Manuscript Express

A service for authors, literary agents and editors

Update: Due to the economy I’m leaving the costs of Manuscript Express exactly as they were years ago at the beginning. This means I end up doing more manuscripts, so if you aren’t sure which plan to choose, I’d love it if you’d select Plan A. (Remember the scene in “Auntie Mame” where Mame Dennis is working at Macy’s and doesn’t know how to charge anything other than C.O.D.? To paraphrase Mame, “How I love Plan A!”)

Manuscript Express is a fast-turnaround service for authors and agents. It’s a niche program that’s less expensive than traditional manuscript consultation and more attuned to the need for marketing plans that agents and editors have requested in recent years.

The aim of Manuscript Express is to help authors answer most of the following:

  1. Am I writing to my highest standard?
  2. What are my strengths and weaknesses as a writer?
  3. Do I deliver on the promises I make in the early pages?
  4. Does the writing style work, and how can I improve it?
  5. Is this book any good?
  6. Is there an audience for this book?
  7. If so, is it limited to my family or colleagues?
  8. Is it a definable, reachable audience?
  9. Can the present manuscript be “fixed” to broaden its appeal?
  10. If asked to make changes, what compromises could I make in this manuscript and maintain its literary integrity?
  11. How can I characterize the manuscript in the best light for an agent or editor? What would a good book proposal say?
  12. Is this book newsworthy or remarkable in any promotable way? Is
    there a chance for special sales? How can I use my research as an author
    to contribute to the overall marketing plan?

I don’t try to answer all these questions, but they’re rolling around in my mind as I read the manuscript, and I try to gear the answers so that once you’re ready to show the ms. to a manuscript consultant or submit a book proposal to a literary agent or editor, you won’t waste a lot of time and money rewriting. Again, I include thoughts about marketing because these days agents and editors want a marketing plan.

  1. The fee for Plan A is $950 plus return postage, so I don’t have a lot of time to spend. Basically I read as far as I can get before my mind is exploding with ideas, and I feel compelled to sit down and write you a long letter. I also make detailed notes and suggestions in the early pages of text (sometimes 20, sometimes 50, sometimes 100 pages, depending). If you prefer, I can make an audiocassette and talk to you through my notes page by page (as far as I got), pointing out a lot more in detail how I think you might improve your writing style.The letter is usually about 10 single-spaced pages, so it’s quite thorough. The audiocassette report is more lengthy because I feel more in conversation with you and can approach various issues from different angles, though it’s (pardon the expression) sloppier as I can’t edit it and tend to talk all over the place. Thus for the author it’s not as easy to absorb.
  2. I charge an additional $950 for Plan B, which ensures a reading of the entire manuscript and a lengthier and more in-depth report. The total for A&B therefore is $1900. Sometimes a good way to approach this (and keep costs under control) is to begin with Plan A and see what happens. If, after you receive that report, you want me to continue, we can discuss the benefits of Plan B, and if we decide to go ahead, you can send a second check at that time.
  3. Another $950 is added with Plan C, which involves work on your query letter to agents, that dreadful thing called an “elevator pitch” (i.e., if you find yourself in an elevator with the agent or editor of your dreams, you have to characterize the essence of your manuscript between the first floor and whenever the person decides to leave the elevator) and book proposal for publishers. Marketing strategy, press releases, Internet publicity, media training, ideas for interviews and bookstore appearances are discussed in Plan C, again depending on your needs. If you wish to pursue C, I’ll ask that you send me everything you have been working on from submission to marketing. If you don’t have any of this I can also advise you how to create what they call “a selling package.”
  4. Plan D offers a “double whammy” in which an independent marketing professional sits down with me to brainstorm possibilities for the book that are, we hope, so original and workable you’ll knock the agent/editor/marketing director’s socks off. This costs an additional $950. The marketing pro’s name is Peter Handel (who by the way used to review mysteries for me when I was at the SF Chronicle and then wrote a mystery column for Pages Magazine).

Since Peter began his service as a book marketing/publicity consultant, I’ve been astounded at his ability to structure tailor-made campaigns for serious literary books, special-interest books, university press books and commercial mainstream books by creating the perfect media/bookstore/special market balance.

It’s fine, too, if you’re at the stage where you’d rather bypass me and go to him directly. Write Peter at at plhandel@earthlink.net or go to http://www.plhandel.com/.

For more information on the background of Manuscript Express, see three columns from Holt Uncensored: 343 | 344 | 345.

If you would like to go ahead with Manuscript Express, just let me know when I might expect to receive the manuscript so I can slot you in. Then send the check, return postage, SASE and manuscript (double-spaced) to me at my mailing address (a PMB private mail box service):

Pat Holt
Holt Uncensored
582 30th Street
San Francisco CA 94131