Gideonna, I don't have a lot of experience of this but my feeling is if a book or books similar to yours are being acquired you should rejoice because you are barking up the right tree. The best person to advise on whether you should make changes to the actual story would be an agent who is best placed to compare your work with what is being bought by publishers.

Hopefully you will get some helpful feedback from an agent in the near future and I would go with that.

No worries, Gideonna, Terry and I have our ping-pong matches every so often. Keeps life interesting.


- NaomiM

I have to admit that the dangling of the agency carrot is a tricky one. Consultancies do use their relationships with agencies as a USP, but I think that the author also has a responsiblity to do proper research before they part with their cash. As far as I am aware, none of the well-established consultancies promise anything other than the report and they make this very clear.

What concerns me more is the number of authors offering critique services on the internet. I've come across several writers selling this service to the general public based solely on the fact that they've had a couple of books published. At least with a bigger consultancy, there's some form of accountability if it all goes horribly wrong. These one-man bands have no regulation whatsoever.

What concerns me more is the number of authors offering critique services on the internet. I've come across several writers selling this service to the general public based solely on the fact that they've had a couple of books published. At least with a bigger consultancy, there's some form of accountability if it all goes horribly wrong. These one-man bands have no regulation whatsoever.

While I wouldn't argue that there are some questionable editing services offered on the internet, there's two ways of looking at the single person operation. I'd say they're more accountable, not less, i.e. if anything goes wrong, their head is on the block. Besides, many of the readers at the bigger agencies have also only had a couple of books published. And I'm not sure 'regulation' is the right word to apply to the bigger agencies either.

Also, at least with a one person agency you know who you're getting. Whereas with bigger agencies, you have to take whoever's assigned to your book. And believe me, the vetting processes at bigger agencies are not particularly stringent. Also, as I've mentioned on this site before, I think authors need to take account of the fact that the majority of readers at agencies are other authors, not editors. But it's editing you basically need from a report: just because someone's had a couple of books published doesn't mean they know how to edit other people's work.

Terry

Just as a PS.
With average annual incomes of £4000 (according to a survey by the Society of Authors), authors need to suppliment their income somehow. Several published members on WriteWords are affiliated to editorial agencies, although, for obvious reasons, they don't advertise on the site.

But then, Terry, at least with a larger operation you can complain to a different person the one you have a problem with and maybe have more chance of getting a refund or a different assessment if it wasn't good.

PS I don't see why Naomi shouldn't suggest that Gideonna quickly ask the agency what they thought. I doubt she was suggesting she fork out more money for the privilege. And I don't like the way every time Naoms says something you go on about whether she is qualified to do so. She is qualified to do so because this is a mixed writing site and the person came and asked for general advice on this site and N answered her. Where does it say on the site that people have to have a doctorate in every subject they comment on on WW? I understand you have a pov on consultancies but I don't see what N said had anything to do with that one way or the other. Just sounded sensible to me.

Ping pong away.

I've only had good experiences with editorial agencies, though I do think it's vital to spend time researching which are the ones most likely to be able to help you, based on the credentials of their readers. At the time I didn't know the identity of the reader who gave me reports on 3 of my novels (nothing like 900 quid, I hasten to add; I'd like to see the report that warrants that amount!) but I knew she was a children's agent taking some time out - I've since discovered that she was a very prominent agent who happened to be off the scene just temporarily for family reasons; so I think that while there are plenty of writers providing the service, there are also agents and editors. (The editorial agency I used was Hilary Johnson's if anyone's interested.)