Services

Manuscript Assessment

One-to-One Mentoring

Proofreading & Copyediting

Author PR

Translation

Services for Screenwriters & Playwrights

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Manuscript Assessment

If you need professional, expert editorial analysis of your writing, at whatever stage of development it may be at, then a manuscript assessment could be what you need. Victoria, Reader Berlin founder, has worked with authors from a diverse range of backgrounds. She will evaluate an opening extract, a full manuscript, a short story, or short story collection, offering gentle but honest feedback and insight. You will receive a detailed written report, addressing strengths and weaknesses, character, plot, structure and prose style – among whatever other issues she feels need addressing. Each report is unique and tailored in response to the each individual writer’s work. Suggested improvements will be given and advice regarding redrafting. Your report will also assess the likelihood of commercial publication and avenues you might wish to explore in the field.

One-to-One Mentoring

The Reader’s mentoring service offers writers on-going support, whether internationally and online (email, Skype, telephone), or in Berlin and a mixture of online and face-to-face. Although designed for writers working on a long-term project such as a novel or memoir, the mentoring programme also offers new writers the chance to receive continuing feedback, advice and direction, as well as support with dismantling creative blocks. Often, writers come to talk about a project they are planning on devoting lots and time and resources to – to ask questions about writing a pitch for a book of non-fiction, how to go about self-publishing, and how their idea can best me conceptualised – saving time and money in the long run. Mentoring also gives you the opportunity to resubmit work and check-in throughout the creative process with questions, queries, or when you’re simply at a loss as to how to continue. Along with an expert analytical eye, Victoria also provides a fine kicking-you-up-the-rear service when necessary.

Proofreading & Copyediting

Whether you are preparing to self-publish an eBook, submitting your MA thesis, or preparing text for your company website, accurate proofread English is vitally important. Spelling or grammatical mistakes, inconsistencies and poor layout will detract from your work, lose you marks in the case of academic work, and alienate readers.Our copyediting service goes beyond proofreading since it aims to improve on quality as well as accuracy. This means weak areas of the text will be highlighted, suggested changes to structure and expression offered, and stylistic improvements recommended. Academic English and American English are within The Reader’s expertise.

Author PR

More and more authors are choosing to self-publish – and there are now numerous inspiring stories of authors who have reaped the rewards of choosing to go it alone. But, once your ebook is sitting on the webshelf, how do you turn all your hard work into sales? Honestly, we have no idea (but we’re learning), but we know someone who does have the insight and expertise you’re looking for. If you are interested in learning more about author PR, or paying someone to do the work for you, then get in touch and we’ll hook you up!

Translation

Do you need an English translation of your writing? A good literary translation is much more than a mere word-for-word rendition. Sentence style, particular word choice and attention to cultural and linguistic nuances must be considered. Our translations are done by writers for writers. Working together with semi-kolon.com, The Reader now offers literary translations of manuscripts and poetry collections originally written in German and Norwegian.

Services for Screenwriters & Playwrights
(provided by award-winning playwright CJ Hopkins)

Script Doctoring
Sometimes even the best of us need a little help polishing, rewriting or restructuring a screenplay. The Reader’s script doctor can read and evaluate the current draft of your screenplay, identify structural and stylistic problems, suggest solutions, and, if desired, rewrite/polish your script accordingly. You maintain all rights in connection with your work and writing credit therefor. The Reader’s script doctor works on a strictly uncredited, totally confidential, work-for-hire basis. Flat fees for script-doctoring are negotiable and depend on the extent of the doctoring involved. There is an initial evaluation/consulting fee of €200 for full-length screenplays.

One-to-One Mentoring
Mentoring offers beginning and professional scriptwriters alike the chance to receive on-going or one-off feedback, advice and direction, whether on a specific script or on a more general basis. And, if you are just getting started, when you’re ready to get your work out there, we can offer concrete advice about finding it a home. This could be through submissions to agents, theaters, festivals, play or screenwriting competitions, or even producing your own work.

Script Translations
Let’s face it, English is the lingua franca of the international art and entertainment worlds. Whether you are writing in German for an international market or pitching German-language work to international production companies, you are going to need English translations of your screenplays, treatments and exposés. While there are a lot of competent translators out there who can provide you with an accurate translation of what you wrote, translating a webpage or an instruction manual is one thing, and translating a work of art is another. So why not have your German-language work translated into English by an internationally acclaimed, award-winning playwright with several publications and over 20 years’ experience? Translations of screenplays, treatments and longer texts are normally done on a flat fee basis. Shorter texts are calculated at standard per-line translation rates. Let us know what you need translated, and we will happily provide you with an exact quote for the work.

CONTACT US HERE: hello@thereaderberlin.com