Query Assessment Services by Darling Axe Editing

Welcome to the Darling Axe, a team of professional editors and award-winning writers. Descriptions of our query critique services are below, but we recommend you also take the time to review our bios and visit our blog. You need to decide, after all, whether we are a good fit for your work.

Query critique and assessment services—get a professional editor's advice on your query letter, synopsis and sample pages

So you're ready to showcase your manuscript to literary agents and publishers. Our query critique options include a workshop of your query letter and a close look at your synopsis and first 5,000 words. 

All Darling Axe query critique services now come with complementary access to Query Quest, our self-paced course about the hunt for representation.

Query Letter Workshop

Your choice: we will either evaluate two query letters or you can submit the same letter for two rounds of feedback. (Includes complimentary access to Query Quest.)

Cost: $60 USD ($80 CAD)

Synopsis Critique

One of our editors will perform a developmental edit on your 500-word synopsis. This top-down analysis is useful for identifying structural issues and other red flags that will snag with agents. (Includes complimentary access to Query Quest.)

Cost $60 USD ($80 CAD)

First 5000

Your query letter and synopsis are important parts of the submission package, but your writing sample is the true test. In fact, many agents read the sample first. This service includes a developmental edit of your first 5000 words. (Includes complimentary access to Query Quest.)

Cost: $130 USD ($176 CAD)

Double Dip

A developmental edit of your first 5000 words and your choice: a query letter workshop as described above OR a synopsis critique. (Includes complimentary access to Query Quest.)

Cost: $170 USD ($230 CAD)

The Complete Critique

All three services: first, you get a query letter workshop with three rounds of feedback. Second, we take a close look at your 500-word synopsis. Third, we perform a development edit on your first 5000 words. (Includes complimentary access to Query Quest.)

Cost: $200 USD ($270 CAD)

 

Reality check: the world of traditional publishing is highly competitive. Literary agents can receive as many as fifty unsolicited manuscript submissions per day. We do not guarantee that our query-critique service will result in an offer of representation or a publishing contract. Sometimes, therefore, the best advice we can give is to keep refining your story. In other cases, we might recommend self-publication as the most realistic route to exposure and book sales.

 

 

Query quest: a self-paced course for querying authors; find out how to appeal to literary agents and self-critique your work