WHAT I CAN DO FOR YOU

So you want help with your manuscript – whether that’s a book, an article, a dissertation, a novel or a short story. You might not yet know that there are different kinds of editing; I certainly didn’t know before I started looking into editing courses to become a professional editor! You can read about the different kinds of editing below.

As a copyeditor and proofreader (two of those kinds), here are some of the things I can do for you:

Fix errors in spelling, grammar and punctuation	Check the flow of the text
Check the text for internal consistency	Watch out for repetition
Make sure your text adheres to a styleguide (if it should)	Remove superfluous words
Check references and citations	Ensure clarity
Check formatting and layout	Add typesetting codes or Word Styles

It’s important to note that I don’t insist on doing all these things for you. My main job as an editor or proofreader is to help you, the author, in the best way I can. That means we look at your manuscript together, and decide together what things I shall and shall not do for you. I also always offer to do a free sample edit. That way you can see for yourself what I can do, and decide if you want me to work on the rest of your manuscript with you.

STYLESHEET

I’ll always provide you with a so-called stylesheet. That’s a document that shows what choices have been made in your text. For example, it could say that you’ve written in UK or US English, how you use quote marks and other punctuation, or which words to hyphenate. It will also have a word list that shows how certain words are spelled – do you use ‘spelled’ or ‘spelt’? And how are names, titles of works and abbreviations written? Having all this on a stylesheet helps ensure that your text is internally consistent.

If you’ve given me a fiction manuscript, the stylesheet will also have notes on the different characters, the plot and the overall timeline. That way we can prevent a character switching from having brown eyes in chapter one to having blue eyes in chapter fourteen. Or a 2-hour scene lasting from sunrise to late in the afternoon. When you’re in the midst of writing (and rewriting) your story, it’s easy for such small errors to slip by unnoticed. As your editor, I have your back.

WHAT DOES IT COST?

Of course you want to know how much it would cost to have your manuscript edited! I would, too.

The thing is: it depends.

It depends on quite a few things, actually. It depends on the services you want (and don’t want), on the quality of the writing, on your publication goals, on the timeline, on the length of the manuscript, and on some other things too. All these factors impact the amount of time I need to edit your manuscript. A book takes more time to edit than an article. A manuscript written by somone who is fluent in English will take less time to edit than a manuscript written by someone who struggles with writing in English. A copyedit generally takes more time than a proofread.

SAMPLE EDIT

So how do I determine the cost? I do a sample edit for you. Here’s how it works:

1. You contact me through my contact page and answer the questions there.
2. I email you to ask for a sample from your manuscript, and to ask any other questions I may have.
3. You send me a sample of your text (around 1,000 words).
4. I edit this sample for you. I use this to determine how long editing the entire manuscript would take and calculate my fee.
5. I email you the sample I’ve edited along with a quote.
6. You evaluate both the sample edit and the quote, and decide if you’d like me to edit the rest of your manuscript.

The sample edit is free and has no strings attached. If I’m not the right fit for you or your manuscript, that’s OK too.

You can request a sample edit here:

LEARN MORE ABOUT MY SERVICES FOR YOUR TYPE OF MANUSCRIPT:

There are roughly four kinds of editing: developmental or structural editing, line editing, copyediting, and proofreading. Right now, I only offer copyediting and proofreading – and so-called proofediting, which is a combination of those two often used by indie authors. Let me explain these different levels of editing: