Consultations for writers and manuscript evaluations
In
a consultation you get to sit down with a professional from the publishing
industry to get your questions answered or to get immediate concrete help with
a writing project of yours.
Perhaps you want an experienced publishing
professional to bounce ideas off of. Or maybe you’d like a writing coach to meet with periodically. Or you
might want to discuss the direction or scope of your project.
Or
perhaps you'd like some help with a query letter. Brian has seen hundreds of them and knows how to fashion a query that will get an
agent’s or editor’s instant attention.
If so, you can arrange a consultation with Brian Henry.
Consultations
are brief – usually about one hour – and can be done in person (at a convenient
Starbucks for example) or over the telephone. The rate is $75 per hour,
pro-rated to the actual length of the consultation. To arrange a time, email brianhenry@sympatico.ca
What previous clients have to say:
Brian,
You helped me re-work my query
letter. Before that, I'd queried dozens of agents, and guess how many of them
asked to see my manuscript? None. After you helped me rewrite, I sent my new
query to six agents and all of them asked to see my full manuscript. It was
like I discovered the secret password. Thank you so much,
~ Sohan
S Koonar, Windsor, Ontario. Hello, Brian.I’m writing to thank you
for your help and advice in both tweaking the manuscript and crafting the query
letter for my novel, The Name’s George. I’ve had four
requests for the full manuscript as well as one request for a partial. I'm thrilled and
hopeful that I can write you again soon with news that I’ve secured representation.Thanks again and all the
best,
Shauna Clinning,Oakville, Ontario
Manuscript evaluations
It’s an editor’s job to help
writers. That’s what editors are
trained to do. They work with all kinds of authors in all genres on all sorts
of books. Editors don’t just know what works and what doesn’t; they know why it
works or why not and can explain how to make a manuscript better.
What’s more, editors
understand the business from the publisher’s side of the fence. They have a
broad knowledge of the whole industry and the contacts you need to get ahead.
Unfortunately, when you
submit a manuscript to a literary agent or an editor at a publishing house,
they’re seldom helpful. If your
manuscript is less than wonderful, they won’t explain what’s wrong or how to
fix it. They don’t have time. They’ll just return your manuscript with a
standard rejection letter.
When that happens, you may
decide to revise without guidance. Maybe you'll improve your story; maybe you
won’t. Without advice from someone with
the broad knowledge of an experienced editor, trying to revise is a crapshoot.
In any case, it's too late to
resubmit your manuscript. The publisher
or agent has already given it all the time it’s going to get. They’ll refuse to read it again.
Maximize your manuscript’s chances
Before you submit your manuscript, it pays to have it
critiqued by a professional editor. Each
book is the product of an author’s unique vision, and what makes it succeed –
or what needs to be changed to make it succeed – differs from one book to the
next. This is why a professional editor
looks at literally hundreds of different elements when he reads a manuscript.
In a manuscript evaluation, Brian will have a long phone conversation with you to discuss your work’s strengths and weaknesses and will explain what you
need to do to develop it to its full publishing potential. In addition to the evaluation itself, your manuscript
will be marked-up with detailed comments in the margins and on the backs of
pages so that you can see exactly where you're doing something right and where you're doing something wrong and how to fix
it. Also, if your manuscript is actually
ready, Brian will recommend you to an appropriate literary agent or book publisher.
Rates:
For very
short works: Query letters and picture book manuscripts
$75 per hour, plus hst.
Assume it will take me about an hour to read and to write in suggestions and
edits or to rewrite your query, as needed, and then {included in that time} I’ll
email you your edited work and we’ll chat on the phone about it.
For short
works, to 52 pages: $50, plus $5 per page.
For
example, three 5-page short stories costs:
3 x $50 +
15 x $5 = $225 + 13% hst = $254.25
For longer
works, over 52 pages: $210 + $2.00 per page.
For
example, a 200-page manuscript costs:
200 x $2 + $210 = $610 + 13%
hst = $689.30
Note: Rates are based on standard length manuscript pages
of 250 words. To calculate the number of standard size pages, multiply
your word count by 4 divided by 1,000; that is, every 1,000 words counts as 4 pages. For example, a 100,000-word
manuscript is 400 standard length pages; a 50,000-word manuscript is 200
standard pages.
Also, add
20 cents per page (includes hst) to partly cover the cost of printing your
manuscript and mailing it back to you.
The easiest
and cheapest way to send your manuscript is to email it as an attachment.
And the
easiest way to pay is by Interac e-transfer or go old-school
and mail your cheque separately.
To arrange
an evaluation or to reserve a place on Brian's schedule in case
he books up, email brianhenry@sympatico.ca
