You’ve finished writing your nonfiction book, but what next? The next step is to get feedback on your manuscript. You can of course get feedback from friends and family or beta readers, but if you want objective, honest, and expert feedback, it’s best to get a critique (also known as “editorial assessment”) from a professional book editor.
A critique is where the editor assesses everything from the title to the final words of your manuscript, then provides a comprehensive editorial report (around 10-15 pages) with feedback on:
In a critique, the editor provides feedback on the manuscript so that you, as the author, are empowered to make the changes yourself. This way, you don’t necessarily need hands-on editing, though you can opt for content or copy editing afterwards if you’d like. You can find out more about our editing services here.
*Must be within one month so the editor remembers the manuscript accurately. Increases in word count from the original critique will be charged on a per-word basis.
Critiques can take anywhere from a week to a month depending on the individual book and the word count. The cost also depends on the word count. The longer the book, the higher the cost. The cost of a critique per 1,000 words is £30.
If you’d like to record the call for future reference, feel free to do so, but please don’t share it with anyone.
We take our authors’ privacy seriously, so rest assured we won’t share your documents, details, or the content of our discussions with anyone.
We delete all files after the project’s completion aside from those used for marketing purposes.
You can see our privacy policy here.
At The Book Shelf, we specialise in nonfiction books that make the world better. We empower our authors to write life-changing books for their readers. We’ve worked on over 500 books with authors around the globe—from first-timers to New York Times bestsellers to non-native speakers and everyone in between. If you want to change your readers’ lives, we want to help you achieve that.
Our specialist areas are:
"Working with Ameesha was a delight! From the very beginning when I sent in my sample manuscript, I was instantly impressed by her depth of knowledge and professionalism. She made it all seem so easy, while at the same time being very strict in her review. She was accessible to me all through the process, and was very helpful and friendly. I definitely recommend her."
"Embarking on a self-publishing journey is not for the fainthearted. But had it not been for the endless support of Ameesha and The Book Shelf Ltd, it would likely have been so much harder. I was dubious about hiring an editor initially, but a traditionally published friend of mine said that a good editor is worth their weight in gold. He was absolutely right!
From day one, Ameesha has been an incredible resource. She produced a fantastically detailed editorial assessment, providing more insight than I had expected from the original quote. She has been on hand and happy to answer my many questions, which as a first time author has proven to be invaluable. She has provided me with way more value than I could ever have expected from her fee.
I can't have been the easiest of clients to deal with either, however I have never found the least bit of frustration from her. She is highly professional, approachable and consultative. She always seems to have the best interest of the author in mind, even at the expense of her personal time. She is a wonderful editor who has gone above and beyond throughout this project.
It is this level of professionalism and diligence that makes her future success (and that of her clients) inevitable. Hopefully an editor and friend of mine for a long time to come!"
"Ameesha provided a wealth of comments, questions, and analysis, far beyond my expectations. The critique was brutally honest and helped to reveal weaknesses in the manuscript, including redundancies, unclear arguments, contradictions, and places where more research was needed—so I can fix these issues before I encounter the brutally honest criticism of readers after publication.
Ameesha also helped me align my focus toward my target audience so I developed a much more focused outline and was able to decide on a writing style more appropriate for the intended reader. She was very patient with my many questions and helped me find creative solutions to my problems.
I feel like collaborating with Ameesha provided not only a much-needed critique of my manuscript but also valuable training in nonfiction editing that I will use in the future. In that sense, I was paying not only for one project but for an education in editing from a master editor."
Sign up to our newsletter below to get writing and publishing tips and tricks.