Annwyn said:
Does anyone know if this assessment agency is legit, or any good at all?
Thanks!
A cursory view of their website,
www.manuscriptsonline.com, shows that it's an agency that charges fees to "assess" your manuscript. Rates begin at $365, and go up incrementally based on how many thousands of words the ms has. Not only that, but if you resubmit your ms later, for reconsideration, you get a reduced rate. It's not exactly an editing service, because they don't appear to edit, merely review.
They explain that for your fee, you recieve the following:
- Authors receive a succinct detailed written report on their manuscript.
- Authors are then invited to raise questions about issues raised in the report, and to seek further guidance according to their specific needs, or indeed to raise any matter concerning writing and publishing.
- The assessor then responds to the author's questions and comments as comprehensively as possible within an allotted time frame.
- Finally authors are invited to 'debrief' with the administrator of the service through a conversation in which any outstanding matters are addressed and a clear direction for the work is established.
- Authors also can elect to go through a second round of consultation with their assessor, subject to negotiation of time and fees with the service.
What they DON'T say, anywhere, is exactly what this "assessment" includes. Is it just someone going through with a spellchecker marking off typos? Do they make suggestions as to plot holes, continuity, character goofs, etc? None of this is discussed at all.
What they also DON'T say is how they are qualified to assess anythign submitted. The owner of Manuscripts Online, a gentleman named Richard Lever, does in fact list his own extensive credentials, but no one else is even named. If you go to the Authors and Exerpts page of their site, there are posted excerpts from works, along with the "assessor comments". Draw your own conclusions about the qualifications of the assessors.
So as to the "are they any good at all" question, that all depends on what your definition of "good" is. If by "any good" you mean will they do what they promise to do, which is take your money in exchange for reviewing your ms and providing some sort of assessement, it appears that they do that.
A bigger, and more important, question might be whether authors really need to pay for this service.