
What to improve
Twice, the draft explains what it has already proved
«I was lit up, wired» stands directly beside its own evidence — a man who cannot sit still, wandering «between tired planks and mutinous nails». And at the other end of the line, «it was obvious he found the whole thing a little exciting» arrives two lines before he clears his throat and straightens his back — the moment that shows the same thing without a word.
Why it matters: naming the feeling first collects the reader's response in advance — told the call is exciting, she reads the moment as an illustration instead of feeling it land. Browne & King call the discipline R.U.E. — Resist the Urge to Explain — and it is the most common note on strong first drafts, because the evidence is usually already on the page and the explanation is scaffolding left standing. The move: cut both clauses, change nothing else. Normal debris of a freewriting pass; revision only has to stop explaining.
One more finding, and the letter's verdictWhat works
The reveal is held to the last line, and nothing relieves it early
The opening line does not ask the real question — it asks permission to ask one: «Can I ask an old sea dog for advice?» And every line after it raises the price without naming the goods: a compliment that is really a joke about three marriages, a cleared throat, and one whole line for the father, «Go on, then.» The business arrives in the final position: «I'm considering leaving Margareth.»
Why it works: two mechanisms are stacked. The dialogue is oblique — this is Sol Stein's indirection: direct exchanges kill a scene, talking around the point powers it, because a reader who must assemble what is unsaid presses harder than one being told. And the charged thing lands at the end, in what Strunk called the emphatic position — the place in a sentence, and by extension a scene, where weight naturally falls. Every line before the last one becomes fuse. A first draft that does both by instinct should protect this shape through every revision.
The suggested revision is to remove explanations where the action already gives us the feeling. The letter also points out which parts of the scene are worth keeping.
No. The AI never touches your text. It reads your pages and drafts notes on what to work on and why. A person reads and edits every letter before it's sent, and you make every change yourself.
Because nothing AI-written goes into your manuscript, there is no AI prose in it to flag. How an outside AI detector classifies writing can't be promised.
How is this different from pasting my chapter into a chatbot?
Every note quotes the passage it's about, explains what it does to a reader and names one thing to try next. The instructions behind it are built from notes on around thirty books on writing craft, and every letter is reviewed before it's sent. Earlier letters and your feedback go into later readings.
The sample above shows what that looks like.
Who owns my manuscript?
You do. It isn't published, shared with other customers or used as an example without your permission. You can delete a manuscript, a book or your whole account at any time. The privacy page explains storage and what deletion removes.
How long does it take, and what does it cost?
Usually a few days, because every letter is read and edited before it's sent. Reads are free during the test phase.
Send pages in any language. The letter comes back in English, with quotations kept in the original so you can find them in your draft.
Can I send a rewritten chapter back?
Yes. Send it as a new read and link it to the earlier one. The previous letter and your feedback go with it. If the earlier manuscript is still stored, the tool can compare the versions too.
A read includes one revision of the letter. Sending changed pages counts as a new read, which is free during the test phase.
Start with one chapter
Choose a chapter you'd like another perspective on. Reads are free while the site is being tested.
Upload your pages and answer eight short questions about the book and what you want help with. You can add more to the brief later, when you have time.
The letter usually arrives within a few days. After you've worked on the chapter, you can send it again for a new read.