What do you like to write?

Mystery

Romance

Sci-fi or Speculative Fiction

Fantasy

Young Adult

Children’s Literature

Whatever style or genre you choose, I can review it for you. Some editors specialize in one genre, but I’m interested in any type, and believe that they all need—and deserve!—a high level of attention to detail in the editing process. You are welcome to send me a sample for review, to see if my process meshes well with your work. (sample may be up to 1,000 words, or one chapter)

NEW - Developmental editing: Developmental editing is the first stage of professional editing. It’s the review of high-level items: the narrative arc, character development, plot points, structure. I might suggest that you move certain sections around, or cut some material, or add more in another area. What are your book’s strengths and weaknesses? Where does it need help? I’ll help you with the overall organization of your book. I’ll begin to look at your voice and style in a broad strokes way, but we won’t get into grammar or even worry too much about dialogue at this stage.

Stylistic Editing (also known as Line Editing) clarifies your meaning. It ensures your narrative is coherent, flows nicely, and refines your language. When I do this level of editing, I will go through your story line by line. I check for jargon or expressions that might not be consistent with your setting or character, make sure that the level of language is appropriate for your intended audience, and help you establish and maintain your book’s tone/mood and style. I will make suggestions for adjustments to the length and structure of your sentences and paragraphs, to enhance the flow. During this very thorough analysis, I also include copyediting, although please note that if this round of editing results in you making substantial changes to your manuscript, you may well need a separate copyedit. Stylistic editing is intense.

Copyediting is the review of the technical parts of your story. It’s usually the final edit to your manuscript, happening after the stylistic and structural edits, (although if you engage me to do your stylistic edit, I will include copyediting in the same process).  You have your story, your voice and structure are set, and all the elements are there.  I will then go through the manuscript looking for correctness, accuracy, and consistency. I look for errors in grammar, punctuation, spelling, and capitalization. I also check for accidental inconsistencies in your story or plot branches (twigs?) that are left hanging or unclear. The copyediting round ensures your story is complete, clear, and consistent.

Proofreading is the final step before publication. This is it – you’ve got your finished manuscript! You’ve made all the changes you wanted, you’ve been through the process, and here it is.

Before it hits the presses, allow me to go through it for you as a last, fresh set of eyes. I will look at it for any missed details in spelling, punctuation, grammar, and capitalization. Proofreading adds that last surface polish to a finished story. Please note, proofreading is not a substitute for copyediting.

Manuscript Evaluation Not sure what your book needs? The manuscript evaluation is a detailed report for authors looking for direction on their manuscript. You will receive a ten- to fifteen-page report that includes analysis and feedback/advice on structure, narrative, voice, world-building (if applicable), and character development, from the point of view of an editor, but without the larger fee of a full developmental edit. The advantage of the lower fee is offset by the disadvantage of not having comments in the actual manuscript.