Gatekeeping duties

I've spent most of the week reading a manuscript for an academic publisher who wants to know whether to go ahead and put a book into production. For obvious reasons, I can't share the review here. I usually perform this role two or three times a year. To tell the truth it's an awkward task. It's one thing to review a book proposal or a sample chapter when the book has not yet been written. It's another to have to make a decision on a 3-400 page manuscript that has probably taken someone the best part of two years to write. The author has vested a lot time, energy and emotional toil into a work that seemed like a relatively sure bet of publication (they will have received a conditional contract on the basis of a proposal) and yet the book can fall at the last hurdle. Thankfully the manuscript I was reading, whilst it had its faults, was an interesting read and I expect the publisher to nod it through to production on the basis of a few revisions. I'll get back to open reviewing next week.