I've already talked, in this series, about editors, designers, proofreaders — all the people who helped me "clean up" two books. Now I want to tell you about what grew out of all that experience. About the project we started building — and about why it doesn't look like anything else that already exists.
There are plenty of editing services online. Plenty of proofreading services too. Self-publishing platforms. Freelancer marketplaces. All of that exists. But one thing doesn't: a tool that helps an author understand where they are in the process, what they need to do next — and whether their manuscript is ready for the next step.
That constant feeling of uncertainty was the hardest part of my whole journey. Not the difficulty of the work itself — the work was always clear enough. But the answer to the question: am I doing this right?
My husband genuinely wanted to help. As someone who'd built a website for our mattress business from scratch back in the 2000s, then an online store, then a training academy for company staff, he was always looking to optimize everything, everywhere. He listened to my stories about every stage and asked simple questions: "Why isn't there a tool that shows this?" — "Why can't you just upload a manuscript and get an honest assessment — not editing, an assessment?" — "Why is all of this so scattered?"
At first I didn't have an answer. Then I understood: it's simply that nobody who'd built tools like this had ever walked this road from start to finish as an author. They built tools for people who already know the system. And most authors — especially those doing it for the first time — don't know the system at all.
We started with a simple question: what should an author get after uploading a manuscript, when they don't know if it's ready for the next step? Not a literary review. Not a judgment on artistic merit. But an honest, structured answer: here's what's working in the manuscript, here's what needs work before you go to an editor, here's what to pay attention to.
That's how EditRoast was born — a tool for a manuscript's first assessment. Not a replacement for an editor, but something that should come before the editor. It shows the strengths of the text and the specific spots the author can still fix on their own, before handing the work to professionals. That saves money, saves time, and, most importantly, lets the author come to editing already prepared.
I say "we" because it really is a joint project. My experience as an author, and Ivan's perspective as someone who knows how to build systems. We're not a startup, and we're not a tech company. We're just two people who wanted to make the thing we ourselves needed.
If you're on the road to your first book right now and feeling that same uncertainty — "I don't know if the manuscript is ready" — take a look at [editroast.com](https://editroast.com). It's exactly what I wish I'd had three years ago.