Freelance Fiction Reader - Remote (Publishing Industry Experience Required)

About This Opportunity

The Black List is seeking experienced fiction readers to evaluate excerpts of unpublished, novel-length manuscripts. Candidates must have at least one year of experience working in the fiction genre at a publishing house, imprint, and/or literary agency.

You will be assigned unpublished manuscripts and asked to read only the first 90-100 pages of each. You'll then write an evaluation assessing components such as voice, plot, character development, pace, prose, and more. Projects will be assigned based on a reader's genre experience, which will be established during onboarding.

What You'll Do:

• Read the first 90–100 pages of unpublished manuscripts
• Provide written evaluations assessing a project's industry prospects, story components such as voice, plot, character development, prose, etc., and identify areas for improvement
• Read only fiction genres aligned with your prior industry experience

What You Bring:

• 1+ year of experience in the fiction genre at a publishing house, imprint, and/or literary agency
• Strong grasp of novels, market trends, and reader expectations
• Professionalism and discretion with unpublished manuscripts

Apply Now

Please apply now via our reader hiring portal.

If you encounter any difficulties, please email [email protected].

About The Black List

The Black List is a platform dedicated to identifying and celebrating exceptional storytelling. First established in 2005 as an annual survey of Hollywood's most-liked unproduced screenplays, The Black List has since grown into a comprehensive resource for the film, TV, publishing, and theater worlds, serving thousands of writers, agents, managers, showrunners, producers, financiers, directors, actors, and theater industry professionals.

More than 400 scripts from the annual Black List survey have been produced, grossing over $28B at worldwide box offices. Films produced from those Black List scripts have won four Best Picture Oscars and 12 Best Screenplay Oscars since 2007. A Harvard Business School study found that "Black-Listed scripts were twice as likely to be made into films...They also did better at theaters, with movies of the same budget generating 90% more revenue at the box office."

In October 2012, The Black List launched a unique online community to cater to the needs of screenwriters, creatives, and industry professionals. Since its inception, it has hosted more than 100,000 scripts and provided more than 130,000 script evaluations. Among the films produced: NAACP Award-nominated MR MALCOLM’S LIST, Independent Spirit Award-nominated THE NOVICE, and Golden Globe-nominated NIGHTINGALE, starring David Oyelowo. The Black List also supports various programs for writers, including mentorships, production funds, and direct financial grants, in collaboration with its sponsors. 

In September 2024, The Black List announced its expansion into fiction. This launch allows fiction writers to use blcklst.com to create a free profile that showcases their completed novels regardless of publication status, purchase professional feedback from The Black List’s experienced readers, and submit their manuscripts to various fiction-specific programs. As a longstanding advocate for increasing access and visibility for screenplays in Hollywood, The Black List aims to bring the same clarity and connectivity to the publishing industry, linking it with the film and television industries and writers around the world.

08/31/2025