About The MAA
The Manuscript Appraisal Agency, established in 1996, provides professional manuscript development services for authors, agents and publishing houses. We offer manuscript appraisals (assessments), mentorships, editing (copy editing, structural editing and proof reading), and publishing consultation.
We use senior, experienced publishing industry personnel to work with your manuscript.
Our work is widely supported by the publishing industry, literary agents and writers centres and associations as a professional service for writers.
The MAA was one of the first of its kind to offer manuscript development services to authors and writers independent of publishing houses. Over the years we have formed strong and trusting relationships with publishers, literary agents, writers’ centres — including the Australian Society of Authors — and the Australian Publishers’ Association. We’re connected and involved in writing and publishing communities, and are respected as experts in our field. We are often invited to writers’ events and festivals to share our expertise.
All manuscript assessments are produced by highly experienced publishing-industry personnel. All of our editors must have extensive publishing industry experience in order to work with us.
We offer objective and insightful feedback to help you take your writing to the next stage in its development and work towards publishing; whether that is traditional publishing or self-publishing. We know how brutal the world of publishing has become and we know what is needed in order to have a chance to be seen and read by literary agents and publishers, or chosen by readers. As professionals in the publishing industry we are also able to provide guidance on navigating the industry itself.
‘Our commitment to our clients is to provide the most considered, objective assessment of their manuscript and a commercial evaluation of it from a publishing perspective.’
— Kit Carstairs, MAA Director
THE TEAM
The MAA engages a team of publishing-industry professionals including editors, publishers, authors, sales & marketing directors, book retailers, journalists and lecturers – no matter which of these groups your appraiser fits into, you can be sure that we have a professional with an expertise in your genre.
We have a team of more than 30 specialised assessors, allowing us to match the appraiser’s particular genre experience to your manuscript.
In order to maintain objectivity our appraisers remain anonymous to the writer. This is also due to our assessors working across and within the industry. They continue to do this work because of their passion for comprehensive content development.
ABOUT MAA DIRECTOR:
KIT CARSTAIRS
Kit took the reins of The Manuscript Agency in 2014. Kit has a background in book and magazine publishing, academic research, marketing and broadcasting. She has over 15 years’ experience working with a wide variety of content including fiction (across many genres) and general non-fiction, as well as working with corporate and academic content.
Having worked both as an in-house editor and as a freelance editor for commercial/traditional publishers, Kit has a comprehensive understanding of the importance of content development and the need for authors to be proactive in developing manuscripts to represent their full potential. Kit understands the world of publishing and the cooperative nature of the roles played by various parties. Kit has worked with and for the likes of Murdoch Books, Allen & Unwin, Scholastic, HarperCollins, Varuna, The Authors’ Agent, and Pacific Magazines.
Kit is also the publishing director of Nightstand Press, an indie publisher with an innovative publishing model.
Kit lives and works in the beautiful Upper Blue Mountains, about 2 hours out of Sydney, Australia.
ABOUT EX-MAA DIRECTOR:
BRIAN COOK
Brian established The Manuscript Agency in 1996 and was proactive in the growing industry of manuscript appraisal and development.
Brian started in publishing in 1969 and has worked for Australian and international publishers in all areas of publishing, from sales and marketing to managing and directing editorial units in adult and children’s fiction and non-fiction lists, and buying and selling rights around the world.
In July 2014 Brian Cook sold The Manuscript Agency to Kit Carstairs, who brings with her a wealth of experience in contemporary publishing and hands-on content development. Kit knows about writing and what writers need to develop their work to its full potential.
Brian went on to lead his successful literary agency, The Author’s Agent, until his retirement in 2023 after over fifty years working with authors at the heart of the publishing industry.