See exactly what Edith sends back
A sample Stage 1 read on a made-up novel, shown the way it looks inside Edith: the editorial letter, and the points you’d talk through together. Deliberately brief. This is the shape of the letter you get on your first 10,000 words, free; on the whole book, the letter runs much longer and every point opens for discussion.
Editorial letter · Stage 1
The Salt Road
Literary fiction
Dear author,
I've read The Salt Road twice now, once quickly and once slowly, and I want to be honest with you the way a good editor should: this is a real book, with a real writer behind it, and it is not yet the book it wants to be. Both of those things are true, and the second one is good news, because the gap between them is craft, and craft is fixable.
An abbreviated sample. Your editorial letter is a full read of your whole manuscript, and runs considerably longer.
This is the letter Edith writes for every book.
A short sample on a fictional novel. Yours is a full read of your whole manuscript: longer, more thorough, honest, and yours to keep.
On a phone? Edith works on your computer. We’ll email you a link.
Email me the link to start
Edith reads your first 10,000 words and writes you an editorial letter, no credit card needed. The whole book, with every point open to discuss, is $15. Never used to train anything, and yours to delete.
- Honest
- Never rewrites your voice
- Private
The points you’d talk through
developmental
For a hundred pages her goal is the engine of the book. After the midpoint it goes quiet under plot. Let's find the exact page it slips and put her wanting back on the page, so the second half pulls as hard as the first.
Talking it through
Edith
Here's what I mean, concretely. In chapter seven Mara turns down the harbourmaster's offer, and I couldn't tell whether it was fear or pride. Do you know which it is?
You
Fear, mostly. She's afraid that taking it would mean admitting she's staying.
Edith
Good, that's the thing to put on the page. Right now the scene shows the refusal but not the fear underneath it. One line of her noticing what she's afraid of would carry the whole middle. You don't need more plot; you need that.
structural
Your instinct for restraint is a gift, but the confrontation in chapter nine needs room to hurt. The expensive moments, the ones your characters would rather avoid, are where readers actually live. Give them the space.
developmental
The final chapter resolves the harbour subplot beautifully. But the question that actually drives the novel, whether Mara can forgive herself, is left half-open. That may be the right choice, but let's make it on purpose rather than by accident.
developmental
This is the thing not to touch. Your prose earns its silences. Whatever we change in the pages ahead, we protect the restraint that makes the book unmistakably yours.
Four points here, to give you the idea. A full read of your book surfaces many more, across every stage of the edit.
Private, and never used to train AI
Your manuscript is the work of your life. We treat it that way. Three promises, and none of them bend:
- Private to your account. Your manuscript is locked to your account. It is never shared, sold, or shown to anyone else.
- Never used to train AI. We read your manuscript only to give you feedback. It is never used to train any AI model.
- We never write for you. Notes and suggestions only, exactly like a human editor in the margins. No word of ours ever ends up in your book.
This is Stage 1. There are five more.
Stage 1 is your complete editorial letter, an honest read of your book. It starts with your first 10,000 words, free; the whole book is $15. From there, structure, scenes, and the line edit follow, one stage at a time. You choose a package after you’ve seen the letter.
An honest read of your whole novel
Notes you settle, one at a time
Line edits you accept or reject
Back in your file, every word yours
On a phone? Edith works on your computer. We’ll email you a link.