What it costs
What manuscript critique / first-reader report costs — and what you're actually buying
A manuscript critique costs £85–£215 for three chapters and a synopsis, or £250–£600 for a full first read. You are buying the honest reaction of someone with no social stake in the answer, which is the one thing nobody close to you can give you.
What good looks like
- Fast turnaround, because the point is to catch problems early
- Specific about where attention dropped
- Willing to say the idea is not working
- Cheap enough that it is not a big decision
A free outside view of your own pages
Send up to 5,000 words. You get back what the draft appears to be doing to somebody who wasn't there when you wrote it, the strongest thing in it named, the exact place a reader starts to drift, and three revision priorities in order.
An AI-assisted read of your own pages. Not a human edit, not a line edit, and not a scored report.
What you are actually buying
A first-reader report is a fast, early read on whatever exists — usually the first three chapters — answering the question underneath most requests for feedback: is this worth continuing?
Why it costs that
A critique is priced on the reading and the writing of a response — three chapters and a synopsis is a few hours; a full first read of a complete manuscript is a day or more. What you are buying is the honest reaction of someone with no social stake in the answer, which is the one thing nobody close to you can give you.
How to spend less
Buy it on three chapters rather than the whole book, at least the first time. The opening is where an agent, a browsing reader and a sample-reader all decide, so it is the highest-leverage 3,000 words you own — and if the opening is not working, a full-manuscript critique tells you the same thing for four times the price.
What good looks like
- Fast turnaround, because the point is to catch problems early
- Specific about where attention dropped
- Willing to say the idea is not working
- Cheap enough that it is not a big decision
Questions to ask them
- How quickly, and how much will you read?
- Will you tell me if you think I should stop?
Red flags
- A long turnaround, which defeats the purpose
- Encouragement in place of assessment
- Being upsold to a full developmental edit before the first read is delivered
Honestly
A first read is an impression, not an analysis. If you want the structural diagnosis — why something is not working and what to do about it — that is a developmental edit and it costs several times as much.
About Your Book Pro
Your Book Pro is a book-writing platform built in Britain. Start with an idea, notes, half a draft, a podcast, or a finished manuscript, and use our purpose-built AI tools for planning, feedback, editing, proofreading, cover designs, and to create print-ready files. Writing is totally free: you can type, upload or speak your book as much as you like, and use only the editing tools you need with Plus, or go unlimited with Pro.
Produce world-class drafts at the fraction of the cost of hiring a human editorial team.
Every account starts with 1,000 welcome credits, and a plain export of your own words is free.
These prices are here to be used, not to sell you something — brief a freelancer with them, sanity-check a quote, or work out what you actually need. Where Your Book Pro changes the arithmetic, the page says so; where it does not, it says that too.
A first read is an impression, not an analysis. If you want the structural diagnosis — why something is not working and what to do about it — that is a developmental edit and it costs several times as much.
What it costs
| What you are buying | Typical range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| First three chapters | £85–£215 | ~2–5 hrs at CIEP £42.66 |
| Full first read with short report | £250–£600 | ~6–14 hrs at CIEP £42.66 |
CIEP suggested minimum rates effective 1 March 2026; Books.by; publishing.co.uk; The Ghostwriters Agency. Dated 9 September 2026.
Get a first read
Get my costed planQuestions people ask
- What's the difference between a critique and a beta read?
- A critique is a professional's judgement on whether the writing works. A beta read is a reader's experience of reading it. Both useful, different questions.
- How much does a manuscript critique cost?
- £85–£215 for three chapters and a synopsis; £250–£600 for a full first read.
- When should I get my first feedback?
- Earlier than most people do — on a complete first draft, or on three chapters if you are unsure the approach is working at all.
- Will it be brutal?
- It should be specific, which is not the same thing. A good critique names mechanisms and locations, not verdicts.