Refining and polishing stories while carefully preserving the author’s voice

I specialize in fiction, specifically the romance, speculative, historical, and suspense genres.

Proofreading

1–1.5¢ per word

Free your writing from common errors. This is the final check before publishing that looks for typos and errors in:

• spelling
• grammar
• punctuation
• capitalization
• formatting
• word use

I use The Chicago Manual of Style unless otherwise specified.

Copyediting and Line Editing

2–3¢ per word

Copyediting looks at the four Cs: clarity, coherency, consistency, and correctness. It includes everything covered by proofreading plus correcting syntax to improve readability, checking facts, and creating a style sheet to maintain consistency. Copyediting looks for problems such as:

• misplaced modifiers
• words used out of context
• inconsistency and contradictions
• plot holes and missing information 
• potential libel and copyright issues
• awkward phrasing

Line editing looks at the tone, flow, clarity, and language of content. It involves evaluating the writing line by line to ensure the author is making the most of every sentence. The goal is to improve the content so that it is effective and engaging for the target audience. Line editing looks for problems such as:

• redundancies
• unnecessary modifiers
• empty words or phrases that add no value
• passive voice when active should be used
• unparallel items or phrases in lists
• ambiguity

Since copyediting and line editing overlap and my clients usually need both, I offer these together as one service.

I can do a free sample edit so that I can more accurately estimate how much time your content will need and you can get a better idea of what to expect from my editing.

For more information about the different levels of editing and how this applies to fiction, see this post.

Fiction Manuscript Evaluation

$400+

This consists of reading the manuscript and writing an in-depth editorial report that analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of the fiction writing techniques. This is not a line-by-line edit, and nothing in the manuscript is changed. Instead, examples from your manuscript of what was done well and what needs improvement are used to show you how to improve the writing.

I take the opportunity to point out any big-picture issues that ought to be addressed before the copyediting stage but focus on line craft issues such as viewpoint slips, effective use of descriptions, overwriting or underwriting, use of filter words or tentative language that can be cut, showing versus telling, and dialogue techniques, as well as a general assessment of the grammar, punctuation, and word usage.

This service is included in line editing, so if you hire me to do a manuscript evaluation then a line edit, the cost of the evaluation will be credited toward the line edit.