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Using brain science hacks, hoarded craft knowledge, and solution-based direction, this book dragon helps sci-fi and fantasy authors get their stories ready to enchant their readers.
What can I do for you?
If you have a manuscript in my niche that you’d like to publish or submit to agents or publishers, I can help you get it ready with respect to your readers. Simply stated, writing is hard! It takes a lot of courage to put your heart and soul on the page and show it to others. As a writer, I understand the hesitation. But writing is also a process and a craft that requires as much honing as any other.
If you’re self-publishing and would like to make a profit, you need an editor. A large survey has shown that indie authors who contracted professional services (especially in editing and cover design) earned significantly more than authors who did not. In a crowded market that still battles stigmas of poor quality and “lots of typos,” good editing can keep readers from giving up on your book and help set you apart from the crowd. Let’s face it—no one can edit her own work! Your brain knows what it means regardless of what’s on the page, and it’s hard to see past that. Let your editor help you clearly show your readers what’s in your head as you mean for them to understand it.
If you intend to query agents or publishers, personally investing in editing can also help to set you apart from the slush pile. Many manuscripts are rejected since they are not as publication-ready as agents and publishers would like. While it is true that once your manuscript is accepted by a publisher it will be edited in-house (and some agents also have editing backgrounds), it may not receive the undivided attention you would prefer for all your hard-earned work. In-house editors juggle many projects and other administrative tasks at once. Even if this is not the case, you will find value in learning about the process hands-on if you have not had your work edited before—and strengthen the quality and polish of your story along the way. Revision is simultaneously daunting and exciting, but a good editor will guide you to bring out your best story for your readers.
Do you already know you need an editor (or were told you should have one) but you don’t know what kind of edit your manuscript really needs?
This is exactly what I’ll help you figure out when you send me your manuscript based on how far it is in the process and your goals for it. Certainly a lot of industry terms exist, but even those designations may mean something different to individual editors, authors, and publishers. Editing types (and services) really break down into two categories: substantive edits and mechanical edits. Substantive edits are the earlier edits that work out issues in the content such as plot, character, timeline, and the like. These are the stages where the most rewriting and revision occur. Mechanical edits usually happen at the last stages. These edits focus on the copy (text) itself and fix errors in grammar and spelling.
What can you expect from the editing experience?
My editing philosophy centers on enhancing your individual voice—not subduing it. I work primarily in Word through direct comments to you on the manuscript and in editorial letters that help you improve your structure, plot, characters, voice, and setting. Everything I provide in ideas and suggestions to best achieve your goals (along with advocacy for your readership) all come out of what you’ve written. This book dragon merely unburies and polishes the gems perceived in your work—and perhaps rewires a few synapses along the way. Some of those gems are more direct and others more indirect. For the less direct, my experience still helps me sense the effects you were hoping for, and I strive to find a way for you to make the impact clear through revision. However, you are still the author, and you decide which changes to make. I only advise that if I provide a suggestion to improve a piece of your work, there is likely some issue there that needs to be addressed, whether you choose to address it in the way I suggest or not.
With proofreads or other more mechanical edits, I follow the Chicago Manual of Style (the industry standard) and, in most cases, make direct changes to your text to correct inconsistencies, grammar, style, spelling, and formatting. Unless you request otherwise, I track all changes for you to view using Word’s “track changes” feature because I believe this allows authors to learn more about their writing in the process. However, note that a proofread is only done once the manuscript has been formatted and laid out for publishing. For proofreads, comments and changes are marked on a PDF copy.
I follow a simple per-word rate model that starts at two-and-a-half to a little over three cents per word for substantive and copy edits and two cents per word for proofreads. These rates vary based on the deadline and needs of the project.