Has anyone tried the submission critique service on Writers' Services? £75 for 10,000 words: letter, synopsis, sample chapters.

Sharon

No, but if you do, let us know if it's worth it!
Elspeth

I sent it off this morning, and they said it'll take two to three weeks. I'll give you a full report
Sharon

Sharon. It might be worth £75 for the letter and synopsis alone. But how can they help with the synopsis if they haven’t read the full manuscript?

My reservations with these services are to do with the concentration on the first few chapters. Suppose they suggest lots of changes to them? You can’t just groom the early chapters in order to encourage an agent if the rest of the novel doesn’t follow through.

Agents are looking for consistency and a sound plot as well as good writing style. So my feelings are that, if you’re going to pay for a professional critique, you need to do the whole ms, not just the opening chapters.

Dee
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I dunno, Dee, but I thought I'd see what happens. The thing about submitting to agents is, you don't get any feedback, so you don't know if they thought it was okay, but they haven't got room for it, or they thought 'what a pile of unprofessional crap.' It'll be valuable to me just to see what kind of reaction I get.
Sharon

I received my submission critique report back this morning so here, as promised, is my report on the report.

I submitted the first two chapters of Terrestrial (actually the first and third chapters from the version I posted here, as I have moved chapter 2), a half page synopsis, a 1200 word synopsis and my letter to agents on 25th August.

Initially there was some problem with payment. I sent card details once via their form, but they didn’t get it, and when I sent it again the card was rejected in a way that make me wonder whether full card details had been received. I also got the impression that the card submission process is not encrypted to be secure, but I haven’t asked them if it is.

However, communication with Chris Holifield at Writers’ Services was good and this was resolved quickly. I sent them a cheque and as soon as they received it, he mailed me a date when he expected to supply the report: 7th September. As I hadn’t heard anything by the 9th, I emailed an enquired if it was ready and received it with an apology for the delay the following day.

Obviously, I don’t know who the editor who read it was, but Chris tells me it was ‘one of the top editors in the SF field’. The report was very encouraging about the chapters and synopsis; it did not suggest any changes, but I’m quite happy with that. It gave me a lot of detailed help and advice on the letter, which was really the area I was most worried about and made suggestions about where to send it. They have also offered me an introduction to an agent, as yet unnamed.
I won’t post the report here but if anyone is interested in seeing it, I’m quite happy to Wwmail it. Overall, I’m very glad I tried this service. I did get the impression that it was professional and that it focuses on the areas that need attention.

That sounds great, Sharon, especially the agent lead. Go for it!

Good luck,

Adele.

Sharon, that sounds like you got a good deal – especially, as Adele says, the agent intro. That in itself is worth the money.

Yes, go for it. And I’d be very interested to see the report.

Dee
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Does anyone have contact details or a web address for Writer's Service?