The The NSW Writers' Centre

Manuscript Assessment

Do you want advice on how to improve your manuscript? Not sure your story is all that it can be? Need advice on character, story, dialogue, tone, pacing or style? In a one-hour session, one of our industry-experienced editors and manuscript assessors (see below) will work with you to help your manuscript reach its full potential.

What Manuscripts Will You Take?

Our manuscript assessors will accept adult fiction manuscripts in any genre, as well as narrative non-fiction including memoir, biography and travel. We cannot accept self-help, cookbooks, true crime or other forms of non-fiction.

Next Dates

• Saturday 2 June- Sharon Rundle

Booking In

The cost of a one-hour assessment is $150 for members and $190 for non-members. Please call the Centre on (02) 9555 9757 to book an appointment.

Once you have made your appointment, you will need to provide the following materials at least ten days before your assessment:

• a one-page synopsis
• the first 15 pages of your manuscript
• a brief writing CV

Submitted manuscripts must be typed in 1.5 or double spacing. You can email your materials to the Centre or mail them to the following address:

NSW Writers’ Centre
PO Box 1056
Rozelle NSW 2039

Can’t Get to the Centre?

Having a face-to-face manuscript assessment at the NSW Writers’ Centre without leaving your home is impossible, right? Not anymore, if you’re a regional member.

The NSW Writers’ Centre is now offering Skype manuscript assessment appointments for regional members only. What is Skype? Skype is a free computer program that allows voice and video calls via the internet. Calling from one computer to another is completely free, which means that you can see and speak to our manuscript assessor in Sydney as though they were in your home, without any additional cost.

You must use the Skype-friendly appointments (11.15am and 12.15pm) we’ve set aside in our regular manuscript assessment sessions and you must be a regional member.

Please note, we do not use web cams for Skype assessments. The only thing you need to do is download and install free Skype on your computer. When you book your Skype appointment you will be asked for your Skype user name. The NSW Writers’ Centre Skype name is NSWwriters.

About the Assessors

Deonie Fiford has more than ten years’ experience as a senior editor within the Australian publishing industry. In her career Deonie has worked for some of Australia’s leading publishing houses including Hachette, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster. She currently works as a freelance editor and teacher.

Sharon Rundle co-edited Fear Factor: Terror Incognito, a volume of short stories from Australia and the Indian sub-continent, Picador India (2009) Picador Australia (2010). Other published works are included in: Encounters -Modern Australian Short Stories and Desert in Bloom – Indian Women’s Fiction in English. Sharon lectures at the University of Technology Sydney; edits the UTS Alumni Writers Connect and is Head of the UTS Alumni Writers’ Network. She runs the Round Table Writing Manuscript Service.