Flat fees, published.
Risk tier assessed at intake and confirmed in writing before engagement, so the price you're quoted is the price, period.
Clearance
$6,500
Manuscripts to 70,000 words, standard risk. Cleared, or it's free. Gameplan in 10 business days or 25% back.
Clearance+
$9,500
To 100,000 words, or elevated risk: named living adversaries, litigation history in the story, regulated-industry content. Adds the publishing contract review. Same guarantees.
Full Clearance, done for you
base tier + $3,500
We don't just tell you which releases and permissions you need. We draft them, send them, follow up, negotiate the permission fees, and log everything into your Defense File. Your part stays small and specific: the documents that substantiate what you wrote, the contact details for the people involved, and answers when we have questions only you can answer.
Founding rate for the first ten manuscripts. Pricing then moves to $10,000 and $15,000.
How payment works
Every engagement is paid in two installments. The first 50% is due up front, and paying it is what formally opens the attorney-client relationship and puts your manuscript on the calendar. The second 50% is due on completion, when the Gameplan is delivered.
Flat fee means flat fee. The amount is confirmed in writing before you sign, and it does not move because the work took longer than I planned.
| Tier | At engagement | On Gameplan delivery | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clearance | $3,250 | $3,250 | $6,500 |
| Clearance+ | $4,750 | $4,750 | $9,500 |
| Full Clearance add-on | $1,750 | $1,750 | $3,500 |
Add-ons and quotes
Expedited Gameplan
5-business-day Gameplan at +25%, subject to confirmed availability.
Full Clearance execution
Either tier + $3,500, or custom quote by release count. The done-for-you release and permission chase, logged into your Defense File.
Over 100,000 words
Quoted in writing before you sign.
We only accept two manuscripts a month. A clearance read done right means a lawyer actually reading every page, and each one takes significant time and resources. Capping the month at two is how the guaranteed timeline and every deliverable actually get met.
Before the publisher, or after?
You can get a legal review before you submit the manuscript to publishers, or after you've signed. Both work. Here is how I weigh the trade, in both directions.
Review before you submit
The case for it
- It shows you're serious. Submitting the manuscript with an attorney review and clearance letter reads as professional, reasonable, and ready to publish.
- The risks arrive already mitigated, so there's far less heavy lifting for the publisher's editors and legal team.
- I'm available to review and negotiate the publishing contract and any related contracts, for a fee of course, and to advise you on your legal obligations from the very beginning.
The trade
- Editors may later remove or modify content we've already worked on.
- Your book may never get picked up by a publisher, for reasons outside anyone's control.
Review after you sign
The case for it
- Editorial will have fixed many issues already, leaving fewer areas that need clearance and legal analysis.
- The manuscript may arrive pre-flagged by the editors, so my review moves faster and more efficiently.
- I'll know exactly what your publisher needs to get the book cleared.
The trade
- The contract is already signed, and it may contain unfavorable terms nobody negotiated.
- There's much less time and wiggle room for a proper legal review and clearance.
- Production schedules are tight. My Gameplan still arrives in 10 business days, but releases and permissions can take months depending on the volume and who we're dealing with, and no one controls third-party timelines. A publication date can slip, and in a bad case a publisher can even terminate the contract.
- Time pressure can force cutting powerful sections of the book entirely, weakening its quality and hurting sales and leverage.
What Guy recommends
In most cases, get the legal review before approaching publishers. Submitting the manuscript alongside an attorney review and clearance letter is powerful: it removes a lot of the risk the publisher would otherwise face, removes editorial friction, and shows you are professional, reasonable, and ready to publish. You want to make their job easy. And if you'd like, I'm also available to review and negotiate the publishing contract and to counsel you on your legal obligations from day one.
That said, every book is different, and some books are better off reviewed after you sign and after the editors work some mojo on the manuscript. Give me a call and we can talk through which order fits yours. The call is free.
What the market charges
Standard memoir libel reads run $2,000 to $5,000 from specialized attorneys and deliver a marked manuscript, sometimes with a clearance letter. Marketplace publishing contract reviews average roughly $500. Hourly media lawyers run $100 to $750+ with no cap and no turnaround promise. I am not aware of any other firms in the market that bundle a written mitigation opinion, a fix-it gameplan, publisher liaison, an organized defense file, and a guarantee together.
| Feature | DIY with AI | Marketplace Lawyer | Traditional Libel Read | Hourly Media Lawyer | Muller Manuscript Clearance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Publishing-industry lawyer reads every page | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Marked manuscript with fixes written for you | Varies | No | Varies | Varies | Yes |
| Written Mitigation Memo (opinion of counsel) | No | No | Varies | No | Yes |
| 10-business-day Gameplan, guaranteed | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Contract-conflict check (NDAs, settlements) | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Handles your publisher's legal team | No | No | No | Varies | Yes |
| Defense File, organized and claim-indexed | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Re-review until cleared, included | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Attorney-client privilege protects your questions | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| "Cleared, or it's free" guarantee | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Price | $0 today. Discoverable later. | ~$500 (contract only) | $2,000 to $5,000 | $100 to $750 per hour, uncapped | From $6,500, flat and guaranteed |
Comparison reflects typical published offerings by category; individual providers vary. Muller Manuscript Clearance guarantee terms stated in engagement agreement.
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Two clocks
Your Gameplan arrives in 10 business days, guaranteed, because that clock is ours. Final clearance follows the Gameplan's timeline, because releases and permissions run through other people's lawyers and rights holders, and no honest lawyer guarantees other people's calendars.
The guarantee, in writing
Layer 1, the performance guarantee: Cleared, or It's Free.
If your publisher's legal review flags an issue in material we cleared, we revise and re-clear at no additional cost until it passes. If we cannot get it cleared, full refund of the Clearance fee.
The conditions, stated in the open and written into the engagement letter: the guarantee applies to manuscripts where our recommendations were implemented or the passage was otherwise resolved with us; the refund covers our fee, and the fee only; and "cleared" means legally cleared for publication by your publisher's legal review, since editorial and taste decisions belong to the house.
Every publisher's legal team has its own risk tolerance. That's exactly why re-review is included: when their review flags something as a legal risk, we rework it and re-review until it passes. And it's your book, your decision, and your risk tolerance at the end of the day. If you choose to forego our recommendations, we can't be responsible for the consequences, and the guarantee can't cover them.
Layer 2, the self-publishing variant.
No publisher gatekeeper exists for self-published and hybrid authors, so the guarantee shifts to what we control: same deliverables, same 10-day Gameplan, unlimited re-review rounds on revised passages for 90 days, and the Mitigation Memo as the standing record of diligence.
What no lawyer can guarantee, and I won't: outcomes. Promising results is unethical, and frankly impossible. Anyone can file anything. What we guarantee is what we do and how we do it, and the money: if our work product does not pass a reasonable and customary publisher's legal review, we rework it free until it does, or you get your money back. Clearance mitigates the risks before publication, so if someone does sue, their odds of succeeding go down and yours go up, and the Mitigation Memo documents exactly how.
Manuscript Clearance. Cleared, or it's free.
For the ones with a story to tell.