Copyediting Services

Standard Line Edits

This service is for experienced authors requesting line-level editing of a manuscript with no serious copyediting challenges. Please send your first five pages and five consecutive pages from the middle of your manuscript so I can determine the level of editing required.

This service includes standard copyediting: correcting spelling, grammar, usage, and punctuation errors, with an eye for not trampling on the author’s voice and style unless the edit is recommended to help prevent reader confusion or distraction with a clear error (i.e. a usage error involving a similar but incorrect word). The line edit will also point out any ambiguous provisions so the author can clarify the intent and offer recommended solutions for re-writing awkward sentences.

My work product is a full set of tracked changes edits in the manuscript with side-bar comments. This service also includes a style sheet listing your characters, settings, and style choices to guide consistency and accuracy across the manuscript.  A style sheet is particularly useful for multiple books in the same series or story universe.

I follow the conventions in the Chicago Manual of Style, 17^th Edition and the Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11^th Edition. If another style guide (such as a publisher’s guide) is also to be followed, please forward that guide in advance so I can review it and quote any adjustments to the rates prior to commencing work.

My standard line editing rates are $0.03 per word, rounded to the nearest 1,000 words.

For example, an 80,000-word manuscript would cost $2,400.

Heavy Line Editing

This service is for less-experienced writers, or for a manuscript with copyediting challenges, including but not limited to: verb tense shifting (more than occasional), requested use of a style guide other than CMOS, an unfamiliar subject matter which requires research to verify correct usage of historical or non-English words, heavy use of dialect or non-standard sentence structures.

As with Standard Line Editing, this service includes manuscript edits and a style sheet, and will cover copyediting for correct spelling, grammar, usage, and punctuation with deference to the author’s voice and style except when it would detract from the readers’ experience. The manuscript edits will include detailed explanations on the first correction of a problem to identify the error made and the grammatical rule involved. I will point out any ambiguous provisions so the writer can clarify the intent, and I will offer recommended edits to re-write awkward sentences.

Rates to be determined, based on the work estimated after a review of the full manuscript.