Thanks for your interest in my editing services. Please read the information below as well as my Terms of Service page prior to ordering. If you have any questions, just send me an email and I’ll get back to you as quickly as possible.
TYPES OF MANUSCRIPTS
FICTION: I am accepting manuscripts in the following fiction genres: Romance, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Young Adult. I am not accepting: Erotica or Historical Romance.
NONFICTION: Please email me about your subject matter and I’ll let you know if it’s something I want to take on. I’m not doing any work for New Age or Spirituality books because I personally write a lot in that feild so it would be a conflict of interest. I’m also not taking on any books that require a specialist knowledge of the subject matter, for example, medical, financial, law, or history books. Everything else is open for discussion.
There are too many genres/topics and subgenres/topics to list them all on this page, and I will work with more than what’s listed above. Please send me an email and let me know what type of book you’ve written and we’ll take it from there.
I will not work with any material, whether fiction or nonfiction, that involves hate speech, racism, criminal behavior, illegal, unethical or dangerous activities, or acts that I find morally wrong. If you’re not sure if your book fits my guidelines, I’m happy to discuss it with you prior to purchase.
SERVICES OFFERED
I offer several different services for book authors. I also offer editing for specific documents that aren’t books. There is a detailed explanation of each on on the individual product page but I’ll give you a general overview here as well. For all services, I will work in the Microsoft Word document you submit (file type .doc or .docx) using track changes and comments to ensure a collaborative approach, so you know exactly what I’m talking about and where it is located in your book.
Editorial Evaluation/Beta Reading – For this service I read your book as a reader only, not as an editor. I will make notes on the plot, setting, character development, story and character arcs, the writing style and flow (beginning, middle and end), and any dialog concerns of the material submitted for fiction. For nonfiction, I’ll focus on the overall flow of the book and how well you delivered the material to the reader. Are there sections where the material got boring? Did the material skip around too much and needs reorganization for better flow? I will also give a summary of my overall thoughts of the submitted material. I’ll point out if there are questions left in the reader’s mind after finishing the book. I’ll also point out what works well and what engages the reader.
Proofreading – Proofreading is the final step for books and other documents that are already fully edited, formatted, and are ready for publication. Proofreading is an extra, and often new, set of eyes on the book looking for errors in spelling, punctuation, layout, formatting, missed words, overused words, or grammatical errors – basically anything that stands out that needs correction within the text. Proofreading also includes looking for problems with the manuscript layout including widows, orphans, runts, word stacks, running heads, page numbers, table of contents, the index, bad word breaks, or illustration placement. For this service I will read the book as an editor/publisher looking for technical, mechanical and layout problems, not as a reader.
Query & Synopsis – This service is to read your query and synopsis of up to 2000 words as an editor and make comments and corrections on specific lines and to give a summary of overall thoughts to make it shine.
Full Editing Service – This is a comprehensive editing service at an affordable price for fiction, nonfiction and other documents. I include copy editing, line editing, and developmental editing in this package instead of offering each editing service as a separate product. I’ll look at every aspect of your book from the smallest typo to the overall big picture.
Other Documents – I can proofread and edit other documents such as cover letters, resumes, advertisements, blog posts and website content. They can be submitted through the proofreading and full editing service pages.
RATES
Rates are based on my 24 years of extensive experience in the publishing industry and based on the current market rates for beta readers, proofreaders, and editors. I want to offer an affordable service because I know that writers often don’t have big budgets for their books so I priced my services on the low end of the current rates as a benefit to you. All services are paid for in advance.
According to a 2020 survey conducted by the Editorial Freelancers Association, freelance proofreaders charge between $0.02 – $0.029 per word, or $31 and $35/hour, with a rate of between 11 and 15 pages read per hour for fiction and 7 to 10 pages per hour for nonfiction. Copyediting rates are $0.02 – $0.029 per word for fiction and $0.03 – $0.039 per word for nonfiction. Line editing rates are $0.02 – $0.029 per word and developmental editing rates are between $0.03 – $0.039 for fiction and $0.04 – $0.049 per word for nonfiction. Click the link to see all average rates for the different types of services.
Payments of fees are accepted via PayPal where you can pay via credit or debit card using their safe and secure data encrypted payment gateway without creating an account. Or you can pay securely from within your own PayPal account. If you absolutely do not want to use PayPal, to avoid paying the transaction fees PayPal charges, please contact me and we can make other arrangements. I don’t start work on the manuscript until payments have cleared.
EXPERIENCE MATTERS
What is my experience in publishing? Here’s a brief rundown. You can read my full resume on my About page of the website.
MY EXPERIENCE (Short Version):
• I have had seven books published by Llewellyn Worldwide, the world’s oldest and largest independent publisher of books for body, mind, and spirit. These books have been translated into multiple languages.
• I owned New Age Dimensions Publishing where I acquired, edited, and published nearly 200 titles from about 50 authors.
• I have self-published 23 books (both fiction and non-fiction), an oracle card deck, and have ten more decks designed that I’m publishing in the future.
• I have won awards for my writing and book cover design.
• I worked for About.com as their Guide to Romance Fiction where I read and reviewed thousands of books and wrote hundreds of articles in addition to the book reviews.
• I worked for Examiner.com as their Paranormal Examiner where I wrote hundreds of articles and reviewed books with a paranormal theme.
• I have written articles for magazines and been featured as a publishing professional.
• I have been a contest judge in the romance genre many times.
• I was a paranormal columnist for Suite Magazine’s Thirteenth Floor.
• I worked as a writing correspondent for The American Kennel Club.
• I have been featured in other author’s non-fiction books.
WHY SHOULD YOU HIRE ME?
Because I will give you a professional opinion in an articulate, positive, and constructive way and make sure you understand my reasons for those opinions. I’m not going to change your writing style, your voice, or your storyline. It’s your book and you should tell it as you see fit. But, I will point out when your voice or style goes off track, if there are plot holes that you overlooked, or if your characters suddenly do something that is out of character for them. If your non-fiction book leaves questions unanswered or has statements that are in conflict from something you previously stated, I’ll tell you about that too. The goal when working with me is to find any errors and correct them to improve the readability and flow of the text.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
How do I calculate Word Count? To calculate your word count in Microsoft Word highlight the body text and use the word count feature. Word count doesn’t include header and footer information unless you have footnotes and then you should include them in your total word count.
How do I know that I can trust you with my work? I am a professional in my field. I have been for the past 24 years and would never do anything that is unethical. I’ve worked on both sides of the industry, as a publisher and as an author, and held many jobs in-between so I understand the viewpoints from both sides. I am also an intuitive with a focus on mind, body, and soul topics who believes in karma and I prefer to not have anything negative come back around to me in the future so I don’t do anything that would cause that to happen. I’m honest to a fault and, according to my clients, I often give more than I’m charging for in my work. You can completely trust that I’m the only one who will see your manuscript. I have security in place on my website in order to protect the information I’m sent and I don’t keep your files after I’ve completed the work. If you want references about my character and trustworthiness, I’ll be happy to provide them to you prior to purchase.
How many times do you read my book? The services I offer provide for one complete read through of your book. If you want me to read the book a second time after you’ve made revisions based on the first beta read, proofreading or editing, you’d need to order the service again.
Do I really need a proofreader? If you have a short book that has very little text like a children’s picture book, then, no, you probably do not need a proofreader. If you have a longer book then it’s often a very good idea. Some authors are quite comfortable with doing their own proofreading and that’s fine. Sometimes though, you need a completely new set of eyes on it. No one is perfect and no one will catch every mistake. This applies to everyone in the production line including the author, copy editor, editor and yes, even the proofreader. When you read a manuscript multiple times your mind will tend to gloss over the words because you’re reading. It’s human nature to do this, and it makes it easier to overlook mistakes. Hiring a proofreader who has never seen the book before is your best bet on catching any mistakes that may have been previously overlooked. A proofreader can still miss things since they’re only human too, but hiring one will give you a better chance of catching as many errors as possible.
What is the Turnaround Time? Each package has the turnaround time listed in the details. Each Author Info & Book Form has a requested completion date on it. If you need expedited service that is quicker than the standard turnaround time, please make sure you indicate this in the form. Expedited service will incur additional fees based on how fast you need it and my current work load. Some expedited requests simply can’t be done. For example: I’ve had someone ask me to read and edit a 100,000 word book in 24 hours before, which was an impossible request.
Will you edit my book if it is already published? I currently only offer editing services for unpublished manuscripts.
If I choose the Editorial Evaluation/Beta Reader package will you provide edits too? Beta reading does not include editing. It looks at your book from the viewpoint of a reader, not an editor.
Can I still have you beta read my book if I haven’t finished edits? Sure, I can read it at any stage. I know that sometimes writers get stuck and aren’t sure if the story is moving along as it should. Just remember beta reading is for the overall flow of the story and characters and not an editing service.
Will you review my book online after editing it? When you hire me to edit your book, you’re hiring me in a professional business capacity as a beta reader, proofreader or editor, not as a reviewer. Therefore, I do not post reviews of books I’ve worked with on Amazon or any other website or social media. Instead, I communicate with you privately in regards to your work. That being said, I also do not allow excerpts of our private communications to be pulled out of context and used online in social media or on any websites. Please see the entire Terms of Service prior to ordering.
My book is over the limit of 100,000 words. Can you still edit it? I can, but there will be an additional fee involved based on the total word count. In these cases, I send a PayPal invoice to the customer for the difference.
Do you offer refunds? Due to the nature of my services for writers, I do not offer refunds.
Do you offer custom quotes? Yes, if you need something read or edited that isn’t currently offered, I can give you a custom quote for that service.
How do I contact you if I have more questions? If you have other questions prior to ordering, just send me an email by clicking on the word Contact in the top menu.