Editing Services
Is your book ready for editing? I can help. With my language-level editing services, I collaborate with indie authors to help bring their stories to life.
Language-level edits, such as I offer in line editing and copyediting, are best preceded by content edits such as a developmental edit. To save effort, time, and resources, one wouldn’t want to do a copyedit before a content edit and later potentially make major content revisions, such as cutting chapters or combining characters, warranting an additional copyedit.
Testimonial
Bernadette Samaké —Author, Tales and Fables Around the Fire
Editing Terminology
That I Use
Click a term to expand its definition.
Beta Reading
• Beta readers review manuscripts and offer authors feedback and insight, identifying errors, plot problems, inconsistencies, or unclear sections in the work.
• They serve as a test audience, representing the target readership, and can help identify issues like overused tropes or missing elements.
• Some beta readers may have particular expertise in the manuscript’s subject matter. For more, see the Editorial Freelancers Association.
Authenticity Reading
• Authenticity readers review manuscripts to look for statements, portrayals, or perspectives that might misrepresent people from a given group.
• Authenticity reads are generally performed by members of the community referenced within the work to avoid the misrepresentation of groups and the perpetuation of harmful stereotypes.
• Authenticity reading may overlap in many instances with sensitivity reading. For more, see the Editorial Freelancers Association.
Sensitivity Reading
• Sensitivity readers review manuscripts to look for statements, portrayals, or perspectives that might offend readers.
• Sensitivity reads are generally performed by members of communities other than the author’s own so that the reader can provide helpful perspectives on language, characterization, and other aspects of the writing to help ensure that it is acceptable to the broadest possible audience.
• Sensitivity reading may overlap in many instances with authenticity reading. For more, see the Editorial Freelancers Association.
Manuscript Evaluation
An excellent description from a blog post by editor Sarah Chauncey via Jane Friedman:
- A high-level analysis of a manuscript through multiple lenses:
- Structure. Does the story advance appropriately? How are characters introduced and developed? How is the pacing?
- Story. Are the stakes high enough? Is the story goal clear? Is the voice or perspective clear or strong? Does it earn each plot development? Does it require more suspense (or sensuality, or action)?
- Mechanics. Are there recurring grammatical issues? How effective are your word choices, including adjectives and adverbs?
- Genre. For genre fiction, does the manuscript follow the accepted conventions?
• Much less detailed than a developmental edit.
Developmental Editing
• Focus: macro level (whole manuscript).
• Big-picture editing: concept, structure, argument, pacing, character arcs, organization.
• Developmental editors (also called “substantive,” “structural,” or “content” editors) deal with content, organization, and genre considerations. After reviewing a manuscript, they may provide an overall critique of the content in a “manuscript evaluation,” or they may provide the author with a revision (or “editorial” or “edit”) letter that outlines the big-picture issues and offers suggestions for how to address them.
• A deep-dive edit that takes significantly more hours than a manuscript evaluation.
• Examples: “This chapter could be cut; these sections should be reordered for clarity; these characters can be combined into one.” For more, see the Editorial Freelancers Association.
Line Editing
• Focus: micro level.
• Not fixing grammar/punctuation per se (that’s copyediting), but making the prose stronger.
• Editing at the sentence and paragraph level for clarity, tone, flow, style, sentence rhythm, word choice, concision, idiomatic usage.
• Line editors work at the sentence or paragraph level of a manuscript. Like copyeditors, they correct errors, but their main focus is on improving the language and style of the text. Line editing may be performed as a separate service, in conjunction with developmental editing after big-picture issues have been addressed, or in conjunction with copyediting.
• Example: “This sentence is wordy; tightening would improve flow. ‘At times’ might sound better than ‘sometimes’ here.” For more, see the Editorial Freelancers Association.
Copyediting
• Focus: micro level.
• Perhaps the most familiar kind of editing, copyediting involves correcting spelling, grammar, usage, and punctuation, checking cross-references, adherence to style guides (CMOS, AP, APA, etc.), and preparing the style sheets that guide consistency and accuracy across the manuscript.
• Fact-checking.
• Example: “Capitalize Internet here. Use a serial comma per Chicago.” For more, see the Editorial Freelancers Association.
Proofreading
• The final polish after layout or typesetting.
• Checks typos, spelling, punctuation, and formatting.
• Done on page proofs or PDFs in publication layout.
• Ensures the text is clean and professional before printing.
• Proofreading is among the last stages of getting a manuscript ready for publication. Proofreaders check for typographical errors and formatting mistakes. In traditional publishing, proofreading is a review of a publisher’s “proof”—the document that is intended to be printed—whereby the proofreader compares the latest stage of the project to the previous one, making sure all changes have been made correctly.
• Example: “On page 132, a period is missing at the end of the second paragraph.” For more, see the Editorial Freelancers Association.
My Editing & Writing Services
01.
Copyediting
Correcting grammar, spelling, punctuation, usage, consistency, and adherence to style guides (especially The Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS) for books).
02.
Line Editing
Editing at the sentence and paragraph level for clarity, tone, flow, and style, improving the language of the text, pacing, and rhythm, and enhancing the author’s voice.
03.
Writing Coaching
Individual attention, in focus areas that may include clarity, precision, flow, rhythm, sonority, figurative language, and pacing, among others.
Rates & Packages
01.
Copyediting
One pass of a standard copyedit, including general fact-checking.
*Starting at $.02/word.
02.
Line Editing
Includes a full cold read first to experience and understand the story, then a second pass for line editing to enhance language and other elements.
*Starting at $.03/word.
03.
Copyediting & Line Editing Combined
Copyedit and line edit in the same round. Includes a full cold read first, then a second pass for simultaneous line editing and copyediting.
*Starting at $.04/word.
04.
Writing Coaching
Customized writing coaching.
*$50/hour.
I am happy to provide a free sample edit for copyediting and line editing. I typically work in Microsoft Word with Track Changes enabled. Google Docs is also an option. The main US style guide that I use is the industry standard Chicago Manual of Style.
*Examples of reasons that pricing may vary from the starting rates are you’re not a native English speaker; you want me to localize your content from US to UK English or vice-versa; if we need to follow complex style guides or there are other very detailed requirements; for rush jobs; or if your work will require substantial additional editing effort based on the condition of the manuscript, among other potential factors. Please submit a contact form to begin a conversation. Thank you for visiting, and take good care.
Testimonials
What Clients and Colleagues Say
Andre LaChance, high school English teacher (retired), Champlain Valley Union HS
Kelly S., client
Joe Greenwald, high school English teacher, Champlain Valley Union HS
Michelle Fongemie, 9th grade Core Humanities teacher, Champlain Valley Union HS