Ever since he was a child, Kanishka Gupta would rather spend time with books instead of regular trips to the family-owned Sangam cinema hall in RK Puram. The 26-year-old, who dabbled in creative writing, worked in magazines and finally took up a research position with author Namita Gokhale, often wondered what it took to get a book published. He’s finding that out now, having established Writer’s Side, which he calls “Asia’s first manuscript asessment agency”.

“I started Writer’s Side because I feel there is a need to guide writers through the process,” says Gupta, who has picked up most of his skills from his own editing experiences on the job. Gupta works with a team of nine—mostly people with a publishing background or established regional authors— at his Delhi Cantonment office. Gupta himself is an MBA from the Indian Institute of Finance in Delhi.

Gupta firmly denies that his two-month-old firm is actually a literary agency. “We also assess manuscripts—everything from reading, critiquing, editing and providing critical inputs” , besides recommending them to scouts and publishers and agents. “Writers in India waste precious time self-evaluating or getting evaluated by peers who have no knowledge of the industry. I think in the interest of writers no doors should be left unopened,” he says.

All this comes at a pretty price. Gupta charges Rs 6,000 per 200 pages for reading manuscripts and Rs 10,000 per 200 pages for critiquing and editing it. There is a fee of Rs 250 per additional page.