Flat fees, published.
Risk tier assessed at intake and confirmed in writing before engagement, so the price you're quoted is the price, period.
How every review works
Every page read. Every flag reviewed by a lawyer.
The editor's read
A trained editor reads every page of your manuscript and flags anything that could create legal risk, using our written flagging standards.
The attorney's review
With Clearance, I go through every page myself, checking for anything the flags missed, and slow down at every flag. With a Risk Review, I review every flag and read the manuscript wherever the context calls for it. Either way, I make every legal judgment myself.
We may use AI-assisted tools to help organize and analyze your manuscript, under my supervision and on terms that don't allow it to be used for training. Your engagement agreement says so in writing.
Clearance
$6,500
Standard-risk manuscripts only, up to 70,000 words.
Standard risk looks like a leadership or business book built on your own career, a memoir where family, friends, and colleagues appear without being accused of wrongdoing, or a how-to book with real-life anecdotes.
Elevated-risk books are Clearance+, even under 70,000 words. See what counts as elevated risk.
Recommended
Clearance+
$9,500
Elevated-risk books up to 100,000 words, or any book from 70,001 to 100,000 words.
Same deliverables as Clearance, for books that accuse identifiable people of serious misconduct, draw on court records or settlements, or turn real people into fiction.
Custom
From $12,500
Quoted in writing.
Manuscripts over 100,000 words, more than one elevated-risk factor, or heavy document review.
Not ready for full clearance? Start with a Risk Review.
$5,000 for standard-risk manuscripts up to 70,000 words, or $6,500 for longer manuscripts up to 100,000 words or elevated risk. You get the editor's read of every page and my review of every flag, with the results in a plain-English Findings Letter and a walkthrough call of up to one hour. It tells you what's risky and what to fix first, and it doesn't clear the book. Upgrade to Clearance within 60 days and the full fee counts toward it.
Releases and Permissions, done for you.
Quoted flat fee
We draft the releases and permissions your Gameplan identifies, send them, follow up, negotiate the permission fees, and keep everything organized with your supporting documents. It's quoted as a flat fee, based on how many items your book needs, and agreed in writing before any work begins. 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.
Every fee published here is our fee for the legal work itself, not for anything a third party charges. Licensing and permission fees set by rights holders are separate, remain your responsibility, and are disclosed to you before they are incurred.
What counts as elevated risk
Clearance+ pricing applies, even to books under 70,000 words, if any one of these is true:
- The book accuses an identifiable living person of a crime or serious misconduct.
- It’s fiction closely based on recognizable real people.
- It draws on court records, discovery, settlements, or restrictive agreements we need to review.
- It involves minors, or sexual content about real people.
- The person you’re writing about is known to sue.
Two or more of these, or heavy document review, means a custom quote. If the risk sits in one separable section, we can often price the book as standard risk and focus the elevated review on that section.
Risk Review or Clearance?
A Risk Review tells you what's risky and what to fix first, in a plain-English Findings Letter and a walkthrough call. It's advice for you, and it doesn't clear the book: there's no Gameplan, no follow-up review, and no Clearance Letter. Clearance takes you the rest of the way, with my pass over every page, the Gameplan, a follow-up review of your revisions, and a Clearance Letter you can share with your publisher, printer, distributor, or insurer. Start with a Risk Review, upgrade within 60 days, and the full Risk Review fee counts toward Clearance. Nothing is redone.
How payment works
Two payments, or one. Pay half when you sign and half when your review is complete, due within 10 days of our email letting you know it's ready. Or pay in full when you sign and save 5%. Either way, your payment goes into our client trust account and moves to our operating account only as the fee is earned, in stages, as the work is done. Signing the engagement agreement and making the first payment is what opens the attorney-client relationship.
Prefer to pay over time? Financing may be available through LawPay's pay-over-time option, subject to approval and LawPay's terms. Any financing is an arrangement between you and the lender, and we receive your fee the same way, into our client trust account.
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 | When your review is complete | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clearance | $3,250 | $3,250 | $6,500 |
| Clearance+ | $4,750 | $4,750 | $9,500 |
| Risk Review | $2,500 | $2,500 | $5,000 |
| Risk Review, longer or elevated risk | $3,250 | $3,250 | $6,500 |
Published rates are our standard rates for the scopes they describe. They're an invitation to talk, never an offer of representation. Every engagement starts with a conflicts check and a written scope confirmation, and no attorney-client relationship exists until we both sign the engagement agreement and the first installment is paid. Projects outside a defined scope, longer manuscripts, more complex risk profiles, or high volumes of permissions, releases, or images, receive a written quote before you decide anything.
Add-ons and quotes
Priority scheduling
+25%, when the calendar allows. We'll confirm your start date and anticipated delivery date in writing when you sign.
Releases and Permissions, done for you
Quoted as a flat fee, based on how many releases and permissions your book needs, and agreed in writing before any work begins. Permission fees charged by rights holders are always yours, never marked up, and disclosed before they're incurred.
Custom scopes
Quoted in writing before you sign, typically from $12,500, for manuscripts over 100,000 words, books with more than one elevated-risk factor, or reviews that need heavy document review.
Publishing contract review
Quoted separately.
How I work
On copyright and permissions. Every review flags quoted or borrowed material, such as lyrics, poems, excerpts, and images, that may need permission. Most publishers' editors handle permissions as part of editing and escalate the hard calls to a lawyer. If you're publishing without that support, or your book has complex copyright questions, I'm glad to take that work on for a fee we quote and agree at the start. My core review focuses where legal analysis matters most: defamation, invasion of privacy, and disclosure of confidential or private information. I don't sell work you don't need. If we're not the right fit, I'll tell you, and I'll try to point you to who is.
One more thing about how I work. I don't rewrite your book, and you wouldn't want me to. You get the legal read, the options, and sample language to react to where it's useful, and creative control stays exactly where it belongs, with you. The hard chapters stay yours.
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. Your review still arrives on the dates we agree in writing, 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 reduces 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 each option includes
Your engagement agreement lists exactly what's included in your review. Custom scopes are set in writing.| Feature | Clearance | Clearance+ | Custom | Risk Review |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Editor read of every page | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| Attorney review of every flag | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| Attorney pass over every page | Included | Included | Included | Not included |
| Plain-English Findings Letter | Not included | Not included | Not included | Included |
| Walkthrough call, up to one hour | Not included | Not included | Not included | Included |
| Gameplan, marked on your pages, with release templates where needed | Included | Included | Included | Not included |
| One follow-up review within 30 days | Included | Included | Included | Not included |
| Clearance Letter you can share | Included | Included | Included | Not included |
| Claim Response Call, 12 months after publication | Included | Included | Included | Not included |
| Manuscript | Standard risk only, up to 70,000 words | Elevated risk up to 100,000 words, or standard risk from 70,001 to 100,000 | Over 100,000 words, or complex | Up to 70,000 words, or up to 100,000 at $6,500 |
| Price | $6,500 | $9,500 | From $12,500, quoted | $5,000 or $6,500 |
In writing, before you sign
Your engagement agreement spells out, in plain English, the price, the scope, what you'll receive, and how your dates and payments work. You'll see all of it before you sign.
- Fee
- Flat, quoted in writing before you sign
- Dates
- Start date and anticipated delivery date, confirmed in writing when you sign
- Follow-up review
- One round within 30 days, in Clearance tiers
- Where it lives
- In your engagement agreement
What no lawyer can guarantee, and I won't: outcomes. Anyone can file anything, and no review can promise that a publisher or platform will accept a book. What I commit to is the work: every flag reviewed, every credible risk named, your options laid out, and everything documented. A review lowers the odds that a claim succeeds and records the care you took before publishing.
Pricing questions
- What’s the difference between a Risk Review and Clearance?
- A Risk Review tells you what’s risky and what to fix first, in a plain-English Findings Letter and a walkthrough call. Clearance adds my pass over every page, the Gameplan (every risk, why it matters and what to change, marked on your pages), a follow-up review of your revisions, and a Clearance Letter you can share with your publisher, printer, distributor, or insurer.
- What counts as elevated risk?
- A book that accuses an identifiable living person of a crime or serious misconduct, fiction closely based on recognizable real people, a book that draws on court records, discovery, settlements, or restrictive agreements, a book involving minors or sexual content about real people, or a subject known to sue. Any one of these puts a book in Clearance+ pricing, even under 70,000 words.
- Can I upgrade from a Risk Review to Clearance?
- Yes. Upgrade within 60 days of receiving your Findings Letter and the full Risk Review fee counts toward Clearance. We build on the same review, so nothing is redone.
- How do payments work?
- Half when you sign and half when your review is complete, due within 10 days of our email. Or pay in full when you sign and save 5%. Your payment is held in our client trust account and earned in stages as the work is done. If you end the engagement before your deliverables are complete, you get back whatever hasn't been earned. Pay-over-time financing may be available through LawPay, subject to approval and LawPay's terms.
- How long will my review take?
- We set your start date and anticipated delivery date together after your consultation, based on your manuscript’s length and risk and your launch plans, and confirm them in writing when you sign.
- How much do releases and permissions cost?
- If you’d like us to obtain them for you, we quote a flat fee based on how many your book needs and agree it in writing before any work begins. Permission fees charged by rights holders are separate, always yours, and disclosed before they’re incurred.
- Do you guarantee the outcome?
- No. No lawyer can promise that no one will sue, how a claim would turn out, or that a publisher or platform will accept a book, and I don’t. What you get is defined in your engagement agreement: the scope, the deliverables, the price, and your dates, all in writing before you sign.
Know the risk before you publish.
For the ones with a story to tell.