professional, friendly manuscript assessment and editorial services
STORIES SHAPE OUR WORLD
At Manuscriptfeedback.com we believe that access to professional, high quality manuscript assessment, editorial advice and mentoring should be available to everyone. We keep costs low so writers can get the editorial help they need to best showcase their voices. Stories shape our world and should be heard from all sections of society. By providing affordable editorial services, we hope, in our own small way, to help that happen. But we also want to respect the time our mentors give and to pay them fairly, so we've worked hard to balance honourable rates with affordable products. We hope you agree that’s a good way to work.
"After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world."
Philip Pullman
EMMA GREENWOOD
Director
Good to meet you! I run things around here, so it's me you'll chat to when you get in contact. I'm thrilled to have brought together such a superb team of mentors to help aspiring and emerging writers with their work. A few years ago, I set up the Golden Egg Academy Foundations course. I worked with over sixty writers, helping them strengthen their manuscripts and teaching them the skills of the trade, but I wanted to establish my own team and reach out to writers who might not be able to afford the usual channels and so I set up Manuscriptfeedback.com. I apprenticed under some of the top children's editors in the UK, cutting my teeth alongside former commissioning editors or editorial directors from Chicken House, David Fickling, Hodder, Penguin, Hot Key Books, Piccadilly Press, Orion and Orchard. I specialise in children's middle grade fiction and was the concept and initial editor on Serena Patel's debut, Anisha, Accidental Detective (Usborne), which won the Sainsbury's Children's Book Award 2020 and was shortlisted for the British Book Awards Children's Fiction Book of the Year 2021; Alex Evelyn's debut, The Secret Wild (Walker Books); and Sabine Adeyinka's debut Jummy at the River School. I'm also a story structure and narrative expert, so if I love your story or narrative non-fiction then I'd be thrilled to work with you.
SARAH MUSSI
Fiction Mentor
Sarah Mussi is the multi-award winning author of over a dozen teen and YA novels. Her tense thriller Siege was nominated for the CILIP Carnegie Medal and won the BBUKYA award for contemporary YA fiction. Her first title The Door of No Return was shortlisted for the Branford Boase, Riot won the Lancashire Book of the Year award and Bomb was listed in the The Guardian New Best Kids Books list. Her trilogy, The Chronicles of Snowdonia, is a set of dark romantic thrillers set on Snowdon, featuring the timeless myths of Wales, King Arthur and the Mabinogion. Book one, Here be Dragons, was showcased in the People’s Book Prize. Sarah delivers workshops at writers' conferences and festivals across the country and has tutored aspiring authors for Bloomsbury, Creative Words Matter, Golden Egg and SCBWI. She loves to work on teen and YA stories, adult thrillers and fantasy.
ALEX CAMPBELL
Fiction Mentor
Alex is the author of YA novels Land and Cloud 9 (both published by Hot Key Books) and (as Alex Cotter) the middle grade thriller, The House on The Edge (Nosy Crow). Land was nominated for the CILIP Carnegie Award in 2016 and The House on the Edge was selected as a WHSmiths Children's Book of the Month in 2021. Alex is an experienced creative writing teacher and has mentored and edited writers across the UK. She edits both fiction and non-fiction books. When she's not writing and editing, she helps run an annual children’s book festival. Alex has an interest in middle-grade and YA stories, women's fiction and adult crime.
ADDY FARMER
Picture Book Mentor
Addy is published in poetry, picture books and chapter books. Her books include Siddharth and Rinki (Random House); two Arts Council funded stories: A Place Called Home and A Bagful of Stars; Grandad's Bench (Walker); I Love You, Sunshine (developed with Child Bereavement UK); and Little Peat (Owlett Hall). She has won a number of awards and been shortlisted with New Writing North and Mslexia. Addy is a network organiser for the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) and blogs at the popular and long-established wellspring of inspiration and advice for aspiring children's writers, Notes from the Slushpile. She is represented by Chloe Davis at Darley Anderson.
WHAT WRITERS SAY ABOUT US
"I worked with Emma on my funny middle-grade debut, the first in the Anisha Mistry series (Usborne, 2019). Emma was razor sharp and tuned into my story from the beginning. She helped me get to the core of what I was trying to write about and get rid of the rubbish early on. Emma is supportive and generous with her feedback and time. I couldn't have finished my book without her insight and guidance. She is a one in a million editor and I'm sure anyone who works with her will benefit from her eagle-eyed attention to detail and her ability to get the best out of a writer."
Serena signed a three-book deal with Usborne in 2018 after being mentored by Emma for 14 months. Anisha, Accidental Detective won the Sainsbury's Children's Book Award, was shortlisted for the British Book Award for Children's Fiction, featured in The Guardian's Best New Children's Books roundup and was listed as a Bookseller's One to Watch.
Serena Patel
"I've been lucky enough to attend workshops and classes lead by Emma, and her tuition has played an invaluable role in my author journey. With a thorough understanding of the children’s book industry, Emma is an encouraging yet constructively critical teacher. From helping with structure and plot, to giving advice on character, voice and tone, Emma imparts her knowledge with professionalism, warmth and a cracking sense of humour. Can’t recommend this lady enough!"
Holly signed with Chicken House Books after attending the Golden Egg Foundation Year taught by Emma. Her debut, Demelza & the Spectre Detectors, released 2020.
Holly Rivers
"I was stuck and didn’t know how to develop my story. Alex helped me to stand back and look at my novel with fresh eyes. She got me re-connecting with my characters in ways I hadn’t thought of before. I couldn’t have moved forward without her."
Sasha writes original plays for stage and is also a theatre director. She writes children's novels and is working on her first adult ghost story
Sasha Mears
"Addy has been critiquing my picture book stories for several years and she always does so in a thoughtful, supportive way. She has a great eye for the heart of a story and a real flair for helping you to work out the strongest elements without ever imposing her own ideas."
Liz is a network co-ordinator for the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, Central North.
Liz Miller
"Sarah Mussi knows how stories, and the people who write them, work and she’s a wizard with both. Under her guidance, I’ve seen writers grow in confidence and skill and discover abilities they didn’t know they had. She can get to the heart of what you want – and are struggling – to say and explain it all with warmth and compassion. I’ve worked with Sarah for over a decade at the Winchester Writers' Festival and as colleagues in Creative Words Matter with Barbara Large and seen her enthusiasm and expertise first hand. She’s the best of the best!"
Adrienne is an author and a workshop leader at Winchester Writers' Festival.