REAL WRITERS is run by professionals; this is (partly - we're real writers too) how we earn our daily bread. Compared with other similar services our charges represent excellent value - and they're a fraction of the fees charged by a solicitor or an accountant, and considerably less than a car mechanic or computer repair agency.

Our basic fee of £30, for regular and one-off critiques, covers a full professional evaluation of up to 2500 words of prose, 100 lines of poetry, or 20 pages of script.

For detailed assessment of longer prose work, a full-length novel for instance, we will charge you at an hourly rate of £30, payable on invoice through PayPal. If you wish, we will agree a cash limit with you before we begin, so you know right from the start how much you'll pay - but when you calculate your maximum bear in mind that reading time can vary between ten and fifteen hours for a novel of 80,000 words, and whatever the length of the work, producing the appraisal will take at least an hour on top of the reading time.

For longer submissions of poetry or drama, the hourly rate is also applicable.

We also offer several special introductory package deals, available once only to each client:

  • Publishers' Package: a full appraisal of a synopsis and opening chapters of a novel, max 10,000 words, for just £60..
  • Prose Writer's Package: a full appraisal of a short story or feature article, max 3000 words, for just £35.
  • Poet's Package: a full appraisal of a single poem or a selection, max 120 lines, for just £35.
  • Playwright's Package: a full appraisal of a 30-minute script, max 36 pages, for just £60.


Before seeking an appraisal of an entire novel, we strongly recommend that aspiring novelists take advantage of the Publishers' Package special deal. A synopsis and two or three chapters, up to 10,000 words, is what a publisher or agent wants to see in the first instance; it's important to get this 'shop window' sample right. Also, this extract allows our tutor to identify ongoing problems, which you can address before sending us the whole work.

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