Whatever the form of writing, the intent is to communicate a particular message, e.g. a book tells a story, an article conveys information about an event, an advertisement sells a product, etc. But is your writing communicating its intent as concisely and effectively as possible?

As a writer, it's very easy to lose objectivity, particularly when you've worked a piece to death.

This is where editing can help.

Copyediting corrects spelling, grammar, punctuation, checks facts (such as dates, mathematical formulas, the legitimacy of jargon), ensures that house style has been applied, employs whatever formatting may be required, and makes sure that the text flows and - if necessary - that it won't pose any legal problems.

Structural editing looks at the ideas behind the text, and explores whether those ideas could be better developed, or presented in a way that would facilitate the writing communicating its message more effectively. This might mean fleshing out certain concepts, or reordering chunks of text so that the body stands much more cohesively.

Proofreading is the very last stage of the editing process, and corrects errors and attempts to make your copy as pristine as possible before it's printed.

Before sending your manuscript out into the world, ask yourself this question: is it the best it can be?

Publishers are literally inundated with submissions, which means competition is fierce. You have only one shot to impress, so before sending your manuscript out into the cruel, unforgiving world, consider manuscript appraisal as a means of polishing your work so that it realises its potential.

We offer two different sorts of manuscript appraisal:

We will help prepare your manuscript for submission, correcting spelling, punctuation, and grammar, as well applying the preferred format for unsolicited submissions. This is an extremely helpful service if you're the sort of writer more interested in telling your story, rather than dotting all the i's and crossing all the t's.

In addition to providing the Basic service, we will look at your story in detail, which means an examination of the voice, prose, plot, characters, grammar - the entire manuscript, and how it functions as a whole.

Ultimately, you will be provided with a report appraising the story, and which will contain suggestions (if necessary) for revisions and further development of the manuscript.