So you have a document (book, report, paper, blog … ) that you want edited: excellent! That’s what I’m here for. At Bright Owl Edits, I want the process to go as smoothly as possible for you. Here is what you can expect to happen:

• Initial statement of interest: You get in touch with me, describe your project, what level of editing you need, and when you want the work to happen. I have a project questionnaire that I recommend clients fill out to help with this. You can download it here: Project Questionnaire. Not sure what type of editing you require? Send along a sample of your manuscript (no more than about 1,000 - 1,500 words, please!), and I can make suggestions.

• Scheduling: I’ll confirm availability for the time interval that you want, or suggest the nearest available alternatives. In order to secure your scheduled time, you will need to provide a non-refundable scheduling deposit. This fee will be the greater of $100 or 30% of the total editing fee, and will be credited towards your total project fee. It ensures my availability for your project, and covers some of my upfront administration costs. I use Stripe for quotes and Invoicing, which will give you many options for methods of payment. Canadian clients can also choose to pay via Interac e-transfer.

• Contracting: Once I’ve looked over your project questionnaire and document sample, and we’ve discussed them, I’ll send you an Agreement of Services document, which will serve as our contract. Why do you need a contract? It protects us both: having it all laid out in black and white ensures that we both understand the expectations and scope of my work, the intervals and methods of communication, if you’re going to want progress checks, the fees (and how and when they will be paid), and the ownership of your document.

• If you have any questions about clauses in the Agreement, or if I’ve misunderstood the scope of work at all, we should discuss and clarify those items before I get to work! Once you’re satisfied that it’s clear, just sign and date it, and send it back.

• Execution of Work: Let’s get to the fun part of the work! Send me your manuscript, in the format of your choice (we’ll have clarified if you’re sending a .docx file, a pdf or a paper hard copy in your project questionnaire). I will check it over to make sure that the MS is complete and working, and will confirm receipt. I will go through your manuscript with the finest of metaphorical combs. If we have agreed that you want them, I will send you progress reports at the specified intervals (halves, quarters … as required). The progress reports will be sent as pdfs, so as not to muddy our stream of communication with a bunch of different “working documents” floating around. Please be patient during this stage - don’t start revising your copy of the sections that I send as progress reports! I may need to go back and forth some before I send the whole edited document back, so there may be additional changes to what is shown in the reports. I hope that I will exceed your expectations!

• Delivery: When I’ve finished, I will send you the edited copy of your document, in the format we’ve discussed. The most common format is to work in Word, using Track Changes and Comments. In that circumstance, I send you back two copies: one showing all the redlined changes, and a ‘clean copy’, where I’ve chosen the option Accept all Changes. Many authors find the clean copy easier to read, but they can still go through the redlined one and either accept or reject individual changes, as they see fit. My queries or comments are shown in bubbles to the side of the text. The remaining balance of the fee will be invoiced at this point. I am, of course, available for questions or discussion about the edits.

• Enjoy your emended manuscript! Do let me know if I can help you further along in your editing process, or with your next book!