We have been researching and fine tuning a manuscript selection procedure to ensure an optimal gain to risk ratio for any project. This research has carefully examined several books (both by us and other publishers) before we arrived at the following metrics. This is one of the most evolved methods to calculate the scope of success for a book:

Rating of a manuscript happens from a scale of -3 to +3 on each of the below mentioned five points

1. Publishers' requirements (These are the genres the Publisher wants to invest in and have nothing to do with the quality of the manuscript)
   Scale: -3 to +3 i.e the average score of the sub points is considered
   
   
   • Genre (e.g. Say this year Leadstart Publishing is going to be heavy on Non- fiction. hence Non Fiction titles will get a '+3’, other genres have ratings between '-3' to '+ 2’)
   • Sub Genre ( e.g. Say, this year we would like to build our titles around Global trends, Global personalities & Global news , hence say books on President Obama, Indian Elections, Business biographies ,Investment during Recession, etc. receive a '+3' )
   
   
2. Writer credentials (These are points assigned to the market pull the author's name will drive)
   Scale: -3 to +3 i.e the average score of the sub points is considered
   
   
   • Well known published author
   • Author's Popularity (Has never been an author before but is very popular, e.g. Lakshmi Mittal, Shahrukh Khan, David Beckham, will receive the highest grades)
   
   
3. Market Viability ( These are points based on our market information system, viz. what are the demographics of the people who will be probable buyers for the book)
   Scale: -3 to +3 i.e the average score of the sub points is considered
   
   Target Group
   
   • Socio Economical Classification (from A to E). Read More..
   • Gender
   • Age Bracket
   • Geography (Country, Metros, Mini- Metros, etc)
   
   
4. Script quality:
   Scale: -6 to +6 i.e the average score of the sub points is considered
   
   
   • Skeleton of script
   • Body of script
   • Story telling
   • Language
   • Uniqueness
   
   
5. Scope for scaling:
   Scale: -3 to +3 i.e the average score of the sub points is considered
   
   
   • Scope to sell in different geographies (e.g. scripts on arithmetic, yoga, nutrition, President Obama, etc. can be globally scaled effectively)
   • Content Syndication: (Probability of the content being syndicated to different mediums, viz will news papers / websites pay for the content if they use the content on their mediums. e.g. "lose weight naturally" can become a book and chapters of the book can be used by a new paper / website, where they can use our content and pay for the same)
   • Parallel mediums: (If the book can be sold as a movie script or a cookery book be made into a cookery show, etc.)

In the business of creativity there are no set rule for success, the attempt here is to ensure the risk on each project is optimised. Post assigning points to each manuscript (ranging from - 18 to +18) we choose the manuscripts. We only consider books with a score of + 5 for Publishing; the benchmarks keep moving higher up during times of slowdowns.

** NOTE : The above mentioned Metrics is an Intellectual property of Leadstart Publishing Pvt. Ltd. All copyrights for the same are reserved. Please note evaluations for any manuscript done by Leadstart Publishing will be final and no arguments about the evaluations will be entertained.