EMIS™ provides detailed, independent manuscript evaluations that help authors identify strengths, address weaknesses and prepare professionally for literary agents, publishers or self-publication—while preserving the author’s individual voice.
Professional Insight. Constructive Guidance. Confident Submission.
English-language manuscripts • Based in South Africa • Serving authors worldwide
A serious manuscript deserves more than general encouragement. It needs a careful, independent assessment that identifies what is working, what is not, and what should happen next.
Each manuscript is considered on its own merits, genre expectations and intended readership.
Your manuscript remains your intellectual property and is used only for the service requested.
Reports explain both the problem and its practical effect, with specific revision direction where included.
The purpose is to strengthen the manuscript—not to erase the author’s individual style or intention.
Structure, character, prose, pacing, genre integrity, presentation and submission readiness are considered.
EMIS™ works with English-language authors in South Africa and internationally.
“A manuscript is rarely judged by its potential alone. It is judged by how clearly that potential appears on every page.”
Professional evaluation founded on clarity, integrity and respect for the author’s work.
EMIS™ Professional Manuscript Evaluation was created to help authors move beyond uncertainty. A completed manuscript can feel too familiar to its author for its structural and stylistic weaknesses to remain visible. An independent evaluation provides distance, identifies patterns across the whole work and establishes clear priorities for revision.
Founded and directed by Johan Engelbrecht, EMIS™ is the result of sustained research and development into the recurring structural, linguistic, narrative and presentation problems that weaken manuscripts. It serves authors who want serious, constructive feedback before approaching literary agents, publishers or self-publication channels.
EMIS™ does not replace the author, promise publication or claim authority over the truth of specialised ideas. It evaluates how effectively a manuscript is organised, written, presented and prepared for its intended readership and publication path.
No ethical evaluation service can guarantee publication, literary representation or commercial success, because those decisions remain with agents, publishers and readers. EMIS™ provides something authors can use directly: an independent professional assessment of the manuscript as a whole, a clear explanation of its strengths and weaknesses, practical revision priorities, and a more informed basis for submission decisions.
EMIS™ evaluates the professional quality, presentation and submission readiness of completed or substantially completed manuscripts.
Book-length fiction across established and emerging genres, assessed for structure, character, pacing, voice, consistency, reader engagement and submission readiness.
Book-length non-fiction, memoirs, biographies, business, leadership, educational and research-based works, assessed for organisation, clarity, argument flow, readability and presentation.
Unusual, cross-genre or newly conceived book projects may be considered after a scope review. EMIS™ confirms suitability before work begins.
Choose the depth of evaluation that matches the manuscript’s stage and your revision goals.
For authors seeking an affordable first professional opinion.
For authors ready to understand the manuscript’s principal weaknesses in depth.
For authors who want precise revision guidance and corrected examples.
For manuscripts requiring major structural intervention or developmental work.
Each report has a specific practical purpose. You receive a detailed professional assessment of your manuscript, clear findings and practical guidance for revision and submission preparation.
Purpose: A concise professional view of the manuscript’s overall arc, strengths, weaknesses and current readiness.
Purpose: Identifies weak points and explains why each issue affects structure, craft, reader response or market readiness.
Purpose: Provides chapter, paragraph or opening-line pointers together with specific replacement guidance.
Purpose: Demonstrates how important passages can be revised while preserving the manuscript’s intended voice.
Purpose: Reviews whether identified issues have been resolved and records remaining risks or revision priorities.
Purpose: Integrates approved corrections into the manuscript where this service has been specifically commissioned.
Purpose: Sets out a structural rebuilding plan when ordinary revision is not sufficient.
Purpose: Delivers the rebuilt manuscript when extensive re-engineering has been separately commissioned, scoped and approved.
Purpose: Reviews headings, dialogue layout, paragraphing, spacing, scene breaks, pagination and submission presentation.
A clear five-step process from submission to delivery.
Select the evaluation depth that matches your manuscript and revision needs.
Provide the manuscript file and the requested author, book and project information.
Confirm ownership and accept the Terms, Privacy and Confidentiality policies.
EMIS™ confirms that the manuscript is suitable for the selected service and that the scope is accurate.
Pay the accepted standard package through PayFast, or receive a written quotation when the required service differs from the standard packages.
Receive confirmation, followed by the completed reports within the stated turnaround period.
Clear requirements protect both the author and the integrity of the evaluation.
EMIS™ evaluates completed or substantially completed manuscripts—not undeveloped ideas or broad outlines.
Shorter material may still qualify when the form itself is naturally brief.
Outlines, frameworks and early drafts that require substantial creation are treated as developmental consulting and quoted separately.
“Submit enough of the actual manuscript for its structure, voice, pacing and character patterns to be judged—not merely the promise of the book.”
Use either file upload or pasted text. The form is ready for connection to your Xneelo form endpoint and PayFast production tags.
Standard package payments and custom quoted amounts will be payable through PayFast once the live merchant connection is activated. EMIS™ does not store card details.
A custom quotation must use the exact amount quoted by EMIS™; clients will not choose their own payment amount.
Do not make payment until the manuscript scope has been reviewed and a written quotation has been accepted.
Request a quotationUse this route for frameworks, major restructuring and manuscripts that require substantial new writing.
Your manuscript remains your intellectual property and is handled only for the service you commission.
The live website will use an SSL-encrypted connection after activation and verification on diligent.co.za.
Payment details are entered on PayFast’s secure payment environment. EMIS™ does not store card details.
The author retains copyright and ownership. Submission transfers no rights to EMIS™.
Submitted material is accessed only where necessary to assess and perform the commissioned service.
Manuscripts are not sold, published, disclosed or used as public examples without written permission.
Working files are retained only for the stated operational period, subject to lawful retention requirements, and then securely deleted.
Professor Hoot™ is the educational voice of EMIS™, offering weekly writing lessons, editing guidance and publishing advice, supported by a growing Knowledge Centre.
Read the latest practical lesson and browse the growing archive of previous lessons.
Enter the Academy →How an independent professional assessment can prevent unfocused revision and avoidable rejection.
Read Author Resources →Structure, pacing, character consistency, dialogue and prose patterns that often reduce reader confidence.
Browse Writing Articles →A practical checklist for file preparation, word count, book information and evaluation goals.
Open the Resource Library →Publishing experiences, book progress, discoveries and reflections on the writing journey.
Visit the Author’s Desk →New articles can be created with the included EMIS™ Article Builder and uploaded to Xneelo without changing the main website design.
Clear answers about eligibility, reports, payment, confidentiality and the evaluation process.
EMIS™ is a professional manuscript evaluation service that assesses completed or substantially completed English-language manuscripts and provides structured reports for revision and submission preparation.
EMIS™ Professional Manuscript Evaluation is founded and directed by Johan Engelbrecht in South Africa and serves authors worldwide.
No. EMIS™ cannot guarantee publication, literary representation, sales or commercial success. Final decisions remain with agents, publishers, readers and the author.
English-language fiction and non-fiction are accepted across a broad range of genres. Highly specialised academic, legal, medical or technical work may require a scope review before acceptance.
The general minimum is 20,000 words. Naturally shorter forms—such as children’s books, individual short stories, novellas or specialised short works—may be considered below this threshold.
An outline or broad framework normally contains too little material for a manuscript evaluation. It may instead qualify for developmental consulting, which is reviewed and quoted separately.
A substantially completed manuscript may be accepted if it contains enough of the actual work to assess structure, voice, pacing and recurring patterns. Early fragments require a separate scope review.
DOC, DOCX, PDF, RTF, ODT, TXT and HTML are supported, subject to the final Xneelo form and file-size configuration.
Yes. The submission page offers both file upload and pasted-text options.
Please include the title, genre, approximate word count, target market, author objective and any particular concerns you want the evaluation to address.
Ordinary evaluation packages diagnose and explain manuscript issues. Rewriting, full correction or major re-engineering is included only where specifically stated or separately commissioned.
Yes. Recommendations are intended to strengthen clarity, structure and impact while respecting the author’s individual voice and intention.
Yes. Where Report 3 is included, it identifies issue locations and provides targeted revision or replacement guidance.
The report is primarily a private revision tool. Corrected excerpts and insights may support preparation, but an agent should normally receive the manuscript and requested submission materials rather than the internal evaluation report unless specifically invited.
Yes. The US$50 Overview fee is credited towards a higher package when the upgrade is purchased within 30 days.
Work begins after the manuscript has been accepted for the selected package and payment has been successfully confirmed.
Overview: 5–7 business days. Professional: 10–14 business days. Comprehensive: 14–21 business days. Signature work is scheduled according to the accepted quotation.
PayFast will provide the secure payment connection. EMIS™ does not store card details. Signature and developmental work is paid only after scope approval and quotation acceptance.
Yes. Manuscripts are treated as confidential and used only to perform the requested service, subject to lawful obligations and the published policies.
The author retains copyright and ownership of the manuscript. Submission does not transfer ownership to EMIS™.
Refund eligibility depends on whether evaluation work has begun and whether the service can still be cancelled. The full policy appears in the Legal Centre below.
No. EMIS™ evaluates structure, clarity, organisation, language, presentation and submission readiness. Authors remain responsible for factual, scientific, theological, legal, medical, political, philosophical and historical claims.
No. Submitted manuscripts are used only to perform the requested service and are not supplied for public AI-model training.
Working files are retained only for the operational and review period stated in the Confidentiality and Privacy policies, subject to lawful retention duties, and are then deleted securely.
Yes. Contact EMIS™ before submitting when you are uncertain about eligibility, package depth or whether Signature work may be required.
EMIS™ will advise you before work begins. The project may be declined, redirected to a limited presentation review or offered under a separate quotation.
Contact EMIS™ when you are uncertain about eligibility, package choice or developmental scope.
Johan Engelbrecht
Founder and Director
Location
Based in South Africa — Serving authors worldwide.
Business hours
Monday to Friday, 09:00–17:00 South African Standard Time.
Expected response
Normally within one business day. Weekends and public holidays may affect response times.
Weekly reflections by Johan Engelbrecht on the Bible, the living Word of God, faith, interpretation and the life of the church.
This section now has its own publication page where complete reflections may be added and previous reflections remain available to readers.