Manuscript Evaluations
A comprehensive manuscript assessment for writers ready to turn their draft into a polished, publishable book.
A comprehensive evaluation of your full manuscript designed to give you clarity, direction, and a concrete plan for moving forward. This is not a line edit or copyedit, but a developmental edit focused on the deeper, macro-level craft elements at the heart of your story: structure, story arc, character, narration, and voice. Instead of getting hung up on sentences and cosmetic fixes, we’ll dive into the big-picture issues at the heart of your manuscript.
My goal is to remove the guesswork from revision. You’ll walk away with a clear action plan for your book: what’s working, what needs strengthening, and how to prioritize your revisions. I will be reading every page of your manuscript twice, drawing on my 15 years of editorial experience to give you actionable, strategic insights on how to turn your draft into a publishable book.
What it is:
Who it’s for:
This is designed for writers who:
✦ Have a full draft of a memoir, novel, or narrative nonfiction manuscript
✦ Feel stuck or unsure how to approach their next revision
✦ Struggle to see their manuscript clearly and need clear, honest, actionable feedback
✦ Need concrete, actionable strategies for making their story stronger
✦ Are ready to make meaningful revisions—not just surface-level tweaks — and are committed to making their manuscript publication-ready.
.
What you’ll get:
1. A Full Assessment of Your Manuscript
I'll read your full manuscript twice, with a focus on identifying what's working and what needs more development. I pay particular attention to structure, story arc, character development, and narrative tension — the macro-level craft elements that most determine whether a book is truly publishable.
2. Detailed Margin Comments
Using Track Change Comments, I'll flag strengths and craft issues throughout, including scenes that need development, characters who need more depth, awkward transitions, wordy sentences, and more. The most important comments are highlighted in yellow: these map directly to the big-picture issues in your editorial letter, so you know exactly where to focus when you sit down to revise.
3. Comprehensive Editorial Letter
You'll receive an in-depth 7-10 page editorial letter, outlining your manuscript's strengths and weaknesses, and offering specific, actionable suggestions for improvement.
Your Editorial Letter Includes:
Your Strengths:
A breakdown of your manuscript's strengths
Where you shine as a writer
Opportunities for Development:
Structure & Story Arc: overall shape, themes, opening & ending, scope, tension, scene vs. summary balance
Character Development: emotional depth, scene development & dialogue, complexity, conflict, relationship arcs
Narration: narrative persona, point of view, reflection, transitions, time movement
Voice: tone, stylistic consistency, sentence craft
Specific chapters and moments in your manuscript that most need attention
Concrete suggestions for revision for each craft concept
This letter is designed to be your revision blueprint, something you'll return to again and again as you move through your next draft.
4. One-Hour Coaching Meeting via Zoom
Once you've had time to sit with your feedback, we'll meet on Zoom to talk through it together. We'll address your questions, dig into anything that feels confusing or overwhelming, and map out a clear plan for your next steps so you leave the call knowing exactly where to go from here.
Ready to go all-in on your book?
Kind words from clients
-
“Working with Katie literally changed my life. When I approached her with a book idea, I was 55 years old and had not written a single article or essay. She taught me how to write for an audience, edited my pages and provided much needed perspective on the publishing industry.When I got a book deal, Katie was the second person I called."
Oona Metz, Author of Unhitched: The Essential Divorce Guide for Women (Simon & Schuster)
-
“Hiring Katie to do a developmental edit of my novel was one of the best investments I’ve made in my writing. Not only does she provide clear and helpful guidance related to craft, voice and tone but she is exceptional at 'seeing' a novel as a whole, at showing what is working as well as identifying blindspots. Katie’s greatest asset is her ability to pinpoint and track issues in a manuscript, showing the writer exactly where and why things need fixing and, most essentially, how to fix them."
Suzanne Carver, Author of Flight Path (Manhattan Book Group)
-
“Working with Katie was truly a dream. Katie is thoughtful, brilliant, and generous with her writing guidance. With her guidance and feedback, I was able to write an opener and closer for my memoir that I resonated with deeply. Katie is that special kind of teacher that brings out the best in those she mentors.”
Kate Gies, Author of It Must Be Beautiful to Be Finished: A Memoir of My Body (Simon & Schuster)
My feedback style:
With 15 years of developmental editing experience, I specialize in:
X-raying manuscripts to find the deeper issues beneath surface-level problems
Identifying the emotional and thematic heart of a story
Breaking overwhelming revision challenges into clear, doable steps
Helping writers shape raw material into compelling, publishable narratives
I provide a lot of feedback.
I believe feedback is a gift and view critique as a sign of respect. Hiring an editor is an investment, and my job is to make your money worth it. I do this by offering comprehensive, honest feedback that will help your writing reach its full potential. If you’re looking for an editor who will coddle you, I’m probably not the best fit. But if you’re ready to make your writing the most well-crafted, polished work possible, we might be a perfect match.
More about Katie
Katie Bannon is a writer, editor, and coach with a passion for helping others tell their truest stories. Her authors have been published in Big Five presses, independent and hybrid publishers, and in hundreds of literary magazines. Her own work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Rumpus, Narratively, and more. She holds an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Emerson College, and her memoir manuscript was named a finalist for the Permafrost Nonfiction Book Prize.
She lives in Central Massachusetts with her husband and two very opinionated cats.