Submissions & Fees

Our manuscript assessment service will let you know honestly and constructively where your writing succeeds and what needs revision, rewriting or to be deleted. After reading your manuscript carefully and thoroughly, a selected member of the Live Writing team will write a critique of your work. Our reports are comprehensive, varying in length from five to ten pages and they deal very specifically with the work at hand. The turn around time for reading and report back is four to six weeks. Should you require a speedier response please contact us and we will see whether a member of the team is available. An additional 30% will be added to the cost for this service and you will receive feedback within 14 working days.  If you have any further queries, please phone us or write to us at admin@livewriting.co.za.

How to submit

Before submitting your work to us, please read our terms and conditions.
Sadly we cannot start work upon your manuscript unless you have paid the requisite fee (see Fee Structure) and nor can your manuscript be returned to you unless you proved a stamped and addressed envelope (SAE).

• There is no need to query us before sending your manuscript to us. However, if you need to have anything clarified we will happily answer any queries via telephone or email. However, it should be noted that there is a difference between an email or telephone query which can be answered swiftly and practically and an email or telephone consultation which involves a lengthy discussion of your writing needs and problems.
• Manuscripts should be sent by mail to
  

Live Writing P O Box 1796 Sun Valley 7985 CAPE TOWN South Africa and by email to admin@livewriting

• When submitting your manuscript to Live Writing, please include a covering letter which tells us something about yourself. We’d like to know something of your writing history; whether you have submitted work to agents or publishers; whether you have been published and if so by whom etc. We’d also like to know something about the manuscript; what motivated you to write it, how long you have taken to write it etc. Please include a 1 -2 page synopsis of the whole work (particularly if you are only submitting a partial manuscript to us). If you have particular worries or concerns or questions you would like answered about your manuscript please let us know what these are.
• Manuscripts should be printed out in 12 point font, double spaced, on one side of A4, on loose sheets, with each page numbered.
• In the case of manuscript assessments, please indicate whether you would like your critique to be sent via email or posted (don’t forget to let us know your email address and your telephone number if possible). 
• Although we prefer to have work mailed to us, we will accept submissions via email but will have to charge a printing fee of 40c (ZAR) per page. 
• If you want your work  read fast, for an additional fee (30% of our ‘standard fee’ added on) we can provide feedback within 14 working days. If you are interested in this option please telephone/email us first so we can check whether an editor is available. availability.

Please contact us if you have any further queries.

How to pay

We prefer payment to be made by electronic transfer. Your manuscript submission should be accompanied by a 50% deposit which may be paid by electronic transfer to
Live Writing cc
Standard Bank, Fish Hoek
Branch Code 036009
A/c: 270396586


No work will commence on your manuscript until such time as your assessment fee has been transferred electronically. Once your report has been written we will let you know and upon payment of the final 50% by electronic transfer we will send the report to you.


Should you wish to pay by cheque, your manuscript should be accompanied by a cheque for the full amount of the assessment made out to Live Writing cc. Work will not commence on your manuscript until your cheque has cleared.


The following figures are based on an average word count of 350 words per page (double spaced and in a 12 point serif font - Times New Roman, Courier etc).

Fiction/creative non-fiction/children’s books
Up to 50 pages or 17 500 words	R1000
Up to 100 pages or 35 000 words	R1500
Up to 150 pages or 52 500 words	R1700
Up to 200 pages or 70 000 words	R1900
More than 200 pages or more than 70 000 words - R9.00 per page for first 250 pages (122 500 words) and R7 per page thereafter.
Illustrated children’s books (up to 40 pages)	R1000
Short Stories
Up to 3000 words	R750
Each additional 1000 words (over 3000)	R150
Please note: Each story you submit will be charged for as a separate submission.If you have a very short story (flash fiction) that you would like feedback on please see our flash fiction rates
Flash Fiction
Up to 1000 words	R500
Please note: Stories are charged individually.
Poetry
Up to 300 lines	R1000
300 to 900 lines	R1900

 

Live Writing offers a variety of other writing services

• Script writing
• Copy writing for websites and other promotional material
• Mentoring - one-on-one tuition, personally, via email or phone
• Writing covering/query letters, book promotions and synopses
• Content editing
• Line editing
• Proof reading

Please query us should you be interested in any of the above. A fee will be negotiated with the client and an hourly rate agreed upon. Fees per hour may differ from job to job (depending on material required, material supplied, research needed etc.)

Terms and Conditions

• Live Writing will allocate the most suitable editor for critiquing your writing. Live Writing’s decision in this matter will be final. Live Writing cannot read submissions unless the correct fee has been paid. Please see 'How to pay' for further details on payment.
• Should we fail to find a suitable editor we will return your work and payment to you.
• Live Writing’s aim is to provide you with honest and constructive feedback in every instance. We will never mislead you in any way, even if this means that the assessment of your writing is not always glowing! We will never inflate your opinion of your ability or make unrealistic claims or promises.
• You should receive an assessment of your work within four to six weeks, but we cannot absolutely guarantee this turnaround time.
• If you have paid for a fast read, your report will arrive within 14 working days.
• All manuscripts submitted to Live Writing
• should be double-spaced
• should be in a 12 point serif font
• should have a minimum of a 3cm margin (top, bottom, right and left)
• should be printed on single sides of A4 paper
• should be unbound and
• should be numbered on each page (use your MS Word programme to insert manuscript information in the header or footer).
• Manuscripts submitted with 1.5 spacing or 11 point font will be charged for accordingly.
• Should you wish to email your manuscripts a printing fee of 40c per page will be charged.
• We cannot return your manuscripts unless you send us a SAE with sufficient postage to cover the weight of your manuscript. If we do not receive this, your MS will be recycled. Manuscripts which do not include an SAE will be recycled.
• Live Writing takes no responsibility for manuscripts lost or damaged in the post. Please do not ever send the original copy of your work.
• Whereas the copyright of your work remains yours at all times, should any portion of a report be quoted (e.g. on a website, or to a publisher) Live Writing should be credited as the copyright of the report remains with Live Writing.
• With your permission we will recommend your writing to publishers if we feel that it is something they would be interested in seeing. This will only happen in cases where the writing is deemed to be of extremely good quality, or where we feel that the story, even though it may require further editing, could be commercially viable.
• In the event of being paid a referral fee or commission for recommendations as mentioned above we will disclose all particulars to you upon request.

Terms and conditions for services other than manuscript assessment will be decided upon after consultation with the writer or client.

Overseas clients

The prices quoted here are in South African Rands and are applicable to people living in South Africa. Because of the fluctuating foreign exchange rates, bank rates on foreign exchange transfers and the cost of postage and packaging to different parts of the world, it is not possible to give an accurate quote for work done for foreign clients. Should you be living abroad, or in another part of Africa, and wish to engage our services please contact us and we will give you details of our highly competitive rates for all writing services.