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Editorial Consultancy Service
Fish Publishing offers a full Editorial Consultancy Service. The Service is designed to provide writers with on-going, constructive feedback on their work, whether it is a complete novel or just the beginnings.
The Editorial Service will provide authors with the opportunity to request assistance on specific areas and to then re-submit the work as it progresses. To maintain consistency, the same editor will remain with an author throughout the editing process. This Service offers a one to one opportunity to discuss your work and to meet your individual needs and requirements.
Fish Publishing also offers a book proposal editorial consultancy service. Feedback is based on assessing all the elements necessary for a book proposal: that it should be clear, succinct, engaging, and original; with sound spelling, punctuation, and grammar; and a clear indication of direction and target audience. This is a one-off service, but authors may resubmit if they require further assistance. See below for fee and payment details.
Submissions should include the following:
A brief synopsis (max. 350 words), whether the novel is complete or only sample chapters are being submitted. The synopsis should be a description of the full work (or work done to date) to give a sense of how the plot parts fit together.
- Character outline
- Intended genre
- Intended audience
- Basis of writing – i.e. autobiographical or biographical
- Word count (estimate if it is unfinished)
- Outline of of any specific areas on which you would like the editor to comment
Editorial Feedback – what you can expect
- To what extent has the writer achieved what was intended?
- Overall comment on the standard of the work and what needs to be done to bring it to a publishable standard, e.g. Is the beginning engaging? Does the story hold the reader’s attention throughout?
- Is the structure clear?, i.e. Are the component parts integrated?
- Is there superfluous material? If so, what can be cut without losing the overall impact ?
- Is the writing convincing?, i.e. Is the language and style original? Is the prose fluent, accessible, clear? If it is obscure or challenging – does this work ? If strongly influenced by other writers – does this work ?
- Is the plot well developed ?, i.e. If the plot relies on tension is this handled effectively ?
- How strong is the characterisation ? This is especially important if the novel is primarily character driven rather then plot driven. Is the dialogue realistic? Is it easy to follow? If written in dialect or intended to evoke accent, how well has this been done and is it still intelligible to those unfamiliar with the accent?
- Does the ending work ?
- Comments on the freshness and originality of the work both in and outside the chosen genre.
Fees:
- First Chapter (or first 5,000 words) + 350-word Synopsis - €60
- Up to 10,000 words + synopsis - €125
- Up to 25,000 words + synopsis - €195
- Over 26,000 words. + synopsis - €195 + €25 per additional 5,000 words
- Over 100,000 words + synopsis - From €495*
- Book Proposal Assessment - €80
*Above 100,000 words, Authors are invited to discuss the level of editorial support they require, so that a price based on total word count and editorial service level can be agreed.
Our Editorial Servce is only available by post and not through our online system. However for all initial enquiries and for a price quotation on the work you require, please E-mail kgould@fishpublishing.com
Submitting Manuscripts
Our general submission guidelines are:-
We much prefer to deal with your manuscripts electronically if possible. All submissions can be made on-line of via e-mail. Contact our Editorial staff to discuss you particular requirements.
Personal cheques in your own currency should be made payable to ‘Fish Publishing’. Postal Orders are also accepted from Ireland and the UK.
Please include a stamped addressed envelope with any postal submissions if sending from within UK, or International Reply Coupons if writing from any other country.
This service is in addition to our normal Critique Service
For more information E-mail our editorial staff.
Editor
Katie Gould has been
an editor for Fish Publishing for four years. She is a book critic for
a number of magazines and broadsheets; literary magazine editor; agent
submissions assistant; editor for a number of publishers in the UK and
US; and reader for The Scotsman & Orange Short Story Prize.
She is employed as editor to published author, two-time Pushcart and BASS nominee, and recipient of the 2004 Fish International Short Story Prize, Marc Phillips. She edited his debut novel Fifty Stone Men ( To be Published by Telegram Books, Spring 2009), a short story collection, and screenplay, all of which have obtained agent representation.
Katie has worked as a research assistant to Germaine Greer and Shere Hite and as an English language teacher. She has a BA in Journalism and MA in Gender, Literature, and Modernity from Warwick University.
Testimonials
"Precious few editors can immerse themselves in a writer's creative vision and materially participate in the realization of that vision without imposing their own. This trait alone makes Kate indispensable to me. She was instrumental in attaining agent representation for my first novel in the US and UK, and has since edited every piece I've completed - from journalism to verse. She achieves the harmonic writer/editor partnership often promised and rarely seen. I trust her opinion as much as my own."
Marc Phillips, USA
I spent three years in a writing rut, going nowhere with the structure of an all right tale until Katie pondered, deconstructed, reshuffled, and re-set. Three weeks with Katie and the opening explodes, the fat is trimmed, the plot thickened, the characters assassinated, and the denouement reached. Thereafter, I was runner-up in a novel writing competition.
Mary D'Arcy. UK
"It is perhaps unlikely that you will remember me, but you were encouraging and helpful several times over recent years and I wanted to tell you that at last I've had a novel accepted".
Christine Holmes, UK
"The Critique was excellent. It was positive and affirming
with plenty of very perceptive advice. What gave me most satisfaction
was that the editor really understood what I was trying to do.
Even if no one else ever reads this particular work, your editor's sympathetic
and constructive response has made the effort so far very worthwhile.
I look forward to further contact with Fish Publishing".
Jim O'Leary, Ireland
"I deeply appreciate the value of the constructive, positive ideas given.
It has worked well. Many thanks. I am now tightening manuscript
throughout to submit to publishers".
Hazel Menehira, New Zealand
"Golddust is all I can say! Loved your comments, I see what you mean and am doing all you suggest. Thank you so much for your constructive, encouraging remarks"
Laura Graham, Siena..
"I found the detailed Critique of my synopsis and first chapter immensely helpful and astonishingly insightful. Despite the fact that this was a 5,000-word submission you seem to have an almost uncanny grasp of the way the characters develop".
Sion Scott-Wilson, Singapore
"I have finally worked my way through the critique your company
recently forwarded, and wanted you to know how much I appreciate your
editor's wading through these eighteen chapters. The critique was both
comprehensive and helpful. I agreed with and incorporated nearly every
suggestion offered.
Although I only sent the first half of the novel for critique, the feedback
was thorough enough that I felt sufficiently confident to send queries
to several agents and publishers. If they aren't interested, it won't
be because of Fish Publishing. Good job. "
Pat Shagoury, USA
Short Stories to read online
Read online some of the winning entries from previous Fish Anthologies. These are examples of the calibre that win the Fish Short Story Prize. Short Stories to read online
Writing Short Stories
Our new Writing feature provides some suggestions on the art of story writing. The page is designed to provide writers with on-going, constructive information about how other authors achieved success with writing short fiction. For more information visit our Writing Short Stories page.
Online Entry
Our Fish-On-Line online entry system provides a convenient way to enter our contests on the web. Register as an online Fish author and you can enter current and forthcoming Writing Contests. Writers may also enter any of our competitions by post. See our Writing Contests page for full details
Online Book Shop
You can buy Fish Publishing's Anthologies of short stories on-line in our online book shop – The Fish Shop.