Jericho Writers is a UK-based writing school and membership that helps novelists finish a book and land a literary agent. Premium membership costs £15 a month on an annual plan, and the real value sits in its expert feedback and agent tools. It suits writers chasing traditional publishing. It does not suit you if you want the book written for you, or if you only plan to self-publish on a tight budget.
In this review, you’ll learn:
- What you actually get for each membership tier, and what costs extra
- What the manuscript assessment, query letter review and Agent Submission Pack really cost
- The complaints that show up in Jericho Writers reviews, and how serious they are
- Where Jericho Writers beats Chapter, and where it does not
Here’s the honest assessment, with prices checked on Jericho’s own pages in October 2026.
What Jericho Writers actually is
Jericho Writers — a paid membership and editorial service for fiction and narrative non-fiction writers, run from Oxford, that sells video courses, tutored courses, professional manuscript feedback and literary agent research tools.
The company began in 2004 as The Writers’ Workshop, founded by crime novelist Harry Bingham, and later renamed itself after the Jericho district of Oxford. Its about page says it is still run by writers. That history matters, because a lot of businesses in this space are a few years old and vanish quickly.
Jericho sells four kinds of things, and it helps to keep them separate in your head:
- Membership (free or Premium), which unlocks the video library, AgentMatch, events and the community
- Editorial services, such as manuscript assessments, developmental edits and submission pack reviews
- Tutored courses, which run for weeks or months with a named tutor
- One-to-one sessions with literary agents
The membership is the front door. Most of the money, and most of the value, sits in the editorial services and tutored courses behind it.
What does a Jericho Writers membership include?
A Jericho Writers membership comes in two tiers. The free Townhouse tier gives you the community forums, newsletters and peer feedback. Premium adds 13 self-paced video courses, AgentMatch, a yearly query letter review, live events, replays and a 10% discount on paid services.
Here is the breakdown from the Jericho membership page:
| Free (Townhouse) | Premium | |
|---|---|---|
| Community forums and groups | Yes | Yes |
| Weekly newsletters | Yes | Yes |
| Feedback Friday (peer feedback) | Yes | Yes |
| 13 self-paced video courses | No | Yes |
| AgentMatch agent database | No | Yes |
| Query letter review | No | Once a year |
| Agent Q&As, workshops, Critique Club | No | Yes |
| 300+ event replays | No | Yes |
| Competition entry | £10 each | Free |
| Discount on editing, courses, agent calls | No | 10% |
Premium membership pricing
Premium has three payment options, all listed in pounds sterling:
- Annual, paid upfront: £150 a year (Jericho frames it as two months free)
- Annual, paid monthly: £15 a month for 12 months
- Flex: £30 a month, rolling, cancel any time
Pay attention to the middle option. The £15 price is a 12-month commitment billed monthly, not a monthly plan you can drop. That distinction drives some of the complaints covered below. Premium comes with a 14-day money-back guarantee, and when it ends your account drops back to the free tier rather than disappearing.
AgentMatch
AgentMatch is a searchable database of UK and US literary agents. You filter by genre, location and whether the agent is open to submissions, then read wishlists and submission requirements. It does the same job as building a spreadsheet from agency websites, only faster.
If you have read our guide on how to find a literary agent, you know the research step eats weeks. AgentMatch shortens it. It does not get you a yes, and it is only as current as Jericho keeps it.
What do Jericho Writers courses cost?
Jericho Writers courses split into two groups. Self-paced video courses cost £99 each or come free with Premium. Tutored courses run from £900 for the six-week Self-Edit Your Novel course up to £3,500 or more for the Ultimate Novel Writing Programme, which lasts 8 to 12 months.
The tutored course list, from the courses page:
| Course | Tutor | Length | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Self-Edit Your Novel | Debi Alper | 6 weeks | £900 |
| Writing Crime and Thriller Novels | Graham Bartlett | 6 weeks | £1,000 |
| Writing Romance Novels | Rowan Coleman | 6 weeks | £1,000 |
| Novel Writing for Beginners | Joanna Glen | 10 weeks | £1,200 |
| Path to Publication | Kate Harrison | 8 weeks | £1,500 |
| Simply Self-Publish | Debbie Young | 10 weeks | £2,000 |
| Ultimate Novel Writing Programme | Various | 8 to 12 months | From £3,500 |
Premium members take 10% off each tutored course. The self-paced library includes titles such as How to Write a Novel in Six Weeks, How to Get a Literary Agent and Amazon Ads for Authors.
Self-Edit Your Novel is the course that comes up most often by name in positive Trustpilot reviews. If you already have a draft and want to learn developmental editing on your own pages, it is the course to look at first.
How much is a Jericho Writers manuscript assessment?
A Jericho Writers manuscript assessment costs £415 for up to 20,000 words, rising with length to £705 for an 80,000-word novel and £870 for 100,000 words. You get a report of about 3,500 words from a matched editor, usually within four weeks. Express two-week turnaround costs roughly 25% more.
Some sample price points from the manuscript assessment page:
| Word count | Standard (about 4 weeks) | Express (2 weeks) |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 20,000 | £415 | £515 |
| 70,001 to 75,000 | £665 | £830 |
| 75,001 to 80,000 | £705 | £880 |
| 95,001 to 100,000 | £870 | £1,085 |
| 120,001 to 130,000 | £1,095 | £1,365 |
The editors are freelancers. Jericho’s page profiles published novelists, crime writers and several working literary agents. You can request a specific editor or send a shortlist, but Jericho does not guarantee your pick.
A manuscript assessment is not a line edit. It is a structural read: plot, character, pacing and whether the book is commercially viable. That is exactly what most first-time novelists need, and it is cheaper than a full developmental edit. For context on how this compares to hiring direct, see our breakdown of how much a book editor costs.
There is no money-back guarantee on assessments. An agent referral is possible, but Jericho reserves it for manuscripts it judges to have very strong commercial potential, so do not buy one expecting an introduction.
How does the Jericho Writers query letter review work?
The Jericho Writers query letter review is a Premium membership benefit: once a year, an industry professional gives you written feedback on your query letter. Jericho does not sell it separately. If you want your synopsis and opening chapters reviewed too, you need the paid Agent Submission Pack at £375.
This is the part of Jericho most people search for, and the two products get confused, so here they are side by side:
| Query letter review | Agent Submission Pack | Agent One-to-One | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What gets read | Query letter only | Query, synopsis, first 10,000 words | Query, synopsis, first 5,000 words |
| Who reads it | ”An industry professional” | A matched editor | A working literary agent |
| What you get | Written feedback | About 2,000-word report | 15-minute phone call |
| Price | Included in Premium, once a year | £375 (£465 express) | £70 |
| Turnaround | Not stated | 3 to 4 weeks (2 weeks express) | Booked session |
Sources: the query letter advice page, the Agent Submission Pack page and the Agent One-to-Ones page. Premium members take 10% off the last two.
The free yearly review is good value if you are a Premium member anyway. A query letter is roughly 300 words, and one sharp professional read can fix a pitch that would otherwise burn through your agent list.
The £70 agent call is the most interesting product on the site. Fifteen minutes is short, but hearing a working agent react to your pitch is something you cannot buy from software. Before you pay for either, work through our guide on how to write a query letter and study some query letter examples that worked, so the feedback goes on your best draft rather than your first.
What Jericho Writers does well
The feedback comes from people inside publishing. The editors list includes working agents and published authors. When an agent tells you your opening chapter starts in the wrong place, that carries weight a peer critique group cannot match.
The pricing is public. Every assessment tier, every course and every agent call has a published price. Plenty of editorial services make you request a quote. Jericho does not, which makes it easy to budget.
It teaches you to write, not just to submit. The video library and tutored courses build skills you keep. After Self-Edit Your Novel, you can revise your next book without paying anyone.
The agent tools fit the UK and US markets. AgentMatch covers both, and the agent one-to-ones put you in front of the people you will eventually query.
It has a free tier. Townhouse costs nothing and gives you forums and peer feedback, which is a fair way to test the community before spending money. Compare that with our list of free online writing communities.
It has staying power. Twenty-plus years in business, a 4.8 Trustpilot score and a reply to nearly every negative review is a solid track record. If you are worried about scams in this industry, our sibling piece asks whether Jericho Writers is legit in more detail.
What Jericho Writers does not do well
It is expensive once you go past membership. A Premium year, one assessment on an 80,000-word novel and one tutored course comes to about £1,755 before discounts. The Ultimate Novel Writing Programme starts at £3,500. That is reasonable for the hours of expert attention involved, but it is serious money.
The £15 price is an annual contract. The headline monthly price locks you in for 12 months. The only true month-to-month option is Flex at £30, which is double. This is clearly stated on the join page, but people still miss it.
It does not write anything for you. Every word of your book is still yours to produce. If your problem is getting a draft written at all, Jericho can teach and encourage you, but the blank page stays blank until you fill it.
The query review is vague on scope. Jericho says “an industry professional” reviews it, with no turnaround or word limit stated. That is fine for a free perk, but you do not know in advance who will read your letter or how deep the feedback goes.
It leans towards traditional publishing. The brand promise is “getting you published”, and the core tools aim at agents. There is a self-publishing course, but if you never plan to query, much of the membership is wasted on you.
Prices are in pounds. The site has a currency selector, but the pages we checked list prices in GBP. US writers should expect card conversion fees and exchange-rate drift.
How the pricing compares
Here is what a realistic year looks like for a novelist who wants to query agents, using Jericho’s standard prices and the 10% Premium discount:
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Premium membership (annual, upfront) | £150 |
| Query letter review | Included |
| Manuscript assessment, 80,000 words | £634.50 (after 10%) |
| Agent One-to-One | £63 (after 10%) |
| Total | About £848 |
Add the Self-Edit Your Novel course (£810 after discount) and you are near £1,660. Swap the assessment for an Agent Submission Pack and the total drops to around £550.
None of that includes the cost of actually writing the book, which for most people is the hardest part. It also does not include cover design, formatting or publishing costs if you go the indie route. Our guide to self-publishing costs on Amazon covers those numbers.
What real users say
Jericho Writers reviews on Trustpilot were overwhelmingly positive when we checked in October 2026, with a TrustScore of 4.8 from 228 reviews. Positive reviews keep returning to the same things: specific editors, the Self-Edit Your Novel course, helpful support staff and the community.
The negative reviews are few, but the themes are worth knowing before you pay. Here is what the one- and two-star reviews describe, summarized rather than quoted:
- Cancellation frustration. A 2024 reviewer was unhappy about the annual membership billed monthly and found it hard to stop. Jericho replied that the account had been set not to renew after the minimum year.
- Value of membership. A 2026 reviewer felt the basic membership was mainly a funnel towards pricier courses. Jericho replied that its £99 courses are included in Premium.
- A disputed submission review. One 2026 reviewer paid for an agent submission review and believed the reader had not properly engaged with the manuscript, and was unhappy with how the complaint was handled.
- Website problems. A 2026 reviewer reported login issues and difficulty finding courses on the site.
- Out-of-scope questions. A 2025 reviewer felt a research question got a generic answer. Jericho replied that it fell outside its writing focus.
We did not find evidence of fraud, non-delivery or systemic refund problems. The Jericho Writers complaints that do exist are about value, contract terms and one disputed piece of feedback, which is normal for a business of this size. Older independent write-ups, such as author S.C. Skillman’s 2018 review, are similarly positive about the resources.
Feedback quality from any editorial service depends on the individual editor you get. That is true at Jericho, at Reedsy and with any freelancer you hire direct.
Who should buy Jericho Writers
- Novelists with a finished or near-finished draft who want an expert structural read before they query
- Writers aiming for a traditional deal with a UK or US agent, who will use AgentMatch and the agent calls
- Writers who want to build craft over months, through tutored courses with named tutors
- UK-based writers who avoid currency conversion because Jericho prices in pounds
- Anyone who will use the free query letter review, the replays and the video library enough to justify £150 a year
Who should not buy Jericho Writers
- You have not started your book. Paying for an assessment or submission pack before you have a draft is backwards. Get the draft first.
- You want the book written for you. Jericho coaches and critiques. It does not draft chapters.
- You only plan to self-publish. The agent tools and query review are wasted on you, and the self-publishing course costs £2,000.
- You need nonfiction business or expertise books. Jericho’s catalogue is fiction-heavy, with one introductory creative non-fiction course.
- You want month-to-month flexibility at the low price. The £15 plan is a year-long contract. If you are unsure, pay £30 for Flex or use the free tier.
Where Jericho Writers beats Chapter
We built Chapter, so it is fair to say plainly where Jericho is the better buy.
Human expert judgement. A Jericho assessment comes from an editor or agent who reads your whole manuscript and tells you whether it can sell. Chapter’s AI can write and revise, but it is not a literary agent and cannot tell you what an acquisitions meeting will think.
A route to agents. AgentMatch, the agent one-to-ones and the query letter review all serve a traditional publishing path. Chapter does not help you find, pitch or talk to agents.
Teaching you the craft. Jericho makes you a better writer. A course like Self-Edit Your Novel leaves you with skills for every future book. Chapter produces the draft, which is a different goal.
A free tier and a community. Townhouse is free. Chapter has no free tier or trial, and it does not include a writing community or peer feedback.
Writing every word yourself. If your goal is a book that is entirely your own prose, for artistic or contractual reasons, Jericho supports that path completely.
If those things are what you need, buy Jericho. Nothing below changes that.
The alternative we built
Our Pick — Chapter
Chapter writes your complete book from your idea, outline and voice, then lets you revise it chapter by chapter. Where Jericho helps you improve a manuscript you have already written, Chapter solves the earlier problem: getting a full, coherent draft finished at all.
Best for: writers who have the idea but not the draft, and nonfiction authors who want a book to build a business or reputation Pricing: $97 one time, 2 books included (fiction or nonfiction), 30-day money-back guarantee Why we built it: most aspiring authors never reach the stage where a manuscript assessment is useful, because the book never gets finished.
Here is how the two compare on what most readers of this review actually need:
| Chapter | Jericho Writers | |
|---|---|---|
| Writes the draft for you | Yes | No |
| Expert human feedback | No | Yes, paid |
| Literary agent tools | No | Yes |
| Fiction and nonfiction | Both, same price | Mostly fiction |
| Cost to a finished draft | $97 one time | Your time, plus courses if you take them |
| Subscription | No | Yes, for Premium |
| Free tier | No | Yes (Townhouse) |
| Money-back guarantee | 30 days | 14 days on Premium |
| Track record | 10,000+ authors, featured in USA Today and the New York Times | Since 2004, 4.8 on Trustpilot |
The honest answer is that these tools are not really rivals. Many writers would get the most out of both: draft with Chapter, then pay Jericho for an assessment and a query letter review before approaching agents. Our Chapter review covers what the drafts look like and where they still need your hand.
For a nonfiction book, Chapter is the clearer pick, because Jericho’s catalogue is built around novels. Chapter authors have used their books for results like $13,200 from a single book and a speaking gig in front of 20,000 people.
Jericho helps you polish a manuscript and pitch it, but you still need the manuscript first. Chapter for fiction and Chapter for nonfiction write the complete book for $97 one time, with 2 books included, no subscription and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
FAQ
Is Jericho Writers worth it?
Jericho Writers is worth it if you have a finished or near-finished novel and want to pursue traditional publishing. Premium at £150 a year pays for itself through AgentMatch, the video courses and the free query letter review. It is poor value if you have not written your draft yet or only plan to self-publish.
How much does Jericho Writers cost?
Jericho Writers costs nothing for the free Townhouse tier, £150 a year or £15 a month for Premium on an annual contract, or £30 a month on rolling Flex. Manuscript assessments start at £415, the Agent Submission Pack costs £375, and tutored courses range from £900 to £3,500 or more.
Does Jericho Writers review query letters for free?
Jericho Writers reviews query letters free once a year for Premium members. Free members do not get the review, and it is not sold on its own. For feedback on your query, synopsis and first 10,000 words together, Jericho sells the Agent Submission Pack for £375, with 10% off for members.
What are the main Jericho Writers complaints?
The main Jericho Writers complaints concern annual contract terms that are hard to cancel early, doubts about the value of membership compared with paid upsells, website login problems, and one disputed submission review. Negative reviews are a small share of its 228 Trustpilot reviews, which average 4.8 out of 5.
Can I cancel a Jericho Writers membership?
You can cancel a Jericho Writers membership, but the terms depend on the plan. Flex at £30 a month cancels any time. The annual plans, including the £15-a-month option, run for 12 months, and you cancel renewal at the end of the term. Premium includes a 14-day money-back guarantee.
