Manuscript Mentoring

My manuscript mentoring service is for those of you who are eager to work with an editor over a longer period of time to really hone your writing craft and fix the problems with the foundation of your story.

Manuscript mentoring is there to provide you with a higher degree of support and guidance as you work on improving your story overall, and the idea is that we work together over a period of several months or more to really iron out the kinks in your story and make consistent improvements to your writing with each draft.

With manuscript mentoring, you’ll receive honest, but sensitive, feedback on what is and isn’t working in your manuscript so far, as well as a champion of your writing. I will be there to help you, on your side always, as well as be a sounding board for any ideas you may have, or to answer any questions, no matter how small!

What this service includes:

Manuscript mentoring initially involves a full manuscript assessment of your novel, which will provide you with extensive comments on the strengths and weaknesses of the larger elements of your story, such as point of view, plot, character, setting, style, dialogue, structure and pacing.

Following this initial manuscript assessment, we will have a follow-up call to discuss the feedback and go through any questions you may have.

This is where the mentoring service splits from the manuscript assessment service. As a mentee, you will receive any subsequent feedback on your story (whether this is an excerpt or the full draft) at a discounted rate of £5.00 per 1000 words, as well as a follow-up call following any round of feedback that is over 30,000 words. You can still submit excerpts of fewer words for written feedback, but this feedback won’t come with a follow-up call included.

As a mentee, you will also receive priority in my diary, and a guarantee that you won’t have to book in for feedback any more than two months in advance. You will also receive a 20% discount on my copyediting service on any length of excerpt, should you decide to get copyediting done at a later date.

The process

With this service you will receive a full manuscript assessment of your manuscript/story, whereby I will comment in the document as I go along, providing you with real-time thoughts on the big-picture elements at various points in the story.

After this read through, I will collate all of my feedback into an editorial report in which I will go in-depth into the areas mentioned above, with the benefit of knowing exactly how the story has panned out. This report will be 3+ pages in length.

This service also includes a one-hour video call following the feedback to discuss any questions you may have and to discuss possible next steps.

Following this, it’s entirely up to you! You will be able to receive feedback on any subsequent draft or excerpt of the story at a discounted rate of £5.00 per 1000 words, and will be guaranteed a slot in my diary within two months of booking.

Pricing

£9.00 per 1000 words for the initial manuscript assessment and follow-up call, and then all subsequent assessments of your story (whether this be your full-length manuscript or excerpts from the manuscript) will be £5.00 per 1000 words.

Specialisms

I only provide mentoring within the following genres:

  • Fantasy (MG and Adult)

  • Science Fiction (Adult)

  • Contemporary Fiction (Adult)

  • Contemporary Romance/Women's Fiction (Adult)

  • Mystery/Thriller (Adult)

  • Historical Fiction (Adult)

“Hire her, dummy!!!”

“Hire her, dummy!!! There’s no way to put it other than: Candida is an engaged, kind, timely, honest editor who loves literature! Amazing!”

— Kristian Flores, Author of The Goodbye Song