Critique services - bit of research

A bit of writing-related market research - hope it's OK to post this here.

I'm a professional writer (14 years' experience, 7 books published) and tutor with several years' experience of teaching adult classes and individual students. Some of my fellow writers offer editing and critique services, and it's something which, up to now, I havent done. Their fees vary enormously, and I just wondered what people on here would think was reasonable.

As always, as freelancers, we risk either pricing ourselves so low that we don't appear professional, or so high that we are seen as exorbitant. The prices I've seen quoted are broadly comparable with those charged by other professionals such as translators, so I just thought I'd stick my neck above the parapet and ask: if you, as an unpublished writer, were to get your book critiqued by a professional, what would you expect to pay - for a pro critique of a) a synopsis and sample chapters (up to 20,000 words) and b) for a full MS (up to 100,000 words) ? Would you even do it? Do you think it's worth it or do you prefer to be peer-reviewed in a writing group/ workshop?

Let's say you would get for your money:

- Full critical overview, say 700-1000 words, covering elements such as plot, character, dialogue, style, pacing, structure, viewpoint etc.

- Annotations/ comments with page references.

- Analysis of potential audience and marketability.

- Constructive suggestions for amendments/editing.

Bear in mind of course that nobody, least of all a freelance writer, can give an undertaking to publish, nor to put you in touch with an agent.

Think this is one for Gypsy Hack.

Hiya.

Personally, I wouldn't consider paying for such a service, mostly by virtue of I don't have much disposable income and I think it could be better spent on other things. I read a lot, and I think I've learnt a lot from quality authors by doing that. I'm always trying to look at why novels that I enjoy work so well. I'm also extremely self-critical, and I think I'm unlikely to make the mistake of thinking something I do is completely wonderful when it's actually a steaming pile of porridge.

Having said that, I'm not going to send my novel off to agents without it being seen by other critical eyes. I have people who I trust to be honest with me about my work, and I'd request that they gave me their honest appraisal of it (both first draft and finished article) before I even considered publication. I'd also offer a tit-for-tat arrangement with similar authors, whereby we offer critiques of each other's work.

If I were willing to pay for such a service, then my key consideration would be the quality of the published author's own work. I wouldn't, for example, pay for a critique by Dan Brown or Barbara Taylor Bradford. I'd want to read a novel by the 'published writer' before I'd even consider paying for their services.

Hiya.

 

Personally, I wouldn't consider paying for such a service, mostly by virtue of I don't have much disposable income and I think it could be better spent on other things. I read a lot, and I think I've learnt a lot from quality authors by doing that. I'm always trying to look at why novels that I enjoy work so well. I'm also extremely self-critical, and I think I'm unlikely to make the mistake of thinking something I do is completely wonderful when it's actually a steaming pile of porridge.

 

Having said that, I'm not going to send my novel off to agents without it being seen by other critical eyes. I have people who I trust to be honest with me about my work, and I'd request that they gave me their honest appraisal of it (both first draft and finished article) before I even considered publication. I'd also offer a tit-for-tat arrangement with similar authors, whereby we offer critiques of each other's work.

 

If I were willing to pay for such a service, then my key consideration would be the quality of the published author's own work. I wouldn't, for example, pay for a critique by Dan Brown or Barbara Taylor Bradford. I'd want to read a novel by the 'published writer' before I'd even consider paying for their services.

That's fair enough. When I started out, I wouldn't have considered it as I didn't have the disposable cash either and I was confident enough in my own material. Also, there was a time when you could take a chance on getting such advice for free in a rejection - well, a bit, anyway! Agents and editors don't have the time or inclination to do that any more. Which one can understand - as one agent said to me, they don't want to set up the illusion of a "correspondence".

Having said that, I think some people don't have such strong self-critical faculties, and actually ARE unable to tell the difference between gold-dust and a steaming pile of porridge.

Apart from some scripts and radio work, all my published stuff has been factual and technical journalism (about 300 articles) and about a dozen technical / computing books, between 1982 and today.

If I want to sell, the only critique I've ever bothered with with was along teh lines that if it didn't sell it wasn't good enough for my target market - go away and do better.

I can see the point for fiction, though, BUT it also reminds me of a conversation I had with a traffic cop years ago when I did a defensive driving course with SYP - 'the people we see on this course are usually the ones who know their driving can be improved, and are probably reasonably careful drivers anyway. The ones we want to see are the ones who DON'T know that!'

I reckon that people who pay for a critique are probably aware of the limitations of their work - I know I am PAINFULLY aware when I've produced a crock that needs work or should be put in the circular filing cabinet. The ones who produce the real piles will never ask.