Seventeen years of manuscript assessment (manuscript appraisal), development, editing and proofreading by Miles Franklin winner Tom Flood.

ABOUT

Flood Manuscripts

Flood Manuscripts began out of the belief that writers are not served as well as they might be through some of the assessment (appraisal) services; the myth of objectivity rarely outweighs the presence of subjectivity. Writers, an isolated workforce, respond with animation when they are allowed out of the arms' length environment fostered by many services and institutions and are treated as adults able to make their own choices in the industry.

From many years of engaging both closely and at arm's length with writers and their work, Flood Manuscripts firmly believe a writer's work develops best when writer and editor or assessor get together, talk it through and rub sensibilities to stir the humanity in each other; when private meets public in a relationship that can refine or transform the author's vision and help direct their work toward its destined market. Kathryn Heyman (Australian Writers Mentorship Program) has passed a number of writers over to Flood Manuscripts when their service has exhausted their brief. Flood Manuscripts has carried a number of those writers through to sign with top agencies (most recently Peter Dann's 'Household Appliances and How to Fix Them: A Repairman's Guide' was signed to Australian Literary Management). An assessment (appraisal) service thrives on the quality of its assessors and the track record of its authors. Flood Manuscripts offers excellence in all aspects.

Client awards: The Banjo (HarperCollins) Prize 2020 (winner). Puncher&Wattman Prize, 1st Poetry Book 2019 (runner up). Westwords/Copyright Agency Western Sydney Emerging Writers Fellowship 2019 (shortlisted). Del Sol Press USA 2018 1st Novel Competition (winner). Affirm Press/Tablo 'The Perfect Crime' competition 2018, a search for Australia's best undiscovered crime writer (winner). The Book Club Pick 2016. Ned Kelly Best First Book 2016 (shortlisted). AIA Seal of Excellence 2015. Book Readers Appreciation Group Medallion 2015. IBPA Award ANZ Silver Medal 2014. ACT Book of the Year 2014 (shortlisted). William Saroyan International Prize for Literature 2012 (shortlisted). Nocte Awards: Best International Book 2011 (winner). Asher Literary Award 2011 (shortlisted). Manning Clark Cultural Award 2011 (shortlisted). CAL Scribe Fiction Prize 2011 (longlisted). Dundee International Book Prize 2009 (shortlisted). Maritime History Prize 2009 (shortlisted). Amazon Manuscript Award 2009 (longlisted) FAW National Award 2009 (commended). Ditmar Award 2007 (winner). Australian Shadows Award 2007 (winner). Golden Aurealis 2007 (winner). Best Horror Aurealis 2007 (winner). ABC Fiction Award 2006 (winner).

Tom Flood

Tom Flood is the administrator and editor/assessor at Flood Manuscripts. He has been a writer, editor, evaluator, copyeditor and proofreader for many years and has experience in many areas of writing. He has been a highly regarded assessor at Driftwood Manuscripts and at Manuscripts Online. He was Chief Fiction Judge for NSW Premiers Awards 2003 (and also judged in 1993) and has judged and been on selection panels for NSW Premiers Writers Fellowship, Sydney University Fiction Award, Harper Collins Manuscript Award, Varuna, A Writers House and the Short and Sweet Theatre Festival 2007. He has edited and proofread for McPhee Gribble and Penguin, launched books for Allen&Unwin, Angus&Robertson, Giramondo, and many other publishers, and has read, taught, lectured and spoken on creative writing from Perth to Paris.

As a writer, Tom's work has won The Miles Franklin Award, the Victorian Premiers Award, the Australian/Vogel Award and the Orange Banjo Paterson Short Story Award. His writing has been commissioned in collections, journals and newspapers in Australia, UK and USA, for screen, stage and radio, and is also exhibited in the National Museum of Australia. His '89 novel Oceana Fine was finally released digitally in Dec '21 as part of the 200 book Untapped Collection and will be re-released in paperback through Booktopia later in '22. His latest publication is 'In The Skin', a story in the ecofuturist anthology Phase Change from Twelfth Planet Press, March '22. He is also a working songwriter musician ('Love's Trombone', winner inaugural Bluesy Tubes Competition) in the band BluesAngels and solo. Feb '24 release digital single https://bluesangels1.bandcamp.com/track/needle-never-caught-2

'Flood is bringing Australian fiction to a place where it might take ten or twenty years for most other writers to catch up.'
Prof. Nicholas Birns, American Assoc. of Australian Lit. Studies, in Review of Contemporary Fiction, Vol. XXVII|Fall 2007,
Dalkey Archive, University of Illinois, Ann Arbor, Ill. http://www.dalkeyarchive.com/product/vol-xxvii-3-new-australian-fiction/

As an award-winning author, a literary judge, a teacher, editor, assessor and evaluator, Tom has a knowledge and love of the craft of writing and brings exacting standards and, through his literary family, a lifetime of experience to the work before him, matching helpful criticism with empathy and respect for the work and its author.