Frequently Asked Questions
Should I choose manuscript review or mentoring?
If you have a full or partial manuscript that you just want feedback on, without any other support or developmental work, or without 1:1 discussion, manuscript assessment is best for you. If you want a more flexible approach based on a supportive working relationship, in which you can have regular face-to-face Zoom meetings and flexible email contact to develop your skills, brainstorm ideas and receive general guidance and encouragement, mentoring is best for you. You can still have your entire novel read, provided you have purchased sufficient hours (we calculate 8000 words per hour of reading but this can vary).
Can I start with manuscript assessment and then buy mentoring or vice versa? Yes, of course. We’ll even credit you £50 if you buy more than ten hours' mentoring or a full-manuscript review.
Do you offer agency recommendations?
We do not. We believe that critiquing and mentoring with this expectation hampers you in writing the best book you can, which is our priority. Why?
It is unlikely that any agent will take you on from a recommendation via a critiquing/mentoring site. It does happen, but it is rare. Working this way distorts your work towards the taste of one person, who statistically is unlikely to take you on, anyway, and may not even be the best agent for you. We believe that your best chance at publication is to get your book as good as it can possibly be, and then “go out wide” to agents in your market.
If agent introduction is important to you, we are not the right service for you. Look at a business which offers this in an organised way, for example, agent meet-and-greets at scheduled conferences.
Will you proofread my work?
We do not offer proofreading or copy-editing.
No part of your fee includes these services.
Can you provide a close line-editing of a whole manuscript?
Yes, please email us for more information. This will be approximately 50 per cent more expensive than a manuscript review. You will receive back a regular manuscript review report plus a line-edited, marked-up copy of your manuscript, with comments and suggestions at a sentence level.
Can I buy a service as a gift?
Yes, of course! Please make this clear with the name and email address of the recipient when booking.
How do I redeem a voucher from a book purchase when buying a service?
Please quote the voucher/code number or offer details when contacting us.
How are payments taken?
We take payments via Paypal. We will send you a link to pay. Please note that we will not start work until invoices are paid in full. We do not offer staggered payments.
If you have any other questions, do not hesitate to email us in the form above.
Additional Terms
Please note that we will work to provide you with good, clear advice, robust assessment of your work, and to respect and support you as best we can, on your journey of becoming and being a writer. However, we cannot and do not guarantee that you work will be published. No service can guarantee that. Any use of the word 'publishable' does not imply that we can guarantee publication.
You will have one year to use your purchased mentoring hours from purchase date. We may extend this by individual agreement. Purchases are not otherwise normally refundable.
In the very unlikely circumstances that How To Write wishes to end the working relationship, we will usually seek to refund any unspent hours of mentoring. However, we reserve the right not to do so in exceptional circumstances and to determine what hours have been used. (We will keep a record of this and can supply it on request.)
We are very positive about equality and diversity. We will not usually reject work for any reason of (legal) content but we reserve the right not to work on material that might be deemed unusually offensive (usually meant to be, in our view, racist/antisemitic, homophobic, misogynist, transphobic, etc). We will reject work that contains illegal content (by UK/US national legal standards). If we do so, we will refund you.