Choose the kind of help you need

Editing options designed for you

For all my services, I must work from a completed manuscript–and it shouldn’t be your first draft. See 10 Things Your Freelance Editor Might Not Tell You–But Should. My rates are calculated per page, with a page consisting of 250 words as defined by Microsoft Word. The editing process is generally most valuable when performed in the following order: basic structural edit, line edit, copy edit.

When you decide on a package, request an edit.

Basic Structural Edit
($2 per page)

A basic structural edit helps make your story easy to follow and interesting to read.

Before requesting this type of edit, get feedback from beta readers, and then follow any advice that you find helpful. When I receive your manuscript, I will do a single read-through and provide an editorial letter pointing out the issues described in Services. In the manuscript, I’ll mark an example of each type of issue and provide a sample correction. The edit serves as a road map directing you to problem areas and giving you ideas about how to improve them.

BONUS: 2 hours of email followup to discuss the returned analysis.

 Line Edit Plus Coaching
(select from the options below)

Without this type of edit, negative reviews generally point out confusing or unrealistic plotting, flat or uninteresting characters, and slow or uneven pacing. Readers may state that they were not interested in finishing the book.

Line Edit Plus Coaching provides my most thorough analysis of your manuscript. You receive a detailed markup of your manuscript that includes an analysis/explanation of issues described in Services, sample corrections for many of these issues, plus coaching on fiction techniques that will heighten your readers’ involvement in your story.

Standard package ($4.30 per page)

This option provides a line edit plus coaching for your complete manuscript.

BONUS: 4 hours of email followup for discussing the edit and receiving feedback on selected revisions, if desired.

Mentoring package — 50 pages (25% discount)
TWO Line Edits Plus Coaching

This option gives you expert guidance on the first 50 pages of your manuscript. With the insights provided, you can then self-edit the rest of your story. (Two excellent self-editing resources are Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King, and Revision and Self-Editing by James Scott Bell.)

How does it work?

  1. You submit the first 50 pages of your manuscript.
  2. I return a full-service line edit plus coaching (a $215 value).
  3. You return your revised pages for a second full-service line edit plus coaching (a $215 value).
  4. Your total cost is $322.50.

Special submission requirements apply. Please contact me for details if you are interested in this package.

Copy Edit
($3.25 per page)

Get a 30% preferred-client discount when you book a Copy Edit for your manuscript after a Line Edit. Your revised manuscript will receive MORE than a standard copy edit at this discounted price–I focus special attention on the sections you’ve revised, added, or deleted, as well as on your resolutions to the story problems highlighted in the line edit. The result? Your story flows seamlessly from beginning to end.

When a book has not received this type of edit, readers generally express frustration because glaring errors ruined their enjoyment of the story.

In a copy edit I focus on basic issues like spelling, punctuation, format, word choice, sentence structure, and turns of phrase that detract from your story. For more information, see Services.

PLUS the following EXTRAS (if you have not had a previous line edit from me):

  • A summary of the issues I would normally address in a Line Edit Plus Coaching package.
  • An example from your manuscript for each type of issue and a suggested way to handle the problem.

BONUS: 4 hours of email followup for discussing the edit and receiving feedback on selected revisions, if desired.

Important note! 
Proofreading before publication is CRUCIAL to the acceptability of your work. 
Find proofreaders in the Member Directory of the Editorial Freelancers Association.