Openings
Where the reader enters. What the first pages promise.
↗For serious novelists
The editorial relationship your manuscript has been waiting for.
Open your Editorial Desk today.
Get Perkins Craft Analysis.→Get Perkins Craft Analysis See what happens next No manuscript is needed to create your account.
Named for legendary literary editor Maxwell Perkins, Perkins Craft Analysis helps serious novelists develop their manuscripts from first idea toward publication through the kind of rigorous editorial judgment once available only from an experienced editor. Your manuscript is never stored on the site, Perkins will never write a single word for you, and every creative decision remains yours.
Your writing
Trusted feedback
Creativity and revision
Writing resourcesEvents, agents, editors, magazines, publishers
Lenses
Four lenses.
Your manuscript comes alive.
A continuous editorial relationship.
Characters
Desire, pressure, contradiction, and change.
↗Plot
The architecture of consequence across the whole.
↗Emotional Impact
What the manuscript makes possible for a reader to feel.
↗How it works
Writing a novel isn't a straight line.
It's a conversation between the manuscript and the writer. Perkins joins that conversation at the moments when another experienced editorial mind is most valuable. Each Conversation helps you see the work more clearly. The writing remains entirely yours.
Arrive
Create your account, get yourself an Editorial Desk, then visit Perkins' Office to begin working on improving your manuscript. Choose a lens to receive a detailed, nuanced analysis of your work.
Receive
Upload the current manuscript for a focused Conversation. Perkins reads through your chosen lens, then discards the manuscript when the Conversation is complete.
Revise
Receive an Editorial Letter that explains what the manuscript is doing and how your writing is working on the page. From there it's up to you to work on revisions. The time and effort that you put back into your manuscript will make you a better writer.
Return
Whether you're writing in your own space or using Perkins' own Writing Studio to create, revise, and refine your work, you're always just a step away from having your writing read and analyzed. Your editorial history remains on your Desk, ready when you return with a revised manuscript or a different question.
Pillars
Our four pillars.
You Are the Writer Here
Perkins only ever reads and critiques the writing you provide. It does no writing for you, even if provoked, extolled, or prodded. It makes no creative decisions on your behalf. Your creative work is your own. That is a sacred fact.
This is an Editorial Relationship
What Perkins offers is an editorial relationship that grows with you over time. Perkins provides thoughtful editorial feedback through a series of Conversations about your work. As your work evolves, each Conversation builds on the editorial understanding that came before. From first draft to final revision.
Each Conversation Builds on the Last
Every Conversation deepens Perkins’ editorial understanding of your work and it works with you to build great writing skills over time. Your writing, whether that's your evolving manuscript or any work created within the app, remain yours in every sense.
Your words, your work. Always.
Absolutely and without exception. Every conversation, every editorial letter, every bit of writing that you bring or create here belongs to you, and can be taken out of Perkins in full at any time.
What Perkins offers writers
An editorial relationship built for revision.
Clear Conversations About Your Work
Every Conversation produces an Editorial Letter for you to keep: something to sit with, argue with, return to, and discover something new within. Each one becomes a launchpad for the next revision.
A Continuous Editorial Relationship
Perkins doesn't forget your last draft the moment you revise it. Editorial Letters, notes, and Conversations stay with your account, allowing each new Conversation to begin where the last one ended.
Your Words Remain Yours
Perkins neither stores nor remembers your manuscript itself. What remains is the editorial relationship: your Letters, your notes, and your Conversations with Perkins, not the manuscript that inspired them.
Membership
The Meridian Principle
Every writer belongs here.
Membership to Perkins Craft Analysis has been designed to be affordable for writers of every level. We believe that membership will reward you with greater confidence in your writing ability, improved novel structure, and more opportunities to succeed in the future.
Writer
$---/ year
The foundation for novelists who want a serious editorial workspace.
Editorial Desk · Unlimited manuscripts · Notebook + Timeline · Reports archive · Editorial Memory · Invite 1 collaborator
Reading Credit rate$-.-- / credit
Workshop
$---/ year
For writers working closely with trusted readers and collaborators.
Everything in Writer · Up to 5 collaborators · Shared Notebook · Report comments · Version comparison · Priority processing
Reading Credit rate$-.-- / credit
Professional
$---/ year
For represented authors, freelance editors, and serious professionals.
Everything in Workshop · Unlimited collaborators · Multiple Studios · Editor workspace · Client management · Export packages
Reading Credit rate$-.-- / credit
Bestseller
$---/ year
For agencies, publishers, and full-time editorial professionals.
Everything in Professional · Agency dashboard · Multiple editors · Shared credit pool · Dedicated onboarding · Concierge support
Reading Credit rate$-.-- / credit
Enterprise
Editorial infrastructure built around your organization.
Fully customizable editorial infrastructure for multiple editors and authors, including timelines, in-flow editorial commentary, and integrated dashboards.
Multiple editors and authors · Custom editorial workflows · Shared timelines · In-flow commentary · Integrated dashboards · Dedicated implementation
The Perkins Promise