Is your manuscript ready for formatting?
Authors spend money on formatting only to get it back and realise the text still needs editing. This checker gives you an objective verdict before you commit — free sample with email, detailed AI-augmented report for £4.99.
Deterministic checks run instantly on every upload. The paid tier layers an AI-powered developmental read on top — a senior-editor second opinion with specific examples and a downloadable PDF. Your file is stored privately for 30 days and never used for model training.
- Freeverdict + category signals
- £4.99AI-augmented detailed report
- 30 daysreport lookup window
- DOCXmanuscripts up to 50MB
How it works
The flow should be simple enough to use quickly and structured enough to produce a useful publishing decision.
Upload your manuscript
A .docx export works best — the analyzer uses heading styles to detect chapter structure. Direct-to-storage upload handles even very large illustrated manuscripts.
We run deterministic checks
Typo density, sentence-variance, consistency, structural signals, unfinished markers, dialect detection — all server-side, under a minute.
See your verdict (free with email)
Get the overall score, verdict band, and category headlines. Up to 5 free samples per IP per day, with email delivery of the summary.
Unlock the detailed report — £4.99
AI developmental read, specific examples, line-level findings, and a PDF you can share with a collaborator or editor. Valid for 30 days.
Verdict bands
What each verdict actually means — and which service fits
The tool is most useful when you understand why it picked the verdict it did, and what to do about it. Here's the framework, in plain language.
Your verdict tells you which editing tier (if any) your manuscript needs before formatting. Picking the wrong tier costs money — copy editing won't fix structural problems, and developmental editing on a polished manuscript is overkill. The bands below are how the tool decides.
Mechanically clean and structurally sound. The next step is interior typesetting and retailer-ready file generation, not editing.
When to choose: if you've already worked with an editor and copy editor, or you're a confident self-editor revisiting a polished draft.
Book book formatting →
Structure and pacing look healthy, but mechanical issues remain — typos, consistency, grammar, dialect mixing. These would show in print.
When to choose: if your manuscript reads well to you but you haven't had a fresh pair of eyes on the surface-level errors.
Start with copy editing →
The story or argument is there, but the prose needs tightening — sentence rhythm, paragraph flow, word choice. Line editing is the biggest reader-facing improvement at this tier.
When to choose: if readers tell you the writing 'feels off' or paragraphs feel longer than they should.
Start with line editing →
Structural signals suggest the manuscript isn't draft-complete or has pacing/structure problems. A developmental edit addresses the biggest issues before any detail-level edit — skipping this stage means polishing text that may get cut or rewritten.
When to choose: if you're not sure the book 'works' yet, or you've never had any editorial feedback. Every published book has been through this stage.
Book a free consultation →
One override: if the manuscript still contains unfinished markers (TODO / FIXME / bracketed placeholders) or has no detectable chapter structure, the verdict is forced to Needs developmental editingregardless of score band — those are bigger issues than line-level polish, and detail-level work would be wasted until they’re resolved. The detailed report explains when and why this fires.
FAQ
Questions authors ask before running the check
Next step
Once you know what your manuscript needs, the next step is booking the right service — not the wrong one.
If you're ready, book formatting. If you need editing first, start there. Either way, you save the back-and-forth.