Bring on the Professionals!

I have decided to enlist the help of professionals with my manuscript. There are various services (individuals and companies) that will read your manuscript and critique it's contents. Here's one such service provided by Writer's Digest Shop. They write:

Writer's Digest Shop - 2nd Draft Critique Service

Don't submit that manuscript...
Without a professional review from the professionals at Writer's Digest! 

Before you send out that manuscript to an editor or agent, make sure it's got a fighting chance. Send your work to 2^nd Draft Critique Service and get specific, tailored advice you need to get an extra edge on the competition — and make your work more marketable. 

After a thorough evaluation of your submission, one of our hand-selected-professional critiquers will give detailed feedback and recommendations. You'll not only learn what's working in your writing, but what's not, and — most important — how to fix it.

Sounds reasonable...

There's energy around this story. I want to give it a fair shot. The industry is too small for me to send out duds to agents.

So step one, get a pro to look at this and adjust as appropriate. Step two, send out ~250 query letters to agents. Step three part I... wait. Step three part II start my next novel. NEVER stop writing. You are only a writer, if you write.