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# What is an Editorial Assessment with Real Word Examples
- URL: https://brookevitale.com/blog/what-is-an-editorial-assessment/
- Published: 2021-06-06T20:47:55.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-09T20:14:27.000Z
- Description: An editorial assessment is your chance to find out the big problems in your story. But what, exactly, should you expect to get back from your editor at this stage?
- Author: Andrew Vitale
- Tags: Editing

## What is an editorial assessment?

The first step in reviewing a manuscript is the editorial assessment . This is an editor’s chance to find all the flaws in a manuscript and offer suggestions on how to fix them. Do you have a plot hole? Are your characters lacking distinct personalities? Does a scene feel out of place (or is there a scene missing)? Is your language appropriate for your target age range? If your book is a picture book, this is the moment to look at pagination and whether you are building enough suspense between page turns. An Assessment is your chance to fix the problems with your book before the deep dive into the language, so that you know the scenes you are finessing are where they need to be and are worth finessing!

## Why an editorial assessment before a developmental edit?

As tempting as it can be to dive right into a line edit or developmental edit—changing your words and checking your grammar—you’ll be wasting your time if you haven’t first found and fixed the big issue problems.

We all want to think our books are perfect. That other than a word choice or two, or maybe a stray comma, there’s nothing that needs to be changed. But let’s face it: nothing is perfect. Even the best writers in the world still need help to find the problems in their manuscripts. Why? Because as the author you are simply too close. You know what you intend, so things make sense to you. But that doesn’t mean that to an outside reader—one who hasn’t gone through every pass of this with you—that things make sense. So how do you find those problems before you get bad reviews? With an editorial assessment.

## What does an editorial assessment look for?

### Plot holes

Is your story missing something that it desperately needs in order to make sense? Is there an explanation living in your head that never made its way onto the page? How about a logical jump that makes sense to you, but not to anyone else? Do you have a scene that is completely inconsistent with the rest of the story? Maybe a piece of your plot is never resolved and needs to be? Or your characters suddenly know something they didn’t know before, without us seeing how they learned it?

These are all plot holes, and are all the kids of things an assessment is looking for so that they can be resolved.

### Does something not make sense or need more explanation?

This is a big one, and again, it often comes down to information in your head that doesn’t make it to the page. Sometimes it’s just assumption that a reader will follow your train of thought, but it’s not quite working.

Take a look at this editorial assessment example I did on *Cindertoot* by John Mashni. In this retelling of Cinderella, the maiden, Ella, leaves behind more than just a shoe. She also leaves behind a horrible smell from her fart. The prince, desperate to find her, determines that he’ll make all the maidens in the kingdom fart, and will marry the one whose fart matches that of the girl he loves.

![Editorial Assessment | Editorial Assessment Example](https://storage.ghost.io/c/bb/ca/bbca9709-f64c-426c-94c5-41deebbf6557/content/images/2026/10/1080w-editorial-assessment-example-scene-clarity.jpg)

As you can see, in this initial draft, the plan was not clear. We see the prince gathering ingredients, but we don’t really understand why. The assessment pointed this out and offered suggestions for how to make the plan clearer. (It also addresses a concern with the prince’s motivations and personality. More on that later.)

### Is a scene out of order?

This is one of the more common problems spotted in an assessment, especially if a story is jumping around between points of view. Sometimes a scene just doesn’t read correctly where it is for narrative flow. Other times, shifting a scene will offer more drama or can heighten the emotion of a scene. And sometimes it would be more effective to give your reader a piece of information your main character doesn’t yet have. You may have accomplished all of this in your story already. But if not, expect an assessment to call it out for you and suggest moving things around.

Here’s another example from *Cindertoot*, as the prince starts his quest.

![Editorial Assessment | Editorial Assessment Example](https://storage.ghost.io/c/bb/ca/bbca9709-f64c-426c-94c5-41deebbf6557/content/images/2026/10/1080w-editorial-assessment-scene-order.jpg)

In this case, showing Ella’s sisters getting excited before the prince even set off didn’t make sense. Instead, the suggestion was to show the prince setting off first. By seeing that he’s already ruled out other maidens and is nearing their home, we heighten the emotion around Ella wondering if she will be discovered.

### Is a scene not needed?

As authors, we often hold on to scenes we love, long after they aren’t really needed for the story anymore. Often, they are holdovers from earlier drafts of the story. They might be things that we just can’t bear to part with, and we need that push to realize they aren’t needed.

Other times, those scenes are things we just don’t even realize don’t fit or aren’t needed. In a longer book, as much as you want every scene to add to the story, you can sometimes get away with a spare scene. In a picture book, that’s never the case, as every word counts, so you don’t want any extraneous ones.

Take a look at the original opening for *Cindertoot*:

![Editorial Assessment | Editorial Assessment Example | Is a scene needed?](https://storage.ghost.io/c/bb/ca/bbca9709-f64c-426c-94c5-41deebbf6557/content/images/2026/10/1080w-editorial-assessment-example-is-a-scene-needed.jpg)

Because this is a retelling of Cinderella, the chances are kids already know the general opening. The assessment suggested cutting this to get to the heart of the story. (And in the process, cutting roughly 135 words from what was already a very long picture book.)

For a closer look at how to cut words in a picture book, check out [5 Steps to Cut Text in a Picture Book](https://brookevitale.com/blog/how-to-cut-text-in-a-picture-book/).

### Is your book the right length?

Different kinds of books have different recommended lengths. An editorial assessment will take note of whether your book is in line with industry standards, and should offer suggestions for fixing if it’s not.

As a general rule of thumb, books use the following book word counts:

Picture book: under 1,000 words

Early reader book: 500-700 words

Chapter book: 4,000-6,000 words

Middle grade book: 15,000-25,000 words

YA book: 50,000-90,000 words

Adult novel: 50,000+ words

For more information on figuring out your audience, check out [How to Determine Your Target Audience.](https://brookevitale.com/blog/childrens-book-target-audience/)

### Are you using enough emotion in your book?

One of the biggest issues an assessment looks for is whether a book is using enough emotion. As a reader, we want to get into a character’s head. We want to really understand what they are thinking and what they are feeling. If we can’t feel an emotional connection to a character, we’re not likely to care what happens to them. An assessment will point out areas where the emotion could stand to be heightened.

This need for emotion ties into one of the key elements in storytelling: showing v. telling. Are you telling us what’s happening in a scene, or are you using your characters’ emotions to show it to us.

For example:

Cindy was sad. She cried. *(telling)*

Vs.

Tears ran down Cindy’s face and she gasped for breath. Her heart felt as it a thousand needles had just been shoved into it. *(showing)*

Here, we can tell she’s sad. But it’s so much more powerful than just telling us she’s sad. Again, an assessment will look for this and call it out where it needs to be fixed.

### Is your story starting strong?

Are you jumping right into the action of your story, or are you dawdling to get there? Are you starting with the right moment, or is the real start of your story somewhere halfway in. You’d be surprised how often the best place to start a story is sitting somewhere in the middle of your book.

### Are you telling your story from the right point of view?

Are you flipping around between points of view when you should be choosing one? Would you protagonist work better as a secondary character? Is there a secondary character who is being under-utilized, and would the story be stronger told from their point of view? Are you using first person when third would work better, or vice-versa? These all factor into whether your story is as strong as it could be.

### Are you writing a rhyming children's book?

If your book is in rhyme, are your rhymes working? Are you following a consistent rhyme scheme and meter? And if not, what kinds of changes are suggested to make your meter work? For more information on rhyming text, check out [How to Write a Rhyming Children's Book.](https://brookevitale.com/blog/anapestic-and-iambic-tetrameter-in-rhyming-childrens-books/)

### What’s the market for your book?

Does your book have a strong hook, and is there a market for it? If not, what changes should be made to bring it in line with market demands?

### If you’re working on a picture book, how will your story pace?

While not every editor does this, I always try to look at where page turns will go in a picture book. Figuring out how a book paces at this stage in the book often helps to see where scenes are too similar, or where there are too many words. This can’t always be done, as sometimes there are too many changes needed to figure out how to pace a story, but where it’s possible, I will always do so. For more information, check out [A Template for Paginating and Laying Out a Children’s Book.](https://brookevitale.com/blog/childrens-book-layout/)
  
  
These are all things that come out in an assessment. And by starting here, you have a chance to make your changes (or to tell your editor you disagree) before they ever touch the words. Because 99 percent of the time, words can be fixed to read better, as long as the story is in good shape. Once you’ve finished the assessment and made changes, you’re ready for the [Developmental Edit](https://brookevitale.com/blog/developmental-edit/). For a full look at all the stages of editing and when they take place, check out [What Is Editing?](https://brookevitale.com/blog/what-is-editing/)

Special thanks to John Mashni for allowing me to use excerpts from *Cindertoot*. Want to see how the book turned out? Check it out [here!](https://amzn.to/3v2jnuF?ref=brookevitale.com)