Opening Section Review: get feedback on your work in progress – Jericho Writers
Jericho Writers
167-169 Great Portland street, 5th Floor, London, W1W 5PF
UK: +44 (0)330 043 0150
US: +1 (646) 974 9060
Perfect for new and experienced writers

Opening Section Review

From £395
Need help understanding the strengths and weaknesses of your work in progress? Get expert advice on the opening 20,000 words of your book, plus a report on how to improve things, quickly.
2-4 week turnaround time

Improve your writing with expert feedback

One of the biggest challenges writers face is knowing whether their writing is working or not. This can cause your progress to slow to a crawl or stop all together. The best way to remedy this is with impartial feedback from someone who knows what they’re talking about.

Our Opening Section Review offers expert feedback on the opening 20,000 words of your manuscript. Ideal for first-time writers needing guidance, as well as experienced writers who want a sense-check on their works-in-progress.

Could you be our next success story?

We’ve helped hundreds of writers like you get published. Many of our clients have gone on to win prizes, become bestsellers, get film deals, achieve huge global sales, and more. Now it’s your turn.

What’s included?

Whether you choose the express or regular service, you’ll receive:

Actionable feedback on 20,000 words

Focusing on your writing style, structure, and pacing, your 2,000 word editor’s report will show you the strengths and weaknesses of your work.

Advice on commercial potential

We’ll assess the commercial viability of your work, ultimately empowering you with the knowledge you need to get your book sold.

Advice on every aspect of your writing

Your report will cover how your writing fares in terms of characterisation, pace, structure, and overall style – ensuring nothing is missed.

Discussion with your editor

After you receive your report, you’ll have the opportunity for a short email exchange with your editor to clarify anything you’re unsure of before you begin polishing your work.

Why choose us?

There are lots of companies promising you the dream of getting your book published. We value ourselves on only ever selling you a service that we think will benefit you. Not sure if this one is right for you? Give us a call, we’d love to hear from you. If we don’t think this service is right for you, we’ll tell you – honestly. This is one of the many values we hold that have helped us run Jericho Writers successfully for over 20 years.

Jericho Writers Opening Section Review

What’s included in our opening section review?

Other Providers

Feedback on manuscript
20,000 words
15,000 words
Feedback on commercial potential
Detailed editorial report
2,000 word editorial report
1,500 word report
Work with a professional editor
Opportunity to ask follow-up questions directly with editor?
Express Service available

Want to see exactly what you’ll receive from an editor?

Read through a sample report from a recent Opening Section Review completed by one of our editors to understand exactly what level of feedback you’ll receive.

GET FEEDBACK TO IMPROVE YOUR WORK IN AS LITTLE AS TWO WEEKS

Improve your manuscript with expert feedback

Most Popular!
£395

OPENING SECTION REVIEW

Get a 2,000 word editorial report on the opening 20,000 words of your book
Receive actionable feedback that will elevate your work
Discuss your report with your editor over email
Receive your report in four weeks
Please note, during busy periods turnaround times may be extended
Premium Members enjoy 10% off
£489

EXPRESS OPENING SECTION REVIEW

Want to get to work improving your writing as soon as possible?
Our express service gives you everything in a normal Opening Section Review, but quicker
Receive your report in two weeks
Discuss your report with your editor over email
Premium Members enjoy 10% off

Need more info before you decide?

Choosing the right service for your work is hard. But we’re on hand to help! Book a call with our Writer Support team at a time to suit you to talk through the options.

Our Book Editors

We’ve worked hard over 20 years to hand-pick our team of expert editors. Once you buy your Opening Section Review, our Writer Support Team will match you with the editor that best fits your work. Our book editors specialise in trade fiction and non-fiction texts. They include traditionally published authors as well as publishing professionals such as literary agents and editors with Big 5 publisher experience.

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Abby Davies

Abby Davies

Editor

  • Bio
  • Books
  • Genres
  • Awards

Abby Davies is the author of Mother Loves Me (2020) and The Cult (2021), both published by HarperCollins, and Arrietty (2023) by Apple Loft Press.

Abby has an incredible eye for pace and tension, both on a sentence-by-sentence level and across the entirety of your manuscript. She’ll tease out what needs to be done to make a manuscript work, whilst telling you what you’re already doing well.

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  • Thriller
  • Crime
  • Action
  • Women’s fiction
  • Young Adult
  • Mother Loves Me was shortlisted for Mslexia Novel Competition 2018
Claire Gillman

Claire Gillman

Editor

  • Bio
  • Genres

Claire is an experienced journalist, writer and editor. She has been coaching and mentoring writers for nearly 15 years.

Claire has written 30 non-fiction books for adults and creative non-fiction titles for children, some under the pen-name, Rory Storm. Among her titles are three books in the Hodder Teach Yourself series on how to get published and how to make money from freelance writing. She has coached authors for top publishing houses and has also run writers’ workshops, always with the emphasis on fun, style and discovering your inner creativity.

  • Memoir / autobiography
  • Biography
  • Mind/Body/Spirit
  • Travel
  • Parenting
  • Natural health writing
  • Other narrative non-fiction
  • Creative non-fiction
Clare Coombes

Clare Coombes

Editor / Literary Agent

  • Bio
  • Books
  • Genres

Clare Coombes is an author, editor and literary agent with over 15 years’ experience of writing and editing professionally. She is a co-founder of the first Liverpool-based literary agency. Clare is a published author of two novels, Definitions (2015) and We Are of Dust (2018).

Her experience spans the breadth of editorial services and includes work across a variety of forms including full fiction manuscripts, anthologies, non-fiction proposals and pitches for film and TV.

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  • Historical fiction
  • Women’s fiction
  • Crime/Thriller/Action
  • Contemporary
  • Literary (including Book Club)
  • Romance
  • Memoir / Autobiography
  • Other narrative non-fiction
  • Subject-led non-fiction
Jon Curzon

Jon Curzon

Editor / Literary Agent

  • Bio
  • Genres

Jon Curzon is a literary agent at Artellus Ltd., where he represents writers across fiction and non-fiction. Client’s he has represented have been published in the UK, US, Germany, France, India, the Netherlands, South Korea, and Greece.

In addition to his agenting work, Jon has also worked as a freelance editor for literary consultancies and creative writing courses since 2015. His perspective as an agent allows him to precisely identify what’s working in your manuscript and what needs tweaking in order to take your work to the next level.

  • Contemporary
  • Literary (including Book Club)
  • Comic/Satire
  • Short stories / Novellas
  • Memoir / Autobiography
  • Other narrative non-fiction
Lesley McDowell

Lesley McDowell

Editor

  • Bio
  • Books
  • Genres

Lesley is the author of fiction and non-fiction as well as short stories and was a literary critic for major newspapers. She is the recipient of three Creative Scotland awards, a Society of Authors grant, and was Writer in Residence at Gladstone’s Library in 2014. She has been a judge for several literary awards, and chairs regularly at book festivals.

Lesley’s knowledge of the market and publishing as a business shines in every report she does, as does her enthusiasm for the art of storytelling.

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  • Contemporary
  • Women’s Fiction
  • Literary (including Book Club)
  • Crime/Thriller/Action
  • Paranormal
  • Memoir/Autobiography
  • Other narrative non-fiction
Dexter Petley

Dexter Petley

Editor

  • Bio
  • Books
  • Genres

Dexter Petley is an experienced editor, acclaimed literary novelist, memoirist and translator. As a long serving editor with Jericho Writers, (since 2005) many of Dexter’s clients have achieved considerable success in finding agents and publishers.

Dexter does not shy away from complex themes or influences. His expertise spans entire genres, from commercial book club to war fiction. He takes everything in his stride, turning his fastidious, but fair, eye to anything at hand – making you a better writer for it.

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  • Contemporary
  • Literary (Including ‘bookclub’)
  • Crime/Thriller/Action
  • Historical fiction
  • Women’s fiction
  • Comic/satire
  • Young Adult
  • Short Stories & novellas
  • Memoir/autobiography
  • Other Narrative Non-fiction
  • Subject-led Non-fiction
Holly Seddon

Holly Seddon

Editor/Mentor/Tutor

  • Bio
  • Books
  • Genres

Holly is an international bestselling author with six published novels to date. She is also a mentor and tutor on our Ultimate Novel Writing Course.

Holly is endlessly supportive and encouraging of every writer we send her way. We love her concise and on-point editorial style.

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  • Contemporary
  • Literary (Including ‘bookclub’)
  • Crime/Thriller/Action
  • Women’s fiction
  • Short Stories & novellas
  • Plays and screen scripts
Helen Lane

Helen Lane

Editor / Literary Agent

  • Bio
  • Genres

As an agent, Helen is very hands on developmentally, and works with her clients to perfect their manuscripts before submission, encouraging her authors to push their writing to new levels. Before becoming an agent, she spent years producing developmental edit reports for the agents she interned under. Her strengths lie particularly in identifying plot holes and pacing, world building, and character development.

  • Science Fiction
  • Fantasy
  • Paranormal
  • Young Adult
Russel McLean

Russel McLean

Editor

  • Bio
  • Books
  • Genres

A former bookseller, Russel McLean is an author, editor, and teacher. He has worked for publishers of various sizes as a developmental editor, including work on one book that was shortlisted for the McIlvanney Prize for best Scottish Crime Fiction at the Bloody Scotland Festival. He has also run masterclasses in fiction writing for festivals, universities and creative writing groups, as well as advising MLitt students on the fiction element of their dissertations for the University of Dundee’s crime writing and forensics course.

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  • Crime/Thriller/Action
  • Science Fiction
  • Fantasy
  • Comic/satire
  • Paranormal
  • Short Stories & novellas
Philip Womack

Philip Womack

Editor/Tutor

  • Bio
  • Books
  • Genres

Philip is the author of The Other Book and The Liberators (Bloomsbury). The Liberators was a Children’s Book of the Year for 2010. He teaches Creative Writing to BA and MA students at London University, and has been a literary critic for nearly twenty years, as well as a freelance journalist for a variety of national newspapers and magazines.

Philip is known for his honest and well-informed editorial reports – particularly those he does for children’s authors and sci-fi and fantasy writers. Philip is also a Tutor on our Ultimate Novel Writing Course.

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  • Contemporary
  • Literary (Including ‘bookclub’)
  • Crime/Thriller/Action
  • Science Fiction
  • Fantasy
  • Comic/satire
  • Paranormal
  • Short Stories & novellas
  • Children’s
  • Young Adult
  • Memoir/autobiography
  • Other Narrative Non-fiction
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Don’t take just our word for it…

We’ve been helping writers achieve their goals for over 20 years. Here’s what some of them had to say about our editorial services:

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You kindly gave me some excellent feedback on the initial stages of my novel. Well, it’s “finished”, and I have been fortunate to have it shortlisted for the Wilbur Smith Foundation Award for Adventure novel of the year (unpublished).

Richard F

Richard F

Opening Section Review customer

Your comments on the random points of view in my opening paragraph left me stunned! I take all your advice gratefully, and all of the technical points like POV, tense, dialogue, etc., went straight on the to do list.

Steve K

Steve K

Opening Section Review customer

Thank you again for your encouragement and many brilliant suggestions for my Cuba novel. I found them very perceptive and incorporated them into another draft.

Marion D

Marion D

Opening Section Review customer

Thank you so much for thorough feedback, kind words and encouragement. It means a lot. I found your report very clear and it sparked many ideas

Aman K

Aman K

Editorial customer

I remain impressed by both the quality and the quantity of Liz’s work. Apart from the overall comments, she goes into such great detail, character by character, chapter by chapter, missing nothing.

Carmella A

Carmella A

Editorial customer

I was also blown away with your encouragement and thoughtfulness. You have given me excellent advice on how to focus on not only the query and synopsis, but also the plot. I encourage other writers to use your service.

Milo P

Milo P

Agent Submission Pack Review customer

Thank you for your perceptive and incisive report. I’ve been desperate for help like this and so much wish that I had found Jericho Writers a few years ago.

Richard F

Richard F

Editorial customer

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Frequently asked
questions

1

Who will be giving the feedback?

An editor who best suits your editorial content. We match manuscripts based on 15 years of experience working with our editors. We consider editor experience, their genres of interest, and whether they themselves feel they are the right fit for your work. As all our editors are freelance, this depends on availability.

2

Can I contact the editor directly?

No, but their in-depth report will contain actionable advice for you to progress with your manuscript.

3

How long does it take?

The turnaround is usually three to four weeks.

4

What genres do you accept?

All trade fiction and non-fiction. We are not suited to edit academic texts.

5

Do I need to be based in the UK for this service?

Not at all, our editorial services are delivered online and are suitable for writers from all around the world.

6

Can you help me find an agent?

Yes, you can log onto Jericho Writers’ AgentMatch, our database of over 1,000 UK and US literary agents.