Let’s organize your creative chaos together!
Having a good relationship with your editor is crucial. You need to know she is on your side and believes in you and your project.
I want to make you comfortable and confident that your manuscript is in safe hands. Before we get started, we will discuss your journey thus far, the current status of your project, and the goals you have set.
Before sending me your manuscript, make sure it is properly formatted. You can find my formatting guidelines here.
And please feel free to contact me with any questions.
Service/Cost
Critique/$0.025 (two and a half cents) per word
You’ve written a book, and your friends love it! But you’re not quite sure how it’s going to hold up to the other submissions you’ll be competing against.
Finishing a novel is a huge accomplishment in and of itself. Make sure you take some time to celebrate. And once you’re ready to move on to the next step, get a professional critique of your manuscript. It’s important to have an educated analysis of your manuscript’s strengths and weaknesses.
In my critique services, I give you a written analysis of your manuscript’s strengths as well as the ways it can be improved before submitting it for publication. I’ll include specific examples from the manuscript and walk you through the reasoning behind the techniques that will make it stronger. This service does not include any editing on the manuscript itself.
Proofread*/$0.01 (one cent) per word
This service comprises a comprehensive review of your final manuscript after it has been professionally copyedited. Proofreading is intended to correct errors made during typesetting, formatting, or file conversion of the final document and will identify any serious errors not caught during copyediting.
If you haven’t had a professional editor look at your manuscript yet, it is not ready for proofreading.
Read & Confer/$0.007 (seven-tenths of a cent) per word [$40 minimum]
Read & Confer gives you the best value for the least amount of money. I’ll read your entire manuscript and then confer with you for one hour about its strengths and weaknesses, ways to improve your writing, and the next steps you need to take to achieve your long-term goals. The conference medium will be your choosing; we can discuss the manuscript via telephone, video chat, or an in-person meeting. Additional conference time can be purchased for $10 per fifteen-minute interval.
If after we confer you decide to move forward with further editing of the same manuscript, the cost of this service can be applied to the cost of any other service except a proofread.
Line-By-Line Copyedit/$0.045 (four and a half cents) per word
In a line-by-line copyedit, I check for spelling, grammar, usage, punctuation, clarity, and consistency. I can also verify quotations as an optional inclusion in this service as long as you specify the source material for the quotations.
This is where I get into the nitty-gritty details of the manuscript. Every word, punctuation mark, sentence, and paragraph is analyzed to ensure it is correct and appropriate. This service is time intensive and the cost often surprises unprepared authors. It is, however, essential to creating a work of excellence. If you are committed to publishing a work that stands a head above the competition, don’t miss out on a thorough line-by-line copyedit.
Content Edit (Substantive/Structural Edit)/$0.07 (seven cents) per word
This service includes a detailed evaluation of flow, consistency, pace, and readability. I make revisions directly on the manuscript and clarify and correlate its parts to correct these issues. With this service, I identify structural and organizational problems as well as issues such as plot holes or character development needs.
This edit focuses on the big picture. It is not intended to catch errors that will be corrected in a line-by-line copyedit.
Developmental Edit/Varies based on project
Do you have an idea? Maybe a few notes? But you don’t know how to bring it together into a complete manuscript? This service may be what you are looking for.
In a developmental edit, I coordinate your project from rough draft to complete manuscript. This includes coaching and mentoring while I help you progress from an idea to a finished work.
Index/$0.04 (four cents) per word
Indexes help your readers locate information in an easily accessible way and exponentially increase the practical value of your text.
With this service, I give the entire manuscript an intensive review and analysis to identify words, phrases, and ideas that should be listed in the index. Then I write, organize, and edit the index.
Indexes can be written only after final page proofs have been created.
* Rachel’s “No-Typo Guarantee”
If you hire me for a final proofread of your manuscript and you find a single typo after I return it to you, I’ll proofread the whole thing again for free. This guarantee is subject to the terms listed in your signed editing agreement.
