Editorial Services via Macha Press
Editorial Services via Macha Press offers a fee-based poetry manuscript assessment service. At present, Macha Press is run on a voluntary basis. Fees from manuscript assessments are used to support the activities of the press and to fund events supporting our authors and innovative poetries more generally across the island. Your manuscript will be matched with one of the available board members who, between them, have manifold areas of poetic and editorial practice covering different genres and approaches to poetry, as well as understandings of the poetry publishing environment. For more information or questions, contact us at info@machapress.com.
What is a Manuscript Assessment?
Our manuscript assessment service provides poets of all levels with a detailed and forthright appraisal of your poetry manuscript from one of the many highly skilled editor-practitioners on our team. We will look at the overall shape and intent of the work, as well as at individual poems. We will also suggest ways to improve the manuscript to maximise the power of your individual voice, and we will suggest practical ways to move your work forward.
pamphlet-length
For pamphlet-length works of between 15 to 20 single-page poems, or a maximum of 20 pages of poetry:
an assessment of no less than 500 words, assessing the overall work, with feedback on up to half the individual poems where appropriate.
£150.00
full-length poetry manuscripts
For full-length poetry manuscripts of up to 65 pages where the author is seeking an in-depth assessment in a two-step process:
the first is a Zoom meeting of 30 minutes with the editor assigned to ascertain your particular concerns and interests,
the second is a Zoom meeting of 30 minutes with the editor to discuss comprehensive feedback, with a comprehensive editorial mark-up on the manuscript provided in advance as a PDF alongside an assessment of no less than 1500 words, which will cover suggestions for improvements, overall suggestions for shaping the work, and suggestions towards publication.
£350.00
longer poetry manuscripts
For longer poetry manuscripts of up to 45 poems or a maximum of 50 pages of poetry:
a written assessment of no less than 1500 words, assessing the overall work, with feedback on the structure, ordering, sectioning and intent of the manuscript and with suggestions for improvement and towards publication.
£250.00
Features
- Your writing will be thoughtfully matched to the most suitable Macha Press editor
- Your Level 1 or 2 assessment will be available in approximately 4-5 weeks. Your Level 3 report will be available within approximately 8 weeks
- Honest, constructive and informed assessment will enable you to consider your next steps as a writer within creative communities and the literary marketplace
- Our developmental and structural advice will outline where you are most matching your own intent as a poet. Accordingly, we will advise on how to bring your manuscript to its best final shape.
- Our highly skilled team can address many approaches to poetry from traditional lyric to hybrid, interdisciplinary or experimental work. We may also be able to advise in the area of the practice of
translation. As practicing writers, our editorial team is well-placed to advise on outlets for publication.
Editors undertaking Editorial Services include:
Kathleen McCracken
Kathleen has over 30 years of experience editing poetry, both as a lecturer in Creative and as a freelance editor, mentor and community arts facilitator. She has prepared for publication eight of her own collections of poetry as well as working with emerging and established poets in preparing manuscripts for submission. She has also undertaken collaborative work to produce a bilingual edition of poetry, and with visual artists to create various poetry/photography/film projects.
Siobhán Campbell
Siobhán brings experience of poetry, prose poetry and creative nonfiction editing via her own six collections and over decades of work with Wolfhound Press and Kingston University Press. She has successfully edited the work of poets for publication and performance in Ireland and the UK, working with many of the leading arts organisations including the John Hewitt Society, Poetry Ireland and the Irish Writers’ Centre. Working both in the lyric and with more experimental forms, Siobhán specialises in helping to shape sequences, chapbooks and full collections. Feedback via Words Ireland programmes mentions Siobhán’s individualised care for each text and its author.
Natasha Cuddington
Natasha has a decade of editing experience in literary and community arts contexts, where she has co-edited a number of publications, including posthumous collections by activist Ann Zell, Donegal is a red door (Of Mouth, 2016) and the anthology Her Other Language: Northern Irish Women Writers Address Domestic Violence and Abuse (Of Mouth / Arlen House, 2020). She is an assistant editor at Cyphers, an active reviewer and literary events curator with collaborative experience crossing disciplines. Her particular interests include experimental poetics and long poem, as per her debut collection, and also inter-art forms. She facilitates poetry workshops at the Crescent Arts Center, with disability arts organisations and is understood as an abettor of radical poetries.