My Editing Services


A good editor is well worth the investment. (Yes, it IS an investment). If you truly want to produce a great work of fiction and get it published, I firmly believe you also need a good editor. Nay, a great one. One who will tell you what works and what doesn't, make changes and suggest others, slash through sections of your manuscript that you were too afraid to cut on your own, and point out any short-comings in your manuscript, but do it in a way that doesn't leave you wondering what happened to your beloved novel. I promise you – we’ll work on it together!


This is my guiding principle: the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. But delivered in a tactful way.

I want to get to know you and you me. Let's make your manuscript the very best book it can be!


How it works

Once you've decided to give me a try as your editor, I'll do a test edit for you - I'll read, edit and comment on your book's first 1,000 words FOR FREE. You can tell a lot about an editor (and the book!) in those initial words. It's a firm handshake and good eye contact, I like to think. And hopefully once you have those edited 1,000 words in your hands, you'll be convinced! If not, then you've lost nothing and gained a little bit of free editing and advice.

If all signs point to a "Yes, you are my dream editor and I will be your fantasy novel-writer-client," then we will discuss what type(s) of editing you're in need of (this I can also get a handle on from your test-edit), and we'll hammer out the details of your deadline and my rates. For more of that, see below.


Full-length Novel Editing Services

For a reasonable fee, I provide the following editing services:


Proofreading (reviewing final draft of text to ensure that all information accurate and all surface errors corrected -- usually the final step in editing) -- $3 per page*

Basic Copy-editing (includes correcting spelling, punctuation, grammar, terminology, jargon, semantics, style) -- $3 per page

Heavy Copy-editing (all basic copy-editing tasks; tightening up writing where needed; smoothing transitions and moving sentences to improve readability; suggesting [and sometimes implementing] additions and deletions, noting them at sentence and paragraph level; and improving overall tone, flow and consistency throughout text) -- $5 per page

Content Editing (helps determine that your book or story has been written in the same point of view throughout, and that it is in the most appropriate point of view for the context; will help identify incorrectly used analogies, similes, and metaphors, and less than stellar examples; also ensures that the content is in the correct order, such as that facts are presented consecutively and the plot doesn’t backtrack [unless on purpose].) -- $5.50 per page

Developmental Editing (improving tone and flow of the story; suggesting formats to communicate the message; rewriting and restructuring text to fit the format; ensuring consistent structure by adding or deleting headings; identifying gaps in content and supplying or describing needed copy so the author can resolve them; deleting superfluous content; where applicable, altering content to meet recommendations of reviewers) - This often takes place before any of the other types of editing. -- $7.50 per page

* Using Word with standard margins and double-spaced 12-point type in Times New Roman, a standard page is approximately 250 words.


Shorter Works

I also offer my services based on the number of words you'd like edited for those shorter pieces. Let's say you're looking for a content edit for your short story of 500 words. Or you're writing a 1,000-word blog post and need some proof-reading. I'm here to help with those, too.

Here's my price list for items shorter than the average novel:
1-5000 words: $150 (flat fee, any type of editing)
5001-10,000 words: $200
10,001 - 15,000 words: $300


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I offer a range of flat fees assessed on the starting word count of your work. If during the course of my initial assessment of your work and our conversations, we mutually decide to expand the editing to include other types, we can discuss the terms and price (if an increase is called for).


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Additional edits - If you decide at the end of our working together that you'd like an additional edit of the entire manuscript, it is an option. And I'd offer this at a discount to your original edit cost.

For example, if you needed content editing for your 85,000 word manuscript (at a total cost of approximately $1,870), and then decided that an additional complete edit would really improve your work and your confidence in it, I'd offer that to you at a 50% discount (so that would be $935 in addition to the original cost).

Document handling

I prefer to work in either Word using track changes or in Google Drive so that any comments or edits can be seen by both parties, but am open to other avenues. Let me know what's comfortable for you.

Payment

I accept PayPal predominantly. If this is not a possible avenue for you, please email me and we can discuss other options.

Contact Me

As always, feel free to comment here with any questions, or via email at lumedog7@gmail.com.







5 comments:

  1. So I offered my editing services for FREE for ten people in an online writing community, and Samantha was one who took me up on the offer. Here's what she had to say about her experience:

    So remember +Laura D who posted the offer a few weeks back to edit your first 1000 words for free? Well, I was one of the people who took her up on it, and let me just say, she's really really good. She read my thousand words with an eye to developmental and content editing.

    If you're looking to hire some editing, I wholeheartedly recommend her.

    Thanks, Samantha!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Here's another recommendation from very nice guy Roland Boykin:


    Hey everyone, I just had to tell you about my wonderful experience with Laura D. Several weeks ago I was one of ten lucky people to receive a free edit of the first 1000 words of my story. She returned the critique in a timely manner with very insightful comments and a professional edit. It irritates me when an editor comes back and has re-written part of my story. That takes away my voice and inserts the voice of the editor. Laura D. simply made suggestions or indicated a sentence that was confusing and left it up to me to re-write. I highly recommend Laura D. to anyone looking for a professional edit.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Another very nice recommendation from Google+ community member Anthony Russo:

    Recently, Laura D offered members of this group a chance to have the first 1000 words of their work edited for free from her. I wanted to relay my experience of her editing.

    I have sent my first chapter to a number of editors looking for different styles and to compare the work, to see who I would choose to work with. Also getting price quotes as my intended 100,000 word novel is probably not going to be cheap.

    Laura's editing was by far the most in depth that I received. It was far beyond copy editing and even stretched the boundaries of content editing to approach the level of developmental editing.

    Comments that not only fixed the mistakes, but explained why she was doing them, to educate me and make me a better writer with fewer errors in the future.

    Guidance as to different ways to structure a sentence to make it clearer to the reader, and alternatives depending on what the actual meaning might have been. (Sci-fi isn't always cut and dry you know.)

    Emotion describing what she was feeling reading passages to let you know that you are being helped by someone with feelings and experiences herself, and not a robotic, algorithm type of fixing machine.

    Overall the feeling that someone is not just fixing your work, but caring about it to make your work the best it can be, and you as a writer along with it.

    I highly recommend the editing services of Laura D!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi. I want a sample edit. How should I contact you? Thanks

    ReplyDelete