True Path Publishing

Manuscript critique & assessment

An honest, detailed read on your manuscript, before you query or publish.

Your book goes through a longer, multi-stage review: several separate AI review systems, cross-checked, then a final human review. You get detailed written reports for much less than a full edit, usually within 72 hours. We don't write or rewrite anything. Every word stays yours.

See sample reports Get an estimate

Reports from $195 · Most reports back within 72 hours · A fixed quote before any work starts · 14-day money-back guarantee

Why this is different

Not a quick, one-pass AI review. Several reviews, checked against each other, then read by a person.

Plenty of services offer AI manuscript reviews now, and most are a quick, single pass: one system reads the book once, and you're left to sort out which notes matter. One system can be confidently wrong, and on your own it's hard to tell. Ours takes longer and has several stages.

  1. Several separate reviews

    Your manuscript goes through several separate AI review systems, each using review questions we built around what agents and publishers commonly look for.

  2. Cross-checked

    We compare their findings. When several flag the same problem, it's usually worth your attention. When they disagree, we check the passage in your book and settle it there.

  3. A final human review

    Lorraine or Brandon reads the results, goes back to the passages they point to, drops anything that doesn't fit your book, and puts what matters most at the top.

Why 72 hours

Most reports are back within 72 hours. That's enough time to run every stage of the process, from the separate reviews to the cross-check and the final human read. It's days, not the weeks or months a full edit can take, so you have a clear starting point while the book is still fresh in your mind. It works best before you hire an editor, not instead of one. We give you a firm delivery date before we start.

What authors say

In authors' own words

“At first, I found the report overwhelming because of its detailed focus on the entire manuscript, but, once familiar with it, it became invaluable to my understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of my work.”

  • “The chapter-to-chapter analysis and the chapter evaluations in terms of Structure, Pacing and Character on a scale of 1-5 has been the most valuable contribution to my own review.”
  • “Thank you so much for taking care of me and for offering a valuable support with a very affordable price tag.”
Anna K., fiction author, on her developmental edit

“I thought the feedback was clear and gave precise and detailed ideas for improvement.”

  • “I printed it out, which made it easy to use next to my ms.”
  • “Very positive. Detailed and down to earth.”
Marina M., regency romance novelist, on her reader-response report

“This is my first novel. Nobody has read it yet and I didn't know if it was good or not… Now I know what to do to fix some of the things that are lagging.”

  • “I can see it now when you point it out.”
  • “I think it's fantastic and will help authors with developing their manuscript.”
Carlene Shuler Brown, first-time novelist

Two writers who weren't sure at first

Marina came to us skeptical. She had already worked with professional editors and wasn't convinced a report like ours could add much. Her reader-response report changed her mind. Anna heard about us from Marina, and she had also worked with professional editors. Her report helped her land a publishing contract, and she has since sent us her second book.

Sample reports

See what a report looks like

Here are six kinds of pages from real client reports, shared with our clients' permission. We changed names and identifying details to protect their privacy. Flip through them here, or open each one as a short PDF. A full review can run past 200 pages; each sample shows a few examples of one type. The reports are candid, and they always name what's working, not only what to fix.

Sample 1 of 6

Top fixes, in order

In: Full manuscript review (revision plan) · Developmental assessment

Every full review starts with what to fix first. The biggest fixes come first, the quick wins are flagged with how long they take, and the work that isn't worth your time is named so you can skip it.

Do these three first

1. Commit to the genre and reshape the climax to match. 2. Rebuild the financial-legal engine so the money is followable. 3. Correct the pacing inversion.

Quick wins, timed

Fix the POV shift at line 2997. Time: 2 minutes. Search for “just” and delete every instance where the sentence survives without it. Time: 30 minutes, across 162 instances.

From real client reports, used with permission. Names and identifying details changed.

Open the sample PDF (2 pages, 507 KB)

Sample 2 of 6

Chapter evaluation table

In: Developmental assessment · Full manuscript review

Every chapter is scored 1–5 for structure, pacing and character, with what works, what weakens it, quick wins with time estimates, and a one-line verdict. You can see at a glance where the book is strong and where it sags.

Scores for every chapter

Ch 1: Structure 4/5 · Pacing 3/5 · Character 5/5. Ch 8: Structure 4/5 · Pacing 2/5 · Character 3/5.

Verdict on a weak chapter

“Redundant. Consolidate into Chapter 14 and let the combined fight go somewhere the individual fights never do.”

From real client reports, used with permission. Names and identifying details changed.

Open the sample PDF (3 pages, 371 KB)

Sample 3 of 6

Line-level scorecard

In: Chapter-by-chapter line report · Full manuscript review

The sentence-level patterns, counted across the whole manuscript: filter words, passive voice, dialogue tags, clichés, repeated words and sentence openings. The counts show what is already strong as well as what to work on, so you don’t spend revision time on a problem you don’t have.

Measured, not guessed

Filter words: 2.8 per 1,000 words. Exceptional. “If you have been told your filter-word usage is a major problem, that assessment did not match the text.”

A word to cut

“just”: 162 instances. Target deleting 60% (roughly 97). Your single highest-impact quick win.

From real client reports, used with permission. Names and identifying details changed.

Open the sample PDF (3 pages, 322 KB)

Sample 4 of 6

Reader-response table

In: Reader-response report · Full manuscript review

How the book is likely to land with readers, chapter by chapter: emotional impact, pacing and engagement. Specific findings are rated by importance, located in your text and paired with a suggested fix. Simulated reader profiles are always labeled as simulated.

Chapter by chapter

Ch VI: Nostalgia, Affection, Curiosity · Pacing: Slow · Engagement: Medium. Ch XII: Fear, Anxiety, Relief · Dynamic · High.

A finding, located, with a fix

Minor: Clara says she is “terrible at dancing” in Chapter IV, then dances well in the same chapter. Suggested fix: a brief moment of her partner guiding her, making her improved dancing more plausible.

From real client reports, used with permission. Names and identifying details changed.

Open the sample PDF (3 pages, 386 KB)

Sample 5 of 6

Cross-check: where the reviews disagreed

In: Full manuscript review (appendix) · the same process sits behind every report

Your manuscript goes through several separate reviews. When they disagree, we don’t average them. Each disputed claim is checked against your pages, and the report shows you where the reviews differed and how each difference was settled.

Two reads, side by side

Consistency & World-Building: the more critical read 40, the favourable read higher, calibrated final 65. Line-Level Craft: 55, markedly higher, final 82.

Settled against your pages

“Where the two reads differed by more than a handful of points, the disputed claim was not averaged — it was checked against the manuscript itself.”

From real client reports, used with permission. Names and identifying details changed.

Open the sample PDF (3 pages, 505 KB)

Sample 6 of 6

Continuity check

In: Developmental assessment · Full manuscript review

The small slips that are hard to see after the tenth read-through: ages that don’t add up, names that change, a point of view that wobbles, a typo in chapter one. Each one is located in the text with the fix.

Ages that don’t add up

In Chapter 10 the daughters are eight and six. By Chapter 39, about fourteen months later, they are eight and ten.

A name that changes

The holding company is “Harrow Securities LLC” when first named (Chapter 5) and “Harrow Investments” everywhere after.

From real client reports, used with permission. Names and identifying details changed.

Open the sample PDF (2 pages, 295 KB)

Who reads your report

Lorraine and Brandon Cover

We started out as new authors ourselves. The traditional and hybrid publishing side frustrated us, so we got the rights back to Lorraine's book and worked out how to do those edits on our own. That's why True Path exists. We're a new, small business, and we've worked with three authors so far. One of us reads every report before it reaches you.

Portrait of Lorraine Cover.

Lorraine Cover

Author · Editor

Lorraine is a published author and a member of the Authors Guild, and she's the editor in the house. She asks the question nobody wants asked: what is this sentence for?

Portrait of Brandon Cover.

Brandon Cover

Process and systems

Brandon spent his early career in Big Four accounting, then built and ran businesses, with a specialty in process improvement. He has a passion for process and systems, and he brings it to how every report is put together.

Straight talk about AI

What AI is good at, and what it isn't

Good at

  • Spotting patterns across a whole book that are hard to see one page at a time
  • Counting: chapter lengths, and how often a word or phrase comes back
  • Flagging slow openings, sagging middles and chapters that run long
  • Catching continuity slips: ages, names, timelines

Not good at

  • Knowing which patterns are mistakes and which are your style
  • Deciding what matters most for your book, your genre and your goals
  • Replacing an editor's judgment

It can also be confidently wrong. That's why we cross-check, and why a person reviews every report before it reaches you. Think of it as a much deeper consistency and pattern check, not a ghostwriter and not a spell-check.

What you get

Affordable manuscript reports and starting prices

Take one report or the full review. Starting prices cover manuscripts up to 80,000 words. Every report gets the final human review, and most are back within 72 hours.

Reader-response report

How the book is likely to land with readers.

  • Chapter-by-chapter table of emotional impact, pacing and engagement
  • The moments that stick and where attention drops
  • Findings rated by importance, located in your text, each with a suggested fix

From $195

Developmental assessment

The book as a whole.

  • Every chapter scored 1–5 for structure, pacing and character
  • Premise, genre fit, structure, characters and themes
  • Continuity check: plot holes, timeline, names and loose threads
  • The biggest issues, ranked by priority

From $279

Chapter-by-chapter line report

The sentence-level writing.

  • Line-level scorecard, counted across the whole manuscript
  • Filter and filler words, weak verbs, dialogue tags and adverbs
  • Repetition, verbal tics, clichés and sentence openings
  • Examples located in your pages, so you can see the pattern

From $279

Full manuscript review

Everything, pulled together into a plan.

  • All three reports above
  • Top fixes in order, with an impact-and-effort matrix
  • A phased, week-by-week revision plan
  • Where the separate reviews disagreed, and how each point was settled
  • Market positioning, comparable titles and a launch blueprint

From $558

Our 14-day money-back guarantee

If you're not happy with the depth and value of your report, email us at hello@truepathpublishing.com within 14 days of receiving it, and we'll refund you in full. No questions asked.

Pricing calculator

Estimate your price

Enter your word count, choose a report, and add any extras. The total updates as you go.

Over 80,000 words? Each extra 10,000 words adds $15 for the reader-response report, $25 for the developmental assessment or line report, and $50 for the full review.

This is an estimate. We send a written quote after we see your manuscript, before any work starts. You don't pay anything until you've agreed to the quote.

Report
Add-ons
Estimated price $195 Includes manuscripts up to 80,000 words.
Ask for a quote

Nothing to pay until you approve the quote. Backed by our 14-day money-back guarantee.

How it works

From your inbox to a revision plan

  1. Write to us

    Email hello@truepathpublishing.com with the title, genre, approximate word count, and what you want help with. Don't attach the manuscript yet.

  2. You approve a fixed quote

    We reply in writing with the services that fit, a fixed price and a delivery date. Work starts only when you approve it.

  3. Send the manuscript

    Send it as a Word document (.docx) or a Google Doc. We run the separate reviews, compare what they find, and read the results ourselves.

  4. You get the reports

    Your reports arrive by email as documents you keep. Questions afterward? Reply to the email and we'll answer them.

We can't promise an agent, a publishing deal or sales. We can give you a clear, honest read and a plan.

FAQ

Questions writers ask

Is using this cheating?

No. We don't write, rewrite or add a single sentence, and we never send back a changed manuscript. You get analysis and suggestions, the same kind of feedback you'd get from a critique partner or beta reader, and you decide what to do with it. The writing stays entirely yours.

Will it change my writing style or voice?

It won't. We point out patterns, like a word you lean on or a scene that drags, and explain why they might matter. Whether and how to change them is up to you. If something is a deliberate choice, keep it.

Will my manuscript be used to train AI?

No. Every review runs on commercial or business accounts that don't train on your work. We use your manuscript only to prepare your reports. Apart from the review systems that process it, we don't share it with anyone.

Is a real person reading my book, or software?

Both. Several separate AI review systems produce the detailed analysis. We cross-check what they find, and Lorraine or Brandon reads the findings, checks the passages they point to, and decides what goes in your report. Simulated reader feedback is always labeled as simulated.

Why not paste my book into a free AI chatbot?

You could. You'd get one quick pass from one system, with no one checking it, and depending on the tool and its settings, what you paste in may be used for training. We use several systems on accounts that don't train on your work, compare what they find, and a person decides what's worth your time.

Will an agent or publisher know I used this?

There's nothing in the manuscript to find: we never add or change a word. If you're already under contract, or an agent's guidelines ask about AI use, check those first and tell us; we're happy to explain exactly what the process does and doesn't do.

How long does it take?

Most reports are back within 72 hours of when we receive your manuscript. We give you a firm delivery date in writing before we start.

Does this mean True Path will publish my book?

No. Manuscript services are separate from publishing. Buying a report doesn't commit you to anything, and it doesn't commit us to publishing.

Can you look at a second draft later?

Yes. When your revision is ready, write to us and we'll quote a follow-up review.

Contact

Get in touch

Tell us about your book: title, genre, rough word count, and what kind of feedback you're looking for.

We'll reply with what fits, the price and a delivery date before anything starts.

True Path Publishing · Jacksonville, Florida