Precision with passion. Every word matters.
Looking for an editor in 2024? Work with Jenn, Margaret, or Tamara!
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Need brainstorming help? Get in touch!
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Looking for an editor in 2024? Work with Jenn, Margaret, or Tamara! 〰️ Need brainstorming help? Get in touch! 〰️
“Remember the holy grail of storytelling: Every single scene, every single line, everything in your manuscript, should move the story forward.”
- Tiffany Yates Martin, Intuitive Editing
Request a quote.
Scheduling updates!
Due to shuffling of client calendars, Jenn has the following dates open (as of March 21):
April 29 & May 6
July 1 (one week only, best for short projects)
August 26 (one week only)
October 28 & November 4
Get in touch! Jennifer {at} PlumfieldEditing {dot} com.
And of course, Tamara and Margaret are taking inquiries as well. Have I mentioned we love books and their authors?
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Jennifer Sommersby
OWNER/EDITOR
Specializes in developmental, line, and copy editing, proofreading, mentoring/brainstorming services, as well as copywriting for web, newsletters, blogs, and marketing collateral. Reedsy-approved editor. Genres: Romance (all subgenres), upmarket/book club women’s fiction, YA, fantasy (urban, epic, high), thriller/suspense. Also narrative and business nonfiction.
Jennifer Sommersby is the author of thirteen novels written under two names (YA under Sommersby; rom-com, women’s fiction, and “enviromance” as Eliza Gordon) and is traditionally and indie published. Her debut YA novel, Sleight (HarperCollins Canada, SkyPony US), was a Fall 2018 Canadian Children’s Book Centre Best Books for Kids & Teens and an Ontario Library Association Best Bets Honourable Mention Book for YA, 2019. She won a 2019 British Columbia Arts Council grant for a YA eco-fiction work-in-progress. Jenn has also worked as a freelance editor since 2005, offering developmental, line/copy editing, proofreading, manuscript review, and mentoring/brainstorming. Her current roster of clients includes internationally best-selling authors Samantha Young, Sawyer Bennett, and KA Tucker, plus she is available for hire on the Reedsy marketplace. She is a member of the Editorial Freelancers Association (the-efa.org), the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi), the Authors Guild (US), Sisters in Crime Canada West, and the Federation of BC Writers. Jenn is a graduate of Simon Fraser University’s Writer’s Studio (2007), and owns/operates SGA Books, an education and resource portal for new and working writers.
If you are interested in working with Jenn, contact her at jennifer@plumfieldediting.com to discuss your project.
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Margaret Dilloway
EDITOR
Specializes in developmental, line, and copy editing, and corporate, website, and marketing copywriting. Genres: Middle grade, YA, NA (new adult), romance (all subgenres), literary fiction, thriller/suspense, mystery, historical, upmarket/book club women’s fiction, nonfiction, and thought leadership.
Descended from samurai and coal miners, Margaret Dilloway is the author of ten books for children and adults published by Putnam, Balzer + Bray, AppleTV/Sourcebooks, and Disney-Hyperion. She’s the recipient of an American Library Association/APALA Honor Award, an ALA Award for Best Women’s Fiction, a Christopher Award, and a Children’s Literature Council of Southern California award. In 2020, she lived in Zion National Park as their Artist-in-Residence, right before the quarantine. She lives in San Diego with her family and enjoys hiking, and performing on the mainstage of a local improv comedy theater.
If you are interested in working with Margaret, contact her at margaret@plumfieldediting.com to discuss your project.
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Tamara Gorin
EDITOR
Specializes in developmental, structural, line, and copy editing across genres. Tamara is particularly interested in providing full or partial manuscript evaluations for poetry, creative nonfiction and memoir, short stories, and fiction, including modern science fiction and dystopia. She can provide thorough and detailed sensitivity / authenticity evaluations, which include both a written review and an in-person/video chat consultation. Directed fact-checking services are also available. Her rates are guided by the Editorial Freelance Association rate sheet and industry standards generally. Sliding scale will be considered if requested during initial consultation.
With a background in journalism early in her career, Tamara is an award-winning poet and essayist, a graduate of SFU Writer’s Studio (2006), and a member of Editors Canada – BC and the Federation of BC Writers. She owns Western Sky Books, an independent bookstore and art gallery in Port Coquitlam / kʷikʷəƛ̓əm, British Columbia, and sits on the board of the Tri-City Wordsmiths and the organizing committee for Tri-Cities Literary Festival.
If you are interested in working with Tamara, contact her at tamara@plumfieldediting.com to discuss your project.
How can we help?
Developmental editing
A review of your manuscript to identify major structural and story issues that need to be addressed during the revision/rewrite stage.
Copy editing and line editing
A deep dive into the mechanics of your manuscript to check for issues with grammar, spelling, punctuation, characterization, plot, dialogue, continuity, repetitive word usage, cliché, show vs. tell, point of view/head hopping, sentence structure and variety, tone, proper use of metaphor, tense, voice, and basic fact-checking.
Proofreading
A final review before publishing or sending to an agent to look for sneaky errors (in grammar, punctuation, spelling, usage, and/or typos) that made it through line and copy edits.
Read and report
A critical read of your manuscript with an editorial report provided to address the strengths and weaknesses of your project. (This does not include editing of any kind.)
Mentoring and brainstorming
Are you a newer writer needing some one-on-one instruction? Are you a seasoned writer stuck on a plot snag or why isn’t this story working? I offer mentoring services at an hourly rate wherein we work together to find the heart of your story, strengthen weak structure, differentiate voice, blast in those sensory details, untangle plot knots — you name it, we can talk it out. Contact me for more.
Jenn helps me take a pile of puzzle pieces and fit them together perfectly. She's a structure and goal, motivation, conflict guru who always shows me how to take my characters and story to the next level. One of my favorite things about working with her is that she doesn't just suggest general things, she brainstorms with me to find specific ways I can improve my outlines and stories. Anytime I hit a dead end or have a gut feeling something's not working in an outline, I reach out to her, and she always helps me solve the problems and get excited about writing my story again. She gets my highest recommendation.
~ Brenda Rothert, romance author
How much does it cost to hire an editor?
Graphics from Reedsy.com. Click the image to visit Reedsy.com for a self-publishing calculator as well as a lots of free courses and an expansive directory of vetted professionals. (I am not a Reedsy affiliate; I’ve used their services before and really like the company.)
Also, check out the Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA) rates page for more.
Writers who choose to independently publish their books should still pay attention to all the stuff the Big Five publishers do. You need:
An editor of some sort: If you can afford it, hire a developmental editor to help you fix your first (or tenth) draft on every level (structure, pacing, plot, characterization, dialogue, POV, etc.). Once that’s done, a line or copy editor will manage a more microscopic examination of the story, after the big-picture issues are resolved via your rewrites after the developmental edit. A line or copy editor will look for issues with grammar, sentence structure and variation, inconsistencies, fact-checking, tense, voice, and more. (This is my specialty.) A proofreader acts as the final, meticulous cleanup crew after the above is accomplished. All these jobs are painstaking and time-consuming, one-word-at-a-time endeavors.
A professional cover designer: Readers really do judge books by their covers. Do your story a favor and find a skilled designer with a good eye who knows their way around Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, etc. Ask friends for recommendations, check Joanna Penn’s website for a great list, look to join Facebook cover design groups. Do your research—not all cover designers are created equal. You want to make sure your designer is someone you can work with, who is skilled, responsive, and runs an ethical practice that pays attention to things like copyright and image licensing.
Formatting: Some folks use Vellum. It’s a robust program for formatting that won’t break the bank. If you want more specialized formatting, again, do your homework and look for a talented designer who is responsive and easy to work with. A newcomer to the market that shows a LOT of promise is Atticus, offered by Dave Chesson of Kindlepreneur and his phenomenal team.
Book marketing: This is a huge part of your life now, writers. Even authors with traditional deals have to navigate the tempestuous marketing waters. Long gone are the days when traditional publishers heaped money for book tours and advertising campaigns upon their authors. Learn about your options, from bloggers to bookstagrammers to the perils and pitfalls of trying to sell books on social media, to the megacorporate advertising platforms such as Amazon, Facebook, and BookBub and the pros and cons of starting your own YouTube channel or being active on Instagram Reels or TikTok. It’s all about brand, platform, and engagement, baby, so buckle in. Things are about to get bumpy—and by bumpy, I mean expensive.