Critiques

We on the NAWG committee are delighted to announce the launch of our new critiquing service. As you'll see below we have a range of writers / tutors offering professional advice across many genres together with various critiquing packages to suit your requirements and budget. Note too that our prices compare very favourably with other critiquing services out there in the marketplace.

How It Works

STEP 1: Simply choose which critiquing option you want together with your critiquer of choice.

STEP 2: Send an email to Steve Bowkett ( CLICK HERE ), or a letter, indicating:

   • your preferred critiquing option and critiquer of choice,

     • how long the piece of work will be that you are going to send.
We will write back to you clarifying the charge before you commit yourself to a critique.

STEP 3: If you are happy to proceed, send an email with your work attached (CLICK HERE) . Include your postal address in the email. Steve will then send you a contract to sign through the post, which confirms your requirements.

STEP 4: Return the contract with payment to:

     NAWG
     Old Vicarage
     Scammonden
     Huddersfield
     HD3 3FT

This may be a cheque made payable to NAWG, or a BACS payment for the appropriate amount. Our bank details are:

NatWest, Washington Town Centre Branch, NE38 7SG

Sort code: 60-22-52
Account: 80275877

Please indicate on the contract how you are paying. Once we have received your signed contract the work will be forwarded to your chosen tutor. If you do not have email access, send your work and which package / tutor you want to the NAWG Huddersfield address. We will then send your contract for signing.

We will send your completed critique to you via email or through the post. Note that tutors cannot enter into correspondence with regard to a critique. If you have any subsequent queries or are in any way dissatisfied please contact Steve Bowkett, as above.

Your critique will be sent as soon as possible, though obviously this will depend on which package you have chosen and the tutor's other commitments. If you would like an indication of when you can expect to receive your critique please mention this at the outset and we will pass on your request to the tutor.

We hope you feel that the critiquing service is a step forward for NAWG and its members. If you have any suggestions as to how we can improve the service even further please let Steve know.

Our Critiquers

Here is a list of our tutors. You can click on some of the names to go to their mini biography or visit their website.

Brad Ashton     Comedy and advice on public speaking.

Julie Bokowiec      Play scripts. Note that Julie's advice requires a face-to-face meeting.

Steve Bowkett       Writing for children; writing Horror, Fantasy, SF for children and adults; poetry (beginners); proposal advice for educational projects.

Alison Chisholm      Poetry and poetry markets. Autobiography.

Malcolm Chisholm       Advice on design and publishing your free website (using weebly.com); use of the internet, research, Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter; self-publishing with print-on-demand (POD) services (using lulu.com).

Marvin Close       TV drama (adult and children's); theatre; radio (drama, comedy and documentary, as writer and producer); non-fiction books (particularly in the general areas of history and sport); advice on markets and placing particular pieces.

Linda Lewis      Fiction and non-fiction (please indicate if you have a particular market in mind).

Maureen Raper      Writing for pleasure and profit. Writing for children. Writing life stories.

Roz Southey      Crime novel in particular, and novels in general, principally for adults.

Simon Whaley      Non-fiction articles, non-fiction book proposals, non-fiction books such as personal travel memoirs, biographies and autobiographies.

 Tim Wilson       Full-length fiction.

Critiques: Packages and Prices

Quick feedback   A quick and inexpensive 'first glance' impression to let you know if you are basically on track with your work.  £30 per hour, including reading time and writing up comments.

Detailed assessment  A much lengthier and in-depth report on the work being considered.   

£30 for the first hour, £15 per hour subsequently.

£15 per 1,000 words for first 5,000 words then £10 per 1,000 words thereafter.

Q-A / Email exchange     Here the tutor responds to specific questions the client has about his/her submission. In practice some of the replies would be brief and straightforward while others would go into much more detail.   £25 per hour reading time. £30 for the first hour of responding to questions and £20 per hour thereafter.

Pre-submission check      Here the tutor would look through a piece that you are happy with and about to submit to an agent, publisher, competition etc. The aim here is to cast a fresh pair of eyes over the piece just to check editorial guidelines, competition rules etc have been met.   

£25 per hour reading/responding time.

Workshops

We can also offer workshops, subject to a tutor's other commitments. Please email Steve for further details, your requirements etc. Fees for a workshop are:

     £200 per day,
     £125 half day,
     £95 for an evening event, all plus travel.

Note that prices where applicable are on a pro rata basis, so that if for example a quick feedback took 45 minutes you would be charged £20 rather than £30.