ProWritingAid’s Manuscript Analysis: What It Is (& How It Works)

We’re big fans of ProWritingAid.

From its integrations, affordability, and assortment of reports and features, it’s our favorite proofreading software.

And with its new Manuscript Analysis feature, ProWritingAid has given us another reason to love it — but with a caveat.

Let’s break down this new functionality, show you what it can do, and highlight the one thing we would change.

We’ll start with the obvious question…

What is ProWritingAid’s Manuscript Analysis?

Writing a book is easy. But writing a great book? Different story.

That’s where Manuscript Analysis can help.

This new tool from ProWritingAid dissects your entire book (not just individual chapters or blocks of text) and shows you what’s working, what’s not, and how you can improve — without vague, wishy-washy suggestions.

To keep things nice and organized, it breaks your book down into five critical areas:

1. About My Story
2. Narrative Themes
3. Plot & Structure
4. Characters
5. Setting

And for each area, it gives you clear, actionable feedback with a color-coded system:

• Green (Working Well)
• Yellow (Minor Concern)
• Orange (Concern)
• Red (Major Concern)

Even better, it pinpoints EXACTLY where you need to improve — down to the chapter, plot hole, or inconsistency.

No guesswork. Just a clear roadmap to a better book.

We’ll do a deeper dive into the color-coded feedback system in a moment.

But first, we need to address the 800-pound elephant in the room…

Does Manuscript Analysis Use AI (Artificial Intelligence)?

Yes, Manuscript Analysis uses AI.

Neither Dave Chesson (Kindlepreneur’s Founder) nor I were surprised to learn this (after all, almost every tool uses AI these days), but we wanted to find out how Manuscript Analysis used AI (and, by extension, how it handles user data).

So, we hopped on a Zoom call with a senior member of ProWritingAid’s team so we could find the answers to two specific questions:

1. Do you use the text run through Manuscript Analysis to train your AI?
2. Do you use ANY text checked by ProWritingAid to train your AI or algorithms?

And the answers?

No and no (thankfully).

ProWritingAid assured us it doesn’t use customer’s data to train its AI or algorithms. And the Manuscript Analysis FAQ page, published a few days after our Zoom call, repeats this promise:

If you’d like to learn more about how ProWritingAid handles your data, go here.

With the big AI questions answered, let's look at how Manuscript Analysis works and how it helps to improve your book. 

How to Run Manuscript Analysis

How you’ll access Manuscript Analysis will depend on how you’re using ProWritingAid.

If you’re using its web editor, go to “Critique” on the main menu. “Manuscript Analysis” will be one of the options.

If you’re using ProWritingAid in Google Docs, Microsoft Word, or professional formatting software like Atticus, click the draggable widget, select “story-level feedback”, and choose the “Manuscript Analysis” option.

Whichever route you choose, the more text you give Manuscript Analysis to work with, the better it’ll do.

That’s why ProWritingAid recommends analyzing at least 4,000 words. You’ll get deep, meaningful feedback rather than shallow observations.

Note: The max you can use for a single analysis is 150,000 words. If your book is longer, Manuscript Analysis may still run, but your results might not be as sharp.

For my test, I uploaded “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll, which clocks in at just over 29k words.

Once you start, ProWritingAid says it’ll take “several minutes” for your analysis to be ready.

(FWIW: My “Alice” analysis finished in 2 minutes and 50 seconds.)

How to Review Your Manuscript Analysis

So, you’ve run Manuscript Analysis.

Now what?

As mentioned earlier, Manuscript Analysis focuses on five key areas of your book — About My Story, Narrative Themes, Plot & Structure, Characters, and Setting — and tells you what’s working, what’s not, and how to fix anything that’s off.

Using my “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” test, let’s look at each section.

1. About My Story

About My Story gives you a snapshot of your genre, narrative structure, characters, and competitive landscape. Think of it as a quick, high-level summary of your book.

For “Alice”, Manuscript Analysis highlighted the genre…

The plot outline…

• Alice follows the White Rabbit down a rabbit hole and falls into Wonderland.
• She experiences numerous size changes due to magical food and drink.
• Alice attends a Mad Tea-Party with the March Hare, Hatter, and Dormouse.
• She encounters the Queen of Hearts and participates in a chaotic croquet game.
• Alice's adventures culminate in a trial, after which she awakens from her dream.

The setting…

The themes and motifs…

• Identity and Growing Up: Alice's constant size changes symbolize the challenges and uncertainties of growing up. She struggles to maintain a sense of self as her physical form and perspective shift throughout the story.
• Logic vs. Nonsense: Wonderland operates according to its own illogical rules, creating a constant clash between Alice's rational mind and the absurd reality around her. The story explores the nature of language, meaning, and the limits of reason.
• Order and Chaos: The Queen of Hearts' tyrannical reign and the chaotic events of Wonderland contrast with Alice's desire for order and understanding. This highlights the unpredictable nature of life and the absurdity of societal structures.

The competitive landscape…

And even a character breakdown:

2. Narrative Themes

Your story has themes — intentional or not. This section highlights them, tells you where they show up in your book, and flags any that need refining.

With “Alice”, Manuscript Analysis pinpointed several themes it believes works well, including Effective Use of Size Change as a Metaphor, Exploration of Identity, and Satirical Elements of Victorian Society.

Here’s a screenshot of one “Working well” example:

Manuscript Analysis also identified two themes that could be improved:

If this was your story, and if you agreed with the feedback, Manuscript Analysis shows you where in your text the theme appears (“Where in your text”) and suggestions for how you could improve it (“Suggested improvements”).

3. Plot & Structure

Plot & Structure highlights the plot points that are working well in your story (and those that could be better). For each point, you receive a summary of what happens, where it appears in your book, and — if improvements are suggested — what you could do to make things stronger.

With “Alice”, Manuscript Analysis found plot and structure that worked well…

Plot and structure it had concerns about…

And several plot and structure elements it had “minor concerns” about…

As before, when Manuscript Analysis believes an element could be improved, it offers suggestions. You can take them to heart or ignore them.

(Something tells me Lewis Carroll would have ignored the “Mad Tea-Party Lacks Direction” concern.)

4. Characters

Your characters are the heart of your story. This section examines key moments, highlighting when your characters shine — and when they could use a little more depth.

With “Alice”, Manuscript Analysis loves the Queen of Hearts, Alice’s strong voice, and the funny dialogue…

But it also has concerns with Alice’s emotional depth, lack of clear motivation, passive role in the story’s climax, and her lack of curiosity:

Note: As shown in the above screenshot, Manuscript Analysis lets you expand or collapse any element (for improved readability).

5. Setting

Finally, the Setting section looks at how your world-building contributes to the story and where it might need extra attention.

Manuscript Analysis likes the “Whimsical and Dreamlike Atmosphere” and “Imaginative Wonderland Creatures” in Carroll’s story…

But it says “Wonderland” itself has a few potential areas of concern:

What to Do With the Manuscript Analysis Feedback

That’s the big question, right?

And the answer is you don’t HAVE to do anything.

Manuscript Analysis is simply a tool — one meant to help you think about how you might improve your story.

Don’t agree with a piece of feedback? Disregard it. See a kernel of truth or an epiphany that could take your story to a new level? Implement it.

You’re in control.

You get to choose which pieces of feedback you implement and which ones you ignore.

And if you decide to change your story, you can run a new Manuscript Analysis when you’re finished.

That is…

IF you have credits to run new Manuscript Analysis reports.

And that brings us to the big caveat I mentioned in the introduction…

You Need Credits to Use Manuscript Analysis

First, I should mention something ProWritingAid does I love:

Every account — even free ProWritingAid accounts — gets one (1) complementary Manuscript Analysis credit.

Since running one analysis requires one credit, this means everyone can try Manuscript Analysis (and see all it can do) one time for free — no strings attached.

Manuscript Analysis is an advanced, premium feature, so allowing users to get a taste of it (even if it's a partial report if you're a free user) at no cost is a nice touch.

Also nice is how free users can purchase additional Manuscript Analysis credits without upgrading their ProWritingAid account to a paid plan. (Note: purchased credits by free accounts get the full, unlocked version of the analysis report — not the partially locked version that free users see when using their free, complementary credit.)

Not nice is how ProWritingAid doesn't give paying users — even Premium Pro users who pay $36 a month or $144 a year (or $699 one time if they’re a “lifetime” user) — monthly Manuscript Analysis credits.

Yes, Premium Pro users can purchase credits at a discount (as can Premium users).

And, yes, this is an improvement over ProWritingAid’s process for purchasing credits (“checks”) for its Plagiarism Checker (since Premium Pro users pay the same price for plagiarism checks as everyone else).

But it’d be nice if users on ProWritingAid’s paid plans were given at least one Manuscript Analysis credit per month.

As is, the pricing for Manuscript Analysis credits starts at $25 for Premium Pro users:

$35 for Premium users:

And $50 for free users:

Still, in the grand scheme of things, this complaint is minor.

Manuscript Analysis is meant to be used on full books (not chapters or excerpts), so even the most prolific authors would need only a handful of credits per year.

So, if you make money writing books, and you find value in the insights Manuscript Analysis provides, the cost of purchasing credits likely won’t faze you.

The Bottom Line on Manuscript Analysis

In many writers’ eyes (ours included), ProWritingAid has overtaken Grammarly on the list of must-have writing tools.

Manuscript Analysis makes a great tool even better.

If you’re an author working on a novel, memoir, or long-form story, this new feature provides a big-picture analysis of your book — pinpointing strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement with clear, color-coded feedback.

The pros?

• It analyzes your entire manuscript, not just small chunks.
• It gives actionable, chapter-specific feedback on plot, characters, themes, and setting.
• It’s easy to use and delivers results in minutes.
• Every ProWritingAid user — even free accounts — gets one free analysis credit to try it out.

The cons?

• The free analysis credit given to free ProWritingAid users is somewhat limited.
• Beyond your one free credit, you need to purchase credits to run an analysis — and even Premium Pro users don’t get monthly credits included in their plan (beyond the one free credit).
• If your manuscript is longer than 150,000 words, the results may not be as sharp.

But cons aside…

If you’re a serious writer looking for deep, story-level insights, Manuscript Analysis can save you time and headache by shaving hours off your revision process.

If you don’t yet have a ProWritingAid account, you can sign up for a free account by clicking the link or button below.

If you’d like to sign up for a Premium or Premium Pro account, use the coupon code KINDLEPRENEUR20 — or just click the button or link — and you’ll get a 20% discount off ProWritingAid’s regular price. 

Once you have an account, take advantage of your free credit and see what Manuscript Analysis can do for your story.

And when you’re ready, you can purchase Manuscript Analysis credits (after you’ve used your one free credit) by going here.

Good luck.