Is there a coherent book here?
The Editor judges the complete manuscript as a shaped reading experience. This is not a line edit and it is not a prediction of publication. The task is to decide whether the parts make one convincing book, what level of development it needs and what later revision must preserve.
Use the full manuscript, synopsis, reader promise and one-sentence description. Keep the Reader report closed until the Editor report is complete. That independence matters: the Reader judges attention; the Editor judges the whole book.
Stonecurrent Press does not receive or store your manuscript, notes, answers, reports or result. Everything stays with you unless you choose to share it.
1. State the book
Complete these four statements:
- This is a book about…
- It is for readers who…
- Its distinctive promise is…
- The book it currently appears to be is…
If the last answer differs from the author’s description, record the difference plainly.
2. Map the movement
Describe what the beginning establishes, what the middle develops or complicates, and what the ending resolves, changes or clarifies. Then answer:
- What is different by the end?
- Where does the book make its strongest forward movement?
- Where does it pause, repeat or lose direction?
3. Test what belongs
- What clearly belongs in this book?
- What may belong to a different book?
- Where does material repeat rather than develop?
- Does the ending fulfil the opening promise?
- What important bridge, turn or piece of evidence is missing?
4. Decide the scale of revision
Choose the smallest honest category:
- Refinement – the book is coherent; the work is mainly precision, pace, clarity or finish.
- Focused revision – the book is coherent, but one defined element needs substantial attention.
- Structural revision – the material has value, but its order, development or balance prevents it from working as a whole.
- Reconception – the strongest book in the material is different from the one currently being attempted.
- Not enough evidence – the manuscript is too incomplete for a responsible whole-book judgement.
5. Make the strongest case
Write a fifty-word advocacy pitch for the manuscript. Then identify the quality revision must protect and the hardest doubt you would raise before investing more editorial time.
6. Complete the Editor report
Record:
- the strongest case for the book;
- the principal reservation;
- the evidence;
- the protected quality;
- the principal development need;
- one priority action; and
- a provisional green, amber or red signal.
Only after completing the report should you open the Reader report. Note one point of agreement and one useful difference. Do not turn the two judgements into a vote.
Next: The Bookseller asks: Where does it belong, and how would I recommend it?
Download the Editor worksheet (PDF)
A genuine free resource from Stonecurrent Press.
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