How it works

1. 01

   Tell me what the book is

   A short form: genre, who you are writing for, what you are going for, and what is bothering you about it. Most writers have this written down somewhere already — paste it in, rough and fast is fine, it gets sorted at this end. Some say putting the book into words was as useful as the letter that came back.

2. 02

   Send the pages

   A chapter, three chapters, or the whole thing. Finished or half-finished. Find the rhythm that suits you: up to 25,000 words is $25, and a whole manuscript, up to 250,000 words, is $100. If what helps is being read often while you draft, that suits me fine.

3. 03

   It gets read twice

   Once straight through, marking where the attention moves and where it goes, which is the pass most feedback skips and the one that finds the real problem. Then again against the craft library.

4. 04

   You get a letter

   Written to a writer rather than filed about a manuscript. What is working and why, what is not and why, and what to do first. A printable summary of your book comes with it. Your file is exactly as you sent it: the letter points at the pages, and the rewriting is yours to do, in your manuscript, wherever you write.

5. 05

   You tell me what helped

   After each read you mark what was useful and what you have no need of. The next letter is shaped by it. This is the part that compounds, and the reason a fourth read is worth more than a first.