The Literary Consultancy offers writers the opportunity to receive an honest, market-aware appraisal of their work through its long-running manuscript assessment service, available for extracts or full manuscripts across fiction, non-fiction, short stories, poetry, scripts and screenplays. Since 2001, TLC has been in receipt of funding from Arts Council England to extend its offer to those unable to pay the fees for its commercial services. The Free Reads Scheme is open to all writers resident in England through a range of partners. You can find a map of the partners operating in each region, as well as more information about the scheme here. The submission period from writers based in London is currently open.

TLC has helped a number of writers on to publication, but its main aim is to support writers in developing their work. TLC hand-matches each incoming manuscript to a suitable reader from its list of 80+ professional editors, and writers can expect to receive feedback in the form of a written critique, sent within 4-6 weeks of the application being processed.

The Free Read scheme particularly welcomes applications from writers belonging to groups currently under-represented in publishing including women writers, disabled writers, BAME writers, and members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Deadline:

Midnight on Friday 30 November.

Eligibility 

To apply via Spread the Word, you must live in London and be on a low-income, meeting one of the following criteria:

You earn £23,000 or below
You are a full-time student
You are a pensioner
You are in receipt of Jobseekers’ Allowance, Disability Benefits, Income Support or Working Tax Credits- you may also submit HMRC self-assessment paperwork to show you are low-earning if you are a freelancer and not in receipt of income support.Applicants must be over the age of 16.
They only accept single authored work, written in English.

You’ll need to submit 1000 words of writing, along with a synopsis. If you’re entering poetry or a script into the scheme, then please send in up to 20 pages of your writing. This must be the writing you wish to have assessed for a Free Read.

All entries must have an application form with evidence of eligibility attached- found via the link below

https://www.spreadtheword.org.uk/projects/the-literary-consultancys-free-reads-scheme/