The best time to start putting this together is around the time that you’re nearing the end of editing process, optimally between 3 and 6 months prior to sending the book off to print. A few of the reasons for this:

1. The obvious — you must put your best foot forward. No room for noticeable content changes, grammatical errors or even typos. Past experience has taught me that changes will continue happening right up to the night before the book goes off to print. Again, you’ll want plenty of time to make sure the excerpts from your book are perfect.
2. it’s much easier to pull excerpts from the book to include in the kit. Few things are more annoying than sending out a bunch of Press Kits only to realize that the excerpts you chose would’ve been much better had you waited.
3. when it comes to obtaining book reviews it can take up to three months to get a response. NOTE: Don’t be discouraged if it takes that long to get a ‘No Thank You’ letter — it happens. You’ll want to use blurbs from the reviews for inclusion on the Book Sheet (Synopsis), Sell Sheet and/or Press Release.

When it comes to impressing book reviewers, interviewers and even movie producers, the way to do it (without spending thousands of dollars) is through a world-class press kit. Crisp, clean design without outrageous use of a ton of fonts or sloppy graphics. There’s no way to stress how much neatness counts because this kit is essentially all your countless days of passionate writing wrapped up in a sleek, sexy package. A simple yet effective rule of thumb to work by is this: if any part of your package doesn’t look like a page out of a major newspaper or magazine that’s a sign it should be reworded, redone, or completely omitted.

Your press kit should include the following sheets:

• Press Release: a one page article that explains who you are, what the book is about, and important information about the book’s publication. NOTE: if there are any relevant ties between your book and current events this should be the focal point of your article. The more newsworthy your article, the greater the chance it will get picked up for media distribution — including interviews. This sheet is best printed yourself because it’s subject to change.
• Book Sheet (Synopsis): a one page summary of your book. If it’s fiction it should include the plot and major themes. The key here is to sell the book with an engaging synopsis yet using as little “fluff” as possible. Most writers tend to be oblivious to the fact that the people receiving their press kit see hundreds of them in a week. They catch onto fluff as if it was a baby in need of a diaper change. The more fluff there is, the less they’ll take you (and your book) seriously.
• Author Biography: a one page life history. This should be an engaging summary of who you are; mostly interesting highlights of your life accomplishments with a splash of professional and academic achievements (e.g. — you backpacked across Germany, studied tribal tattoo art from Maori elders in New Zealand, parented three kids and wrote the book while also attending law school, and etc). This should particularly include those experiences you’ve had that make you an expert on your topic. This sheet is best printed yourself because it should be considered a ‘living document’, subject to change as you gain new accolades.
• Promo Photo: This is a bit of a toss-up because ultimately it’s a call best made based on the type of book you’ve written. With some schools of thought, a promo photo of the author isn’t necessary. Still, some publishers will include the promo photo as a 3.5″x2.5″ (or smaller) on the Sell Sheet. Others will say it is imperative, particularly if the author’s image can further perpetuate an appeal that is already part of the book (e.g. – a Playboy playmate writes a tell-all book about her life as a Bunny). If you decide to include a promo photo in your press kit, I would highly recommend paying a professional photographer to take these shots; be sure to get full-size digital copies of the images at 300dpi or higher. You’ll want to get the 8″x10″ so you can resize copies of the file for use of the Sell Sheet, Bio and even a poster (see the Image Processing section for the software necessary to resize images).
• Sell Sheet: a flyer that includes all the important information about your book; title, cover image, publication date, page count, ISBN, retail price, a paragraph book summary, a paragraph (summary) from the Author Biography, and blurbs from at least one or two reviews. If possible, this should be full-color, professionally printed on 100lb Text-Gloss paper.
• Endorsement Sheet: This sheet is definitely optional, mostly because it is only worth making if you’ve got more than four or five “celebrity” endorsements. By celebrity I mean any person whose name has a level of brand awareness to it that lends credibility to the subject of your book. For example, if you’ve written a book about 80s Rock and you manage to get a blurb from a Road Manager that once worked for Motley Crüe, this would definitly be a good celeb endorsement whereas Jimmy, the “80s-Rock-Guru at your local record store” wouldn’t quite be celeb enough. On that same note, someone like a Bret Michaels or Neal Pert would be fantastic. Overall, celeb endorsements are tough to get but if you’re lucky enough to get some, run with them like your life depends on it.

Production Budget:

Here’s the point where things get interesting — production. The software and design part of putting together the Press Kit is where everything can either come together nicely or get hairy real quick.

• Software: This is by far the trickiest part of putting together your Press Kit. These disciplines can be divided into Content Processing, Image Processing, Illustration and Desktop Publishing. All four of disciplines are worthy of their own textbooks, not to mention that each software package has its own learning curve. Each can be handled in one of two main ways — do it yourself or hire a professional. Both would have been potentially costly. This is because you’d either be buying all the software and learning to do it yourself or simply paying for the professional’s labor and letting them do the bulk of the work. Aside from software piracy, the main thing that changed this playing field was the advent of Free Open Source Software (FOSS).

For those of you that don’t know, FOSS packages are generally functional clones of some Commercial software equivalent except developed and supported by “meritocratic teams of individual developers, associations of companies, businesses that provide value-add support and services, non-profit foundations, and research and academic institutions. It is increasingly seen as the global standard and lowest-risk choice for operating systems to applications, helping individuals and organizations reduce costs, increase deployment, improve standards compliance, enhance security, and avoid vendor lock-in, which means long-term software investment protection”. In plain English, FOSS came about as a result of groups of people that got together to create their own versions of commercial software, often because they were fed up with paying outrageous licensing fees, some of which even require annual payments throughout the entire time that package is used. I’ve included this information because the output of these packages is just as good as their commercial counterparts — and although the learning curves tend to be about the same, using the FOSS versions of the commercial packages can save you literally thousands of dollars in software purchases. Regardless of what packages you choose, these are the tools you’ll need to put together a professional-quality press kit.


* NOTE — All price ranges shown are dependent on which software version you purchase and the source.


Content Processing — Microsoft Office (Commercial, from $200 to $800 USD*) or Microsoft Works (Commercial, between $20 and $130 USD*). OpenOffice (Free, download from http://www.openoffice.org ). It’s hard to find any mildly computer literate person who isn’t familiar with what Microsoft Office is, or at least used one of it’s software packages. OpenOffice is a clone of Microsoft Office that is distributed for free. For those writers that aren’t too computer savvy, one of these software packages is what you’ll need to write and edit all the content for your press kit. I had considered omitting this ‘Content Processing’ paragraph until I went to the P.O. Box earlier and pulled out a special pickup slip. After presenting it to the clerk she came back with a manuscript-sized box that contained a handwritten manuscript spread out over two 180-page spiral notebooks. Some writers either prefer to live like the Uni-Bomber or they truly have no idea what tools to use. If this applies to you, don’t bother reading any further — hire a professional.


The next three sections are included just for the sake of continuity, mostly because those who don’t know the basics of graphic design can take a look at what software is involved and make a judgement call as to whether or not to hire a professional. Those who have some experience with digital photo touch-up or graphic design will already know these programs well and will be fluent in what they need to use. For those who lack practical experience, it should be noted that each area also has dual learning curves involved. The first learning curve involves the discipline itself (e.g. – Image Processing requires a basic working knowledge of manipulating graphics). The second learning curve involves the software package you decide to use (e.g. – Although Photoshop and GIMP are functionally similar, gaining mastery over one package will only make it mildly easier to learn the other).

Image Processing — Adobe Photoshop (Commercial, from $160 to $700 USD*). GIMP (Free, download from http://www.gimp.org ). For handling raster images (e.g. – photos, scans, etc.). You’ll need this for resizing book covers, photos, and other related images so they’ll fit well within any of the press kit’s sheets.


Illustration — Adobe Illustrator (Commercial, from $100 to $700 USD*). Inkscape (Free, download from http://www.inkscape.org). For handling vector images (e.g. – scalable line art logos, etc.). If you’re not sure whether or not any of your artwork is vector, you might want to read my other article discussing the difference between raster and vector images.


Desktop Publishing — Adobe InDesign (Commercial, from $200 to $900 USD*). Corel Draw (Commercial, $xxx USD*). Scribus (Free, download from http://www.scribus.net). Somewhere in between those choices (functionally and price-wise) is Microsoft Publisher (which comes with most versions Microsoft Office).

• Commercial Printing: Using online printing services like www.uprinting.com, for an 8.5”x11” slick, 2-sided full color, expect to spend between $160 and $260 for 500 pieces (depending on shipping).
• Home Printing: For the most part this refers to any off-the-shelf printer that prints in color and is a Inkjet, Deskjet, LaserJet, or better. I personally prefer the All-in-One printers, also referred to as the Printer-Scanner-Copiers. Prices start at about $200 dollars USD retail. My general rule of thumb is that if you own a color printer made after 2003 you shouldn’t run into any problems with making quality prints for the press kit.
• Paper: HammerMill 32lb (between $12 and $20 USD for a 500-sheet ream). For photographs, consider HP Premium Plus Photo Paper, Matte, 8 1/2″ x 11″, 11.5 Mil, 90 Brightness, Pack Of 25 Sheets for about $18.00 dollars USD retail. You can probably find something comparable online for a better price. The reasons for this photo paper instead of others are:
• Matte finish reduces reflection, making your photos easy on the eyes — no light “bounce” to detract from the detail and color quality.
• 11.5-mil thickness rivals professional photo stock. Extra-thick paper is designed to accommodate greater ink coverage and stand up to the frequent handling. The weight of the paper will give your photos a professional feel, too.
• Special back coating keeps prints from sticking.
• The acid-free paper won’t yellow or disintegrate over time.
• Labeled Folders (optional): Avery duo-tank folders — roughly $8.75 for 25 folders retail but as low as $117 per 100 wholesale (not including shipping). Labels (or a generic brand knockoff) 5164 — 3.5″ x 4″ Self-Adhesive Laser Mailing Labels. One pack goes a long way with 600 labels (6 to a sheet). Label maker software ranges from free to about $30, depending.

There should be two versions of your press kit. Both should be PDFs:
;

1. A web/email-friendly version between 72dpi and 96dpi, less than 5 megs in total file size, RGB (full-color video) ,
2. and a print-only version — between 150dpi and 300dpi or higher, CMYK (4-color print).

Miscellaneous Tips:

You should create the printed version first because it will have the largest combined file sizes and it’s for printed mailing. Next you create the email-friendly electronic version for emailing to the media. Use the printed materials for the top book reviewers, newspapers, websites, or other promising media, while sendng electronic versions to those sources lower on the list. The other alternative is that you can email out the electronic version if you don’t have money to spend printing and mailing press kits. My advice is to do both as your budget allows.

When it comes to printing out hard copies of the entire kit, I’d only recommend doing so if you’ve got the design skills to make it look professional. Be forwarned that if you decide to use your home printer to print any sheets other than the Author Bio and Press Release, you’ll definitely want to make sure your layout, print quality and paper are top-notch. Doing it yourself might save you some money in the short term but if the average person can tell you printed it all yourself, the reviewers will too. Anything the looks amateur runs the risk of being disregarded as inferior — costing you credibility which will cost you reviews, media coverage and ultimately book sales.

On a last note, at the risk of sounding like a blatant commercial plug I have to say this: You can find many designers, book coaches and book-oriented publicity firms to create some (or all) of the components of your press kit; often saving you time and usually being worth the money. If you’ve got the skills (or the drive to teach yourself) and are willing to do the leg work of contacting media sources yourself, developing your own press kit is the way to go, too. Whichever route you take to make it happen, just remember that attempting a book publicity campaign without any kind of a press kit is almost a sure-fire way to condemn your book to failure.

Good luck on the quest… hope this helps.

– Max Nomad

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The following tips come from a combination of my experiences with successful book release parties, miserable failures, horror stories I’ve heard from other publishers and authors, and general Event Planning 101 I’ve learned from an “Event Planning for Dummies” book as well as talking with real event planners.

THE TOP THREE LESSONS I’VE LEARNED:

1. Don’t just do a book signing or a release party. Do an event, or at least some semblance of an event.
2. Don’t Skimp or get Chintzy with an event. Don’t go overboard with it either. Figure out your entire budget for the location, the catering, added atmosphere (e.g. – possible entertainment, a professional photographer) and the other incidentals (e.g. – cash boxes, guest book, pens, promo souvenirs, etc). For a first-time author, I would recommend against spending over 15% of the book’s production budget OR $1500 dollars USD, whichever is higher. The reason is simple: that money could be better spent on long-term marketing and promotion. At the risk of disregarding how special the book release party is, one has to keep in mind that ultimately it is meant to serve as the kickoff for your book’s entire marketing and promotional campaign.
3. Ultimately, you want everyone that attends the event to feel important (read exclusive) for being there as well as enjoy themselves.

And now for some more tips, almost typed in at random as they come to me.

THE VENUE:

• There are many types of venues to choose for your release event — and rarely should they be your typical bookstore. I found that reserving a small sports-oriented restaurant with a bar (250-300 person occupancy) worked well. The farther out you reserve it in advance, the better the chances you get the date you want. Also, work it in so that the establishment is also catering the event (I know that seems obvious but I’ve already heard of a couple of situations where the writer tried to reserve a restaurant and bring in someone ELSE to cater). Expect to spend no less than $500 dollars on this aspect alone. In my opinion, it’s well worth it. Aside from putting your best foot forward and taking into account that there’s no telling what members of the local press or potential book buyers will be present, there is a tiny overlooked item that often plays a major factor — the cell phone. When people are at a good party with good food and good drink and they’re stimulated and it seems to be an open affair, they are prone to call their friends and invite them out. You want everyone that comes to this event to feel important as well as enjoy themselves, which will not only result in more book sales right there but the impression will carry on indefinitely.
• The reason I recommend a sports-oriented restaurant-bar is because they generally have plenty of televisions throughout the place. Maybe reserve one television at the bar to actually show sports (or whatever) but use all the other televisions to show any kind of video that will help enhance the ambiance that goes along with the theme of the author’s book. A multimedia slideshow works perfect for this, something that showcases photos of the author, scenes and subjects in the book, and maybe product shots of the book itself. Again, it all depends on the author’s book, prospective readers, etc. Be creative with it — as long as it FITS.
• There are several reasons I recommend against bookstores for your release event. The average independent bookstore isn’t attached to any kind of restaurant or cafe. This means that your food options will be limited, regardless of your catering budget — bookstore managers don’t want food or drink stains on their floors or their merchandise. Bookstores don’t have wait staff that are trained to constantly clean as they go along, meaning more work for the staff and your volunteers. The typical bookstores also aren’t equipped with any kind of decent audio/video systems. Most first-time authors that decide to release their books by doing a simple book signing in a bookstore quickly come to learn that it will be the longest, most desolate-feeling couple of hours of their lives. I’ve seen it happen and it was about as enjoyable as being stranded on the side of the highway in a broken down car.

PEOPLE (THE ONES ASSISTING THE AUTHOR):

• You’ll want to have at least 2-3 people on hand to help you. Preferably one person should have experience counting out money fast (e.g. – someone who has worked in a restaurant, accounting, etc). The other person should be ready to act as a runner to take money from the cash box when it gets full and move it in the back. If invitation-only policy is strictly enforced, the third person should be at the door (or with whoever is working the door).
• If available, secure 2-3 people to “take pictures and video”. If one of them is a seasoned (or professional) photographer, that’s great — you’ll primarily depend on this person to take all your best shots. The other person should be roaming around taking candid photos throughout the event. If a camcorder is available, a third person should be using it, both for candid shots and also to record the author’s speech when it is time to do an actual reading or just talk about the book and thank everyone for coming out. My preferences would be that both cameras and the camcorder *all* be digital. No offense to film lovers but in this case it will cost much more to capture alot less, not including the cost of getting the rolls developed. Based on the average storage card capacity of most cameras these days, going strictly digital with 2 cameras and 1 camcorder will give you anywhere between 500 and 1000+ photos and anywhere between 2 and 9+ hours of video footage. You want to document this event as much as possible and between the digital photos and footage, a promotional video can be edited together using any modern PC or Mac with rudimentary video editing software (the stuff used to put together home movies).

SHOWCASING OTHER TALENT:

• If there is a fit (and the key word is IF), consider inviting another artist, photographer or musician to be present at the event. If it’s a visual artist/photographer/whatever, have that person bring in some of their work and set it up gallery-style. Aside from adding flavor to the event, the co-promotion has many possibilities, including splitting the cost of any promo printing. If this other person is selling copies of their own work, let them handle their own money and keep the cash completely separate.

HANDLING THE BOOKS AND THE MONEY:

• Have a couple of people present to help with selling the books (refer to “PEOPLE” section above).
• With the exception of the books set out on the table for immediate sale, all other copies should still be in boxes and several of the boxes should be stowed under the table(s) where the author and the person handling the cash drawer are sitting. Cover the table(s) with tablecloths. Someone should be at this table at all times while books are being sold.
• Get two (2) locking cash boxes, the simple Officemax variety should do well. Also, get a stack of some latenight deposit bags from your bank (if you’ve got a business account with them they’ll gladly give you a bunch of them to get started).
• Get the restaurant manager to start you off with some change. $100 in change is a nice round amount to start off with because it can easily be subtracted when it’s time to cash out.
• Have a big-button calculator on-hand along with pencils, pens and a notepad, mainly needed for the money counts. You also might consider buying one of those money detection markers to keep in the box. Officemax sells one for about $14 dollars. Granted, it may seem like overkill but if you anticipate the possibility of people paying with $50 or $100 dollar bills (which happens often if the book retails for over $20 dollars and they’re buying multiple copies), the cost of the marker spent would be a cheap in comparison to the hassle of getting beat by a fake bill AND the losing the books.
• Write up a cheat sheet that shows the cost of up to 10 or 15 copies of the book and stick it on the underside of the cashbox lid so the person handling the money can see it when accepting money. This way, although the calculator will be available, whoever is handling the drawer can easily calculate exact change at a glance, thus keeping the line moving.
• Every time your cash box begins to overflow and there’s the need to clear out some money, take one of the night deposit bags, count off all but $100 in change (and do so several times to be sure its accurate) and put the money in the deposit bag. Have whoever did the count to write the amount and their initials on a slip of paper (written in ink), put it inside the deposit bag (where it is visible through the plastic) then seal the deposit bag and let one of your helpers take it into the back and put it in the other cash box, preferably somewhere in the manager’s office.
• If your event is going to run late into the night and book sales have cleared at least a few thousand dollars, ask the restaurant’s manager about making arrangements to store your cash boxes in the safe overnight so you can pick them up the next day. Sometimes better safe than sorry, especially if the author and everyone involved with selling the books has started drinking to celebrate.

STUFF RELATED TO THE AUTHOR:

• What seems to work best is to position the author’s table(s) within eyesight of the entrance, somewhere in the middle between the front door and the other seating area closest to the bar. Consider positioning the catered food somewhere either across from the author or further into the establishment yet still visible from the front door. Do NOT position the food any closer to the front door than the author is. Since every place is different, it’s strictly a judgment call. From where the author is sitting, the person handling the cash drawer should be on his/her side closest to the entrance. The idea is for people to come in and see activity, get in line (if there is one) leading toward the author’s table, buy one or more copies of the book, then sit down at the end of the table with the author as s/he signs the copies and chats for a few minutes, get up, go fix themselves a plate, then sit down and eat. Sooner or later, people will also buy a few drinks from the bar. After a few plates and a few drinks, people begin to mingle which, believe it or not, will also help book sales during the course of the event.
• Have author and publisher business cards available on the part of the table where people are paying for their copies. Consider also having promo giveaways or bookmarks that match the books, too.
• Have a guest book available for people to sign.
• If this event is going to last at least 4-5 hours, have the author bring a complete change of clothes along with a small bag of basic toiletries (toothbrush, toothpaste, mouthwash, etc). Not only does this cover the author in case something gets spilled on him/her, s/he can also go and freshen up as needed. Always better to be prepared than for John-Doe-Author having to explain a hundred times how got a Merlot or meatball stain on his shirt or the garlic-and-Chardonnay on Jane-Doe-Author’s breath is kickin’ like Bruce Lee’s Chinese Connection.

MUSIC:

• This really depends on the type of crowd expected to show. Sometimes it’s best to hire a general-purpose deejay or a deejay specializing in music that fits the environment in the book (e.g. – if the novel is set Harlem in the early 70s, a deejay that specialized in old pre-Disco Soul & R&B music would be great). Other times it might be best to go with a live group, like a jazz trio playing lightly in the background. And still, other times you might be able to get away with having someone put together a mix-CD of several hours of music.
• If I had to handle the music and wanted to save money, I would install Winamp (http://www.winamp.com) on a laptop and load up about 10 hours of music that fits the crowd (average music CD holds about 1 hour of music). I’d then have it play songs at random using the cross fade feature so the next song starts to slowly fade in as the current song fades out. I’d make arrangements with the venue manager to go in a few days prior to the event to plug it into their sound system and test it out.

There are probably a ton of tips that I’ve completely overlooked with this list but hopefully this will help give you perspective on the kinds of things to think about.

Hope those help… good luck with the event.

– Max Nomad

Simple answers:

*How do you compose your drafts? do you dictate? Draft with a pen and paper? Compose on screen?

Dictation is for doctors and dentists. Speaking your thoughts into a digital recorder is a different thing entirely. With the professional writers that I associate with, a pen and paper doesn’t play much of a role in the drafting process beyond taking down journalist-style notes when away from a computer. Matter of fact, outside of an occasionally meeting a writer born between the late 30s and early 60s, drafting with a pen and paper is typically reserved to poets/spoken word artists/lyricists.

* when you want advice about style. grammer, and spelling what source (s) do you consult?

(1) The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition. (this is a must)
(2) The Copyeditor’s Handbook
(3) Dictionary.com
(4) Webster’s Pocket Style Guide (I keep this in my laptop backpack)

* Do you ever work with other writers to produce a single document? If so describe the process you use

I’ve only participated in one collaborative writing effort and, even then, it was only because I was hired to come in after two other writers had been taking turns writing installments for a piece of serial fiction. I took on the project because I wanted a simple part-time challenge and I believe in what this brotha has put together (I write for the online drama the site is Jamal Washington:CEO, a feature on Blackmoneymatters.com. Admittedly, getting started with it was a huge pain because Paige and Sonja, the two writers that handled it before I took over, had completely different styles. One was pretty consistent, the other was all over the map like she was transcribing conversations from that show “The View”. Neither did that good of a job at maintaining consistency with what the other wrote. What I ended up doing was spending a few weeks actually studying everything that was written beforehand so I could get a fix on what the main character had been through, who was in his life, and where to possibly take it from there. I also had to deal with taking care of all the continuity errors, factual errors and anything with the plot that didn’t drive the story forward — all while building a solid foundation that I could conceivably hand-off to another writer someday and eliminate their need to go through the same process. Collaborative writing efforts seem to only work best for non-fiction; for anything else it’s just a pipe dream.

Hope that helps… good luck.

Outside of the classroom, there is no “normal” amount of time for writers to complete a story. Everyone has their own speeds and writing processes. If you’re new to writing fiction you might be better off focusing on craft versus just getting it done. The reason for this is simple: the need to write a quality story that flows well. You’re not training to run a 440 relay race. You’re striving to write good fiction.

> Also, I’ve had a real problem getting consistent friends to read portions of my
> story and give me specific, definitive feedback on the work–other than a
> nebulous thumbs up. Has anyone else experienced issues finding friends or
> people to read portions of their work and provide feedback? What are
> some options?

In my opinion, and please don’t take this wrong, you need to ask yourself whether it’s more important to write the story well or try to bask in some early praise before you get published? The reason I ask is that it’s tough to find prolific writers who also have the time to provide solid, constructive critiques. They’re either too busy writing or, quite candidly, they’re new to the game too. A hundred positive critiques is the same as a hundred negative critiques in that they are usually all very different and if you give people your manuscript and ask them to give a comment on what you’ve written they will give a comment, whether or not it is valid. Don’t waste your time using friends and family because more often than not you’ll get polite praise and accolades that are alot like eating a diet of cake icing — tasty yet full of nutritionally-useless empty calories that will ultimately slow you down when it comes to developing your story. Writing your story well shouldn’t be about feeding your ego; it’s about writing and revising your story along the way and refining your plot and characters to write the best story possible. Once you’ve got a grasp on it, you’ll have what you need to write novel after novel and know how to keep the readers happily sucked in.

There are critique group mailing lists like De Griot Space (used to be at degriotspace.com but the link wasn’t coming up) which are great places to start. The catch to that list is the fact that there are monthly quotas that all members must meet, both when it comes to the number of submissions as well as number of critiques of other members’ works. Depending on your schedule, keeping up with such requirements may slow you down as well.

Bottom line, from my own experiences I’ve found that unless you join or put together a very small critique group (less than 8 members seems to work best), your best bet is to spend time reading books on good fiction writing techniques and occasionally set aside some time to read and analyze works of fiction by authors you like — see how those authors put the stories together. Look at the plot conflicts. Understand the various character archetypes and techniques for telling the story while sticking to word economy.

Outside of that, the only way you’ll get solid feedback from a truly dedicated manuscript reader is to find a freelance editor and PAY that person. Keep in mind that a developmental/content editor can charge as much as $5.00 or $6.00USD per page to start. To find some freelancers, check out Editorial Freelance Association.

Best of luck on your quest…