The Writing Coach offers a personally tailored approach to manuscript assessment. Jacqui Lofthouse works with her team of editors and literary consultants to help you develop a manuscript that is ready to submit to agents and publishers. Established in 2003, we have a solid track record of helping clients get published.
We are excited at the prospect of working with you. As the most individually nurturing organisation for writers in the business, we look after our clients in the long term and our relationship with you does not end when you complete your work with your consultant.
Louise Doughty
“Jacqui is the first person I show all my novels to and my most important critic. As well as being a terrific novelist in her own right, she has an acute eye for what is not quite working in any piece of work and is exceptionally good at pointing it out in a way that is firm but constructive and helpful. I can recommend her highly to anyone who needs help.”
– Louise Doughty – Colleague, Booker Prize Judge 2008 and Author of Costa Prize 2011 shortlisted novel Whatever you Love and the bestselling Apple Tree Yard. Her new novel is ‘A Bird in Winter’.
- Are you seeking an expert eye on your first three chapters, to help polish them to perfection before submitting to agents and publishers?
- You may be stuck in the middle of a manuscript, totally uncertain how to unravel the plot or structure of the work and concerned about inconsistency of voice…
- Do you have a finished draft of a manuscript, but you know it still needs a LOT of work. You need a fresh eye to help you know how to develop it?
We’re here to help you understand the strengths of your manuscript and to give you tailored advice on what to do next…
What is Manuscript Assessment?
Manuscript Assessment is a service to writers who need honest and constructive feedback on their writing work, prior to submission to agents and publishers. As the publishing market becomes increasingly competitive, the role of our literary consultant is to help you ensure that your manuscript is as good as it can possibly be, before you consider sending it out. We work with fiction and non-fiction writers as well as poets, playwrights and screenwriters.
The literary consultant reads your work, annotates your manuscript with their full response and provides a written report, outlining the strengths of the work and areas for further development. This is then followed by a phone call or Zoom meeting to discuss their feedback.
The intention is to enable you to look at your work through fresh eyes and to give a realistic sense of the manuscript’s readiness for publishing.
If you are ready to book your manuscript assessment, you can do so via the form below
A Selection of our Clients’ Books
What is different about your manuscript assessment service?
We offer a personal and exclusive manuscript assessment service. All of the consultants are known to Jacqui personally and we are a close-knit and dedicated team. Where you choose the written report, we offer a 45- minute follow-up telephone conversation to answer any outstanding questions, so you get to know your consultant – and they are available for further work with you, should you wish to progress to mentoring.
Jacqueline Smith and Jacqui Lofthouse are available to speak with you, should you have any questions about the process at any stage. Jacqui take a personal interest in your success. In addition, we have a private Facebook group for Writing Coach clients to enable you to discuss your publishing journey with like-minded peers. You also have the option of becoming a member of our community, where you have access to lessons on editing and publishing too.
Jacqui says:
I am an experienced novelist (published by Penguin, Bloomsbury and many international publishers) as well as a fully qualified coach and teacher, with thirty years’ experience of the writing and publishing world. The team includes novelists, playwrights, screenwriters, editors, and publishers. Between us, we have helped many clients to get their work published.
Our primary aim is to empower you as a writer. In order to do this, your literary consultant will be honest with you at all times about the readiness of your work for submission – and if there is work to be done, we will give you clear direction about the nature of that work. In addition, you can also contact my team by email for further advice on submissions to literary agents and publishers.
A Selection of our Editors
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Jacqui Lofthouse
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Katy Massey
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Vanessa Neuling
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Chetan Mahajan
Jacqui Lofthouse
Jacqui began her career in radio production and media training. In 1992 she studied for her MA in Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia under Malcolm Bradbury and Rose Tremain. She is the author of four novels, The Temple of Hymen, Hamish Hamilton/Penguin 1995/1996, Bluethroat Morning, Bloomsbury 2000, Een Stille Verdwijning, De Bezige Bij 2005 and The Modigliani Girl
Jacqui’s first degree was in Drama and English from the University of Bristol and she has a PGCE in English with Drama from the Institute of Education, University of London. She is also a qualified life coach (CoachU, USA). She has taught creative writing in a broad variety of settings including at City University, at Richmond Adult and Community College, and at Feltham Young Offenders Institution. In addition, she has taught English and Drama in London secondary schools and is a member of NAWE (National Association of Writers in Education). Jacqui’s journalism has been published in The Literary Review, The Good Book Guide and The New Writer magazine. She has been profiled in The Independent and her novels have been widely reviewed. She is also an actor.
Jacqui founded The Writing Coach in 2005. Her mission was to help writers to be confident and productive, producing their best work and getting it into print. She is currently working on her own fifth novel.
Testimonials
Jacqui is the first person I show all my novels to and my most important critic. As well as being a terrific novelist in her own right, she has an acute eye for what is not quite working in any piece of work and is exceptionally good at pointing it out in a way that is firm but constructive and helpful. I can recommend her highly to anyone who needs help.
– Louise Doughty – Colleague, Booker Prize Judge 2008 and Author of Costa Prize 2011 shortlisted novel Whatever you Love and the bestselling Apple Tree Yard.
At the beginning of 2009 I had a dozen short stories, two novels in rough draft, and an unfinished screenplay. I was writing in my spare time – I was a full time website designer and have three children. I had no idea what writing project to concentrate on, and had completely stalled. A friend recommended Jacqui and, over six months, she gave me the confidence to take the big step of committing a whole year to one project. She also provided excellent literary feedback, helping me turn my first chapters into little diamonds.
Now, my first novel Cuckoo – the one Jacqui helped me with – has been published by Headline. I am about to hand my editor my second. I have one of the best agents in the country, have sold Italian, French, German and Dutch rights and I write full time. I can say unequivocally that if I hadn’t contacted Jacqui I would still be battling with html. These days the only website I look after is my own!
– Julia Crouch – Author of five novels including Her Husband’s Lover, Cuckoo and Tarnished.
Jacqui is a wonderful writing coach, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend her to others, and have in fact done just that! She is warm, understanding, kind and insightful. Passionate about stories, deeply knowledgeable about the art of writing and, most of all, a thoroughly brilliant person.
– Dan Sherrard-Smith – Author and Founder of MotherTree
Without Jacqui, I would not now be a published author. She was there at several key points in my writing career with the advice and encouragement that allowed me to make the move to the next stage.
When I began feeling my way towards writing fiction, Jacqui’s gentle guidance steered me onto the right path. I can see now how much time her assistance saved me; working out the rules of story telling would have taken so much longer on my own.
Later on, when Jacqui had become a trusted friend, she provided invaluable help when I was struggling to find an agent. Despite consistently doing well in competitions, my novel (then called Half of You) seemed unable to entice any agents to bite. I was at a crossroads. After nearly ten years of writing, I felt that I had progressed as far as I could without being published. If this novel could not secure representation, I wasn’t sure that I had the heart to start another.
At this point Jacqui suggested several new agents for me to try. One of them, Andrew Lownie, was entirely new to me. It seemed miraculous when his agency made me an offer of representation almost as soon as I had sent him my book. Rights were then sold both in the UK and US and the novel, now titled The Conviction of Cora Burns will be simultaneously published in March 2019, with an audio book forthcoming later in the year.
My diary is now filling up with debut author speaking events, and my novel has been submitted for a range of prestigious prizes including the Desmond Elliott Prize and the Women’s Prize for Fiction. The coming year looks exactly like the future I could only dream of during those years as an unpublished writer. There are so many people who have helped me on this journey in many different ways, but Jacqui Lofthouse is at the head of my list.
– Carolyn Kirby – Author of The Conviction of Cora Burns
Jacqui’s Books & Personal Website
(affiliate links)
Katy Massey
Katy Massey writes fiction and scripts, as well as non-fiction and worked as a journalist for many years before completing her PhD on memoir and autobiography at Newcastle University. Katy’s memoir Are we home yet? about her relationship with her mother was published in 2020 by Jacaranda and was shortlisted for the Jhalak Prize this year.
Alongside her own work, she has guided and published numerous emerging writers and initiated her own Arts Council-funded literature projects. She has published two anthologies of memoir: Tangled Roots: True Life Stories About Mixed Race Britain, featuring 30-plus contributions, and Who are we now? a collection of first-person experiences of the 2016 Brexit referendum. She lives in East Sussex with her family and has just finished writing her first novel.
Vanessa Neuling
Vanessa Neuling is an experienced editor of fiction and memoir. She started her editorial career at Virago/Little,Brown, working with high-profile literary authors, before moving to become a Commissioning Editor at Random House, buying in and editing fiction and memoir. She’s the author of eleven novels under pseudonyms – Vanessa Greene, Abby Clements and Sadie Pearse – and has been published in thirteen countries. She is a sensitive and dedicated editor and writing mentor, with a passion for helping writers find and develop their voices.
Interests: commercial fiction, literary fiction, historical, suspense, book club fiction, and memoir.
To buy One of the Family from Amazon click here (affiliate link)
Chetan Mahajan
Chetan Mahajan is an author, blogger, and writing coach. He lives in a village in the Indian Himalayas where he writes full-time, and runs the Himalayan Writing Retreat. Over the past two years the Himalayan Writing Retreat has hosted over 15 events which have been attended by people from 5 nationalities, some travelling from halfway across the world.
His first book was published by Penguin in 2014. His writing career started at the unlikely venue of an Indian jail. Wrongly imprisoned as the fall guy for his employer, Chetan realized he was surrounded by interesting subject matter. Always a closet writer, Chetan started to write a daily diary. This was published by Penguin in 2014. The non-fiction The Bad Boys of Bokaro Jail is the story of an Indian jail told through Chetan’s eyes.
In addition to coaching and teaching, Chetan is also working on his next book. If he follows his own advice, it should be in the stores by mid 2019. His blog (Uncityblog) about leaving the city for the mountains recently won the Indiblogger award for humour. A graduate of the Northwestern University in Chicago, Chetan has formerly worked in the corporate world both in India and the US.
To buy The Bad Boys of Bokaro Jail from Amazon click here (affiliate link)
What is the Reader’s Report?
The Reader’s Report is a detailed, written report, which gives full editorial comments on the work submitted. It includes a summary of the work’s strengths, as well as constructive suggestions for improvement and editing. The report for a full-length manuscript will be between 7-10 single-spaced pages. We also annotate the manuscript with comments, usually via track-changes. Please note that this is not a full editing service, although we can quote for full editing.
The Reader’s Report includes:
- A summary of our response to the work and our objective advice on next steps as well as advice on the market-place
- Notes on the synopsis (if submitted) and its effectiveness
- An outline of the work’s strengths and weaknesses
- Comments on layout and presentation
- For novelists – notes on characterisation, dialogue, plot, point of view, narrative voice, pace and other technical aspects of the writing
- For non-fiction writers – notes on content, style, voice, structure and market-positioning
- Specific and constructive editorial suggestions on how to improve the work. This will be the focus of the report.
- Particular emphasis on any points raised in your New Client Form
If you would like to see a sample copy of one of our Reader’s Reports, please contact Jacqueline Smith – jacqueline@thewritingcoach.co.uk and she will forward an example.
Is there an alternative to the Reader’s Report?
Yes, we also offer the alternative of shorter bullet point notes and a 90 minute telephone/Zoom consultation. For an extra fee, where it is feasible, we can also offer in-person meetings.
Can Manuscript Assessment work with Coaching?
Yes. You may wish to consider the Full Mentor Programme as an alternative. However, if you wish for your full manuscript to be read before beginning on-going work with a mentor, you can simply begin mentoring after you have received your manuscript assessment.
Can you help me with the package I send to agents and publishers?
Yes. We can assess the first three chapters of your work under our Manuscript Assessment Service. If you wish us to also work on a pitch and submission letter etc, please ask for a tailored quote – email jacqueline@thewritingcoach.co.uk
The report will then detail exactly what needs to be done to ensure that the work really catches an agent’s eye.
I want to go ahead and submit my manuscript to you. What do I need to do now?
You can book your manuscript assessment via the form below
Please fill in the website contact form in addition to purchasing your assessment. We will then be in touch to organise a date for reading and return of the report. A New Client form will be sent to you before the work begins so that you can provide full details about your work and background along with any particular questions you have for your consultant.
Do also fill in the contact form if you have any of the following queries:
- If you would like to see a sample of a Reader’s Report
- If you would like us to tailor a combined literary consultancy and coaching package
Please use the following layout for your manuscript: Times New Roman 12pt, double spaced, A4, with page numbers in the bottom footer, centred. Where possible, please indent your paragraphs rather than using double line spaces.
Our standard turnaround for literary consultancy is 4-5 weeks.
We can’t wait to be in touch with you and find out more about your writing work!
Finding Jacqui has been the best thing I’ve done in furthering my writing career – better by far than any course I’ve undertaken or any help I’ve received from agents and editors. Trying to make the transition from academic writing to commercial non-fiction is not easy, but thanks to Jacqui’s insight and support, I finally feel like I might be ready to make it happen. For the first time, I know what I want to do and how I’m going to do it! What I’ve appreciated most of all has been her uncommon ability to put her finger on what needs to change, and to express it in a way that actually motivates me to rewrite. I’ve learned so much, and thoroughly enjoyed it, too. I’d recommend her to all the struggling, baffled and overwhelmed writers I know, if I didn’t want to keep her all to myself…
Dr. Victoria Best
Literary Consultancy
What is included:
- Email conversation with our team to help you choose the right reader
- Reading and annotation of your manuscript via track changes
- A detailed Reader’s Report on your work
- A 45-minute conversation with your Consultant
- Alternative option: Bullet point notes and a 90-minute consultation
FEES: All prices fully inclusive of VAT. If you are already a Member, please contact us to organise your discount.
Book your Manuscript Assessment
