Stonecurrent Five Hats Decision Makers
Every manuscript must satisfy five people. Each is asking a different question.
Examine your manuscript from five publishing perspectives before deciding what it needs next.
A genuine free resource from Stonecurrent Press. The complete game is included and is completely free: there is no lite or trial version, and no requirement to purchase editorial services from Stonecurrent Press.
A more disciplined conversation
Your manuscript has probably received enough general opinions. What it needs now is a more disciplined conversation.
Stonecurrent Five Hats asks you to examine the same manuscript as five different people: a Reader, Editor, Bookseller, Marketer and Sceptic. Each person is looking for something different, and each must support their judgement with evidence.
You do not win by collecting five green lights. You win by knowing what the manuscript needs next.
Your work remains yours
Stonecurrent does not ask you to upload your manuscript or send us your answers. Your reports, notes, scores and final decision remain with you.
To deliver the game, the website temporarily stores your email address, your optional first name, your consent choices and the technical record of the messages sent. If you do not separately request Stonecurrent news, that identifiable delivery record will be deleted within 30 days of the final game message, except for any minimal suppression record needed to honour an unsubscribe request or meet a legal obligation.
Meet the five people
- The Reader: Would I continue?
- The Editor: Is there a coherent book here?
- The Bookseller: Where does it belong, and how would I recommend it?
- The Marketer: Who needs it, and how will they discover it?
- The Sceptic: What assumption could undo the whole case?
After all five reports are complete, you return as Chair, weigh the evidence and issue one reasoned decision.
How the Solo Edition works
- Enrol using your name and email address.
- Prepare a small set of Board Papers.
- Receive one new perspective each day.
- Complete each report without revising the manuscript.
- Convene the Board on Day Six and choose the next route.
Allow approximately 20 to 40 minutes for each stage. The deliberate pauses matter: they stop one reaction from swamping every other question.
What you receive
- Seven short guided emails over six days.
- A separate web page and printable worksheet for every hat.
- A Board Papers checklist and private Sealed Fear card.
- Five evidence-based reports.
- A final Board Resolution and three-action plan.
What this is not
Stonecurrent Five Hats is a structured self-assessment. It is not an assessment, endorsement or publishing decision by Stonecurrent Press. Completing it does not create preferential consideration for publication.
The game may show that outside help would be useful, but no paid service is required to complete it. You remain free to revise, submit to Stonecurrent Press, submit elsewhere, redirect the book or close the project.