The Literary Consultancy

From Writers at Large! New Writing South's Professional Development Day.
Panel 2:  MANUSCRIPT ASSESSMENT:  with ED HOGAN
www.theliteraryconsultancy.com

The Literary Consultancy was set up in 1996 to deal with a specific gap in the market.  Publishing is “unfair” and one reason why it is, is because professionals have very little time to look at new work or to give detailed or constructive criticism.  The readers and editors that you get at the TLC have a wide and varied background in the publishing industry, from other writers, to editers, agents and creative writing teachers.

HOW DOES IT WORK?
You send in your extract or manuscript or script, as well as poetry, and you get a report from a reader back in 8 weeks.  Your report will be a statement from a reader addressing the issues for the reader, not simply your manuscript marked up by the reader.  TLC is interested in the big issues of your work and how it can be done better.

The benefit of having a reading is getting a readership.  You also get honest guidance.  Let your friends be enthusiastic and positive, but a professional stranger can tell you how it really is.  They always have positive things to say, but they will be honest in telling you where it stands in line with the industry and if it is ready to publish.

Send your book when you have done as much work to it as you can and you know it’s not ready, but you don’t know what more to do without some guidance.

HOW DOES IT COMPARE TO A CREATIVE WRITING COURSE?

Courses are really good for developing a readership and getting a broad range of feedback with detailed line-by-line advice.  But they don’t often give you a full analysis of a work.  They often don’t comment on structure of an entire work.  Structures are almost scientific, like how a jigsaw is put together.  TLC look at the big pictures of plot and structure.

WHAT KINDS OF THINGS DOES TLC GET AND COMMENT ON?
There are two types of novels that come in.  Something with a great premise that isn’t realized.  You need to be able to pitch something, of course.  But often the natural consequences of the drama aren’t played out and characters aren’t put in the right amount of jeopardy.  (This is particularly addressed in “How to Write the Breakout Novel” if this is an issue for you.)  Equally, TLC get novels that are beautifully written but doesn’t have a driving central narrative.  Characters must have things to push against.  If all is going well for the character it makes for a very flat novel.

Beginnings are very important.  Agents and publishers have to get past the first page, past the first 10 pages.  Often, a novel will start “too early”.  Start with the big event.  Publishers say they always pass on a novel that has an alarm clock going off – unless it’s tied to Semtex.  

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?
£150 to have 50 pages read and you get back a half-page synopsis
£250 to have 100 pages read
£300 101 – 200 pages read
£1.50 per page for first 300 pages + £1 per page for each page after.  The average size novel is 300 double-spaced pages.

An extract will compel the reader to focus mostly on the beginning and on any issues in the writing itself – a line-by-line examination of what the writer is doing.  You can only get feedback on how the whole of the novel is working by sending in the whole thing.

CAN YOU GET FUNDING FOR IT?:
The Arts Council will sometimes pay for a manuscript appraisal from the TLC, perhaps as part of the minimum grant you must ask for, which is currently £1000.

The Free Read Scheme allocates money regionally for manuscript appraisals from the TLC.  New Writing South looks after this money for the South East.  The next application deadline for this service through NWS is 1 July.

HOW HONEST ARE TLC?
There is a point where the reader’s job ends.  They cannot know for certain if something is publishable or not.  Readers will always talk about the difficulty of something being published, the genre that the work currently sits in and how it compares to other books in that genre that are getting published.

SHOULD YOU MENTION HAVING SOMETHING READ WHEN YOU TRY TO GET AN AGENT?
Agents say that reading that the writer has done a creative writing course or has had a read TLC then they know it has a filtering process, it has been edited by a professional.

There is also a mentoring scheme available from TLC, which is 6 sessions over a year.  At each session you submit 10,000 words.  This fee is £1600.

WHAT ARE THE MOST COMMON COMMENTS YOU MAKE?
They tend to focus on story structure, as well as beginnings and endings – particularly beginnings.  Often the comment is about the central character and whether or not the writer knows the central character very well.  Look at your style.  Do your metaphors make sense?  Are you actually telling your story?