Manuscript Critique > Sample Manuscript Evaluation Form

Following is the first page of our evaluation, which gives you an idea of what you will receive without us having to share our "secret ingredients" with our competitors. The entire blank evaluation contains three pages. When completed, the evaluation is typically five to seven pages in length.

We fill in each section of the evaluation with detailed information about your work. We evaluate the good points about your manuscript, as well as identify any specific changes that you need to make.

For instance, #1 under the "Format" heading is "typed," indicating whether your manuscript is typed properly. A novel manuscript should have 1" margins all around; be in 12 pt. font; and be in Courier, Times New Roman, Arial, or other similar standard font. If it is not in this format, we will tell you exactly what needs to be changed. If the format is correct, we would type something like "correct" in this spot.

Fiction Manuscript Evaluation

Author:
Title:

page count:
approx. word count:

Genre

Setting

time:
place:
atmosphere:

Target Audience

Format

1. Typed
2. Cover page
3. Package
4. Header
5. Pagination
6. Dialogue

Misc.

1. Author’s bio
2. Table of contents
3. Cover art
4. Photos
5. Chapters/sections
6. Headings/subheadings
7. Preface/forward
8. Epilogue/afterward

Rules of Standard Written English
scale = 1 to 5, with 5 being virtually no errors found
perfect score = 50 points
average score = 40 points

1. Spelling
2. Grammar
3. Punctuation
4. Sentence structure
5. Modifier placement
6. Subject-verb agreement
7. Mechanics
8. Transitions
9. Shifts
10. Word choice (tone, clarity, conciseness, diction, voice, parallelism)

TOTAL SCORE:

General Comments/Explanations

Elements

1. First page "grabber"
2. Hook at end of first chapter/elsewhere
3. Storyline/plot
4. Themes

Major
Minor
Message
Social commentary
Moral

© 2002 Hawkeye Editing, Inc.

END OF FIRST PAGE

To order this service, contact us at hszott@hawkeyeediting.com and give us some information about the manuscript you want us to evaluate.

Testimonial:
"Thank you for your thorough, descriptive, and concise edit/evaluation. It amazes me that it is all covered so well --so quickly. It takes me weeks to read a novel, let alone read and edit and evaluate (so much red ink!). My compliments to you. Your professionalism shows. And obviously you don't shy from hard work." -- Dave Meadows, author of the novel One Field Had Rain