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Program Description

The Manuscript Critique Program is one of the benefits of SDWEG membership. Members of the Guild may submit up to 30 pages of their fiction, nonfiction, or memoir for evaluation by the Guild's Manuscript Critique Committee (MCC), consisting of a Coordinator and a selected panel of three (3) Reviewers.

The Author’s identity is never known by the Critiquers, and the Critiquers’ identities are never known by the Author. In the event a Critiquer has prior knowledge of the Work submitted, that Work will be assigned to a different Critiquer. The nonrefundablefee is $20.

The Critiquers will first critique a three-page (3-page) Preview submission. Upon its acceptance based on merit, the Author will be asked to submit the balance of the Work, up to a Maximum of thirty (30) pages. The Critiquers will then critique the Work, annotate as they wish, and complete an appropriate Evaluation Form. Aggregation of these evaluations will yield one of the following RATINGS:

  • Highest Recommendation,
  • Highly Recommended,
  • Recommended, or
  • No Recommendation.

This RATING may be used by the author when contacting agents, editors, publishers, or for other promotion.

Manuscript critique Timeline

From receipt of Manuscript Preview Submission Form and fee, or electronic document, whichever occurs last, to results of preview up to ten days.

From receipt of the 30-page manuscript file to results up to three weeks.

If you have any questions, please contact MCC Coordinator, ShuJen Walker Askew, at  mcp@sdwritersguild.org.


Submission Guidelines

To submit your manuscript, download the Manuscript Preview Submission Form or request it by mail or e-mail, and follow the instructions below.

NOTE: All submissions are now preferred in MS Word format. Should this not be practical, (1) paper copy of 3-pg and 30-pg submissions may still be made. 

Submission Process

  • Author prepares three (3) pages for Preview evaluation by the MCC, following formatting guidelines on the Manuscript Preview Submission Form. The pages must be the first three pages of the Maximum Pages to be submitted.
  • Author completes Manuscript Preview Submission form, and mails it, along with the nonrefundable application fee of $20.00 made payable to San Diego Writers and Editors Guild (SDWEG), to the MCC Coordinator at the address on the Manuscript Preview Submission form.
  • Author emails one (1) copy of the three (3) Preview pages to the MCC Coordinator at the email address on the Manuscript Preview Submission Form. The MCC will discard any pages in excess of three Preview pages.
  • The MCC assigns three Critiquers the responsibility for critiquing the preview.
  • The Critiquers respond to the MCC with their critiques and assessment whether they would like to see more pages.
  • The MCC notifies the Author if the Work has been accepted for further evaluation in the form of an emailed Request to Submit, accompanied by any comments and/or annotations made by the Critiquers to the Preview submission. If further evaluation is rejected for any reason, the submission will be returned together with suggested revisions for resubmission.
  • Upon request from MCC, author submits one (1) copy of the Maximum (up to thirty) Pages to the MCC Coordinator in MS Word format to the email address on the Manuscript Preview Submission Form. The MCC will discard any pages in excess of the Maximum. Author must follow the formatting guidelines on the second page of the Manuscript Preview Submission Form.
  • The MCC assigns the same set of Critiquers the responsibility for reviewing the Maximum page.
  • MCC Reviewers will use an appropriate Evaluation Form when preparing their evaluations, which they return to the MCC.
  • After evaluation of the Maximum Pages by the Review Panel, the MCC will notify the Author in writing of the RATING attained. The MCC will forward the author copies of the completed evaluation forms and any annotated text,


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