The Publishing Industry Perspective

By getting an objective view of your book from a publisher's perspective, you'll be able to better see your book's potential. You'll learn how well your book is doing and where it is in the writing journey, and if it's worth continuing to pursue (if that's on the table, of course). Many authors use their Market Appraisals to tell them if they're on the right track, and what they should be thinking about next to improve and publish their book.

You'll want to keep in mind that this is not an edit; while we can give industry-based impressions based on what we're seeing, you'd want to sign up for an edit with us to get detailed specifics on how to elevate your work.

The good news is we use Market Appraisals as the first step of every project we work on, as they help us understand where the book needs to go...then it's our job to help it get there.

Before we even dig in, we'll review your creative goals and vision for your book, as well as any comments, questions, and concerns you might have, all via the Draft Debut Form you send us ahead of time.

If you're writing fiction, we deep-dive into the beginning, skim through the middle, and then skip to the end to get an idea of your central conflict, how it's resolved, who your protagonist is, and various other elements of your story that will show us what kind of book you have on your hands. If that seems short, trust us when we say industry vets will make decisions about your book based on the first five pages! When you know what you're looking for, it's easy to find.

If you're writing nonfiction, we read roughly the same amount but read a few pages of every chapter instead, since most chapters should be of equal weight, editorially speaking.

Most Market Appraisals are about two pages chock-full of analysis and information about your book, though some have been known to go longer (just try and stop an editor from talking about books!).

One of our Senior Editors with years of editorial experience and deep knowledge of the publishing industry and book market will complete your Market Appraisal. They'll draw from their extensive expertise as well as research specific to your book in order to determine what would serve your book best, both editorially and from a sales perspective.

Part of what we'll discuss in your Market Appraisal Call is what it'll take for you to reach your goals, regardless of whether we continue to work together and whatever your goals might be.

Here at Intrepid Literary, we work with select authors in an intimate collaborative process designed to help them create their absolute best possible work, from idea to shelf. Since every book we work with receives a great amount of dedicated time and cumulative wisdom from our entire editorial team, we take great care to work with authors who will get the most out of our work together.

During the Market Appraisal Call, we'll be able to decide if you would be a good fit for what we offer our authors. If we're a match, we can discuss what it would look like to work together in a greater capacity at that point.