What kind of edit do I need for my project?

This depends on a few factors: your objective for the project, your budget, your time frame, and how much work you’re interested in doing on your own. Please refer to the Services page to determine what level of editorial help you think you might need. If you’re not sure, drop me an email via the Contact page.

Do I need an editor if I’m self-publishing my book?

Absolutely. If you publish a book that hasn’t been properly edited, the readers will let you know in the reviews.

Do I need to hire an editor if I’m planning on sending my book to an agent?

It depends who you ask! If your plan is to send your book to your dream agent or to a publisher that accepts manuscripts directly (agented or unagented), remember the old adage: “You only get one chance to make a first impression.” Agents are inundated with queries every single day, and if your manuscript isn’t as clean and tight and tidy as it possibly can be, it won’t make it past the first gate. If budget is an issue and you cannot afford to hire an editor before querying or submitting, at the very least you should seek the help of beta readers, critique partner(s), and/or a writers’ group to help review your project. It should be noted that it does happen on occasion that an agent’s interest is piqued on a project and they’ll send it back to the writer with a request for revisions. If that happens to you, I’d advise that you hire a professional editor to guide you through the process. If an agent makes this request for edits before they reconsider your manuscript, your fixes have to be more than shuffling a few paragraphs around or fixing commas. (Trust me. I did this. It did not go well.)

How do I know if we’re a good fit to work together?

I ask that all potential clients send an unedited 1500-word sample (approximately five pages) in the format noted below. Please do not send your sample in an email. I will then provide a sample edit using Track Changes and in-document comments, free of charge, for you to see how I work and also so I can assess the condition of the manuscript. Please do not send me this sample until we have had an opportunity to chat via email about working together. Unsolicited samples will be deleted without review.

How far in advance should I book an editor?

This can be tricky as you may not know how long it will take you to finish writing your project. However, I would recommend you make inquiries as early into the process as possible as most editors book up months in advance. If you book a spot with me, I require a nonrefundable deposit to hold your spot, so keep that in mind if you aren’t good with adhering to deadlines.

If we agree to work together, how do I send you my work?

Please send your project in standard manuscript format: Microsoft Word document, 12-point font (preferably Times New Roman), double-spaced, 1” margins. If Word is unavailable for your use, get in touch and we’ll see what we can work out.

After your edit is completed and returned to you (and payment has been completed), I will include two (2) follow-up e-mails for you to clarify/ask questions. After that, if you need additional guidance or feedback, I bill at $50/hour. If your project is under 10,000 words, say, a short story or nonfiction article, I will offer a flat hourly rate starting at $40/hour. 

How many rounds of editing do I get when I pay my fee?

I work on one round at a time. Some editors offer packages that include multiple rounds of editing, but I have found that to be problematic in terms of scheduling. For example, if you hire me for a line edit, I will provide that single round of line edits based on our agreed terms. Any additional editing work will be subject to its own separate agreement.

I’ve had a copy edit. Now can I publish my book?

That is totally up to you, but I would highly recommend you hire a proofreader before publishing to make sure no new errors were introduced in the incorporation phase (the time after receiving your line and/or copy edits when you go back through and incorporate the suggested changes). Please don’t Accept All Changes, hit Publish, and then blame your editor for errors.

What is the turnaround time for me to receive my edited manuscript/project back from you?

This will depend on the length and condition of the manuscript. It can be as quick as one week and as long as four to six weeks, depending on the scope of the project. Articles and short nonfiction are usually a much tighter turnaround.

How much does it cost?

Please refer to the Services page. If we decide to work together, for projects greater than 25,000 words, I require a nonrefundable deposit (a percentage of the total fee) to hold your spot to protect my schedule from last-minute cancellations and no-shows. On the date work is scheduled to commence, once I’ve received your manuscript and conducted a word count, I will submit an invoice to you via PayPal for 50 percent of the total fee (minus the deposit paid) plus 4 percent to cover the PayPal fees, to be paid before work begins. The balance is due when the edit is completed, again invoiced via PayPal (50 percent balance + 4 percent PayPal fee). Interac payment is accepted for those writers within Canada and will save you the 4 percent PayPal fee.

There are certain circumstances where I will not return the edited manuscript until payment is received in full. This usually occurs when a client has been slow to pay invoices, despite the fact that agreed-upon work has been completed in good faith.

Once we agree on a date to start work, please send your project to me for that date. If we’ve agreed to start on a Monday, please send me your project so that I am ready to start working Monday morning. Delays of more than three days from the original agreed-upon start date will be canceled and rescheduled for a later time so I can commence work on the next scheduled client’s project.

Why do some editors charge more than others?

The Editorial Freelancers Association offers a detailed rates chart on their website. If someone tells you they can proofread your 100,000-word manuscript for $200, you will get what you pay for. Keep in mind that editing is meticulous, labor-intensive work, especially line and copy editing and proofreading.

Do you guarantee my project will be free from errors?

I guarantee that I will do my very best work. No book is 100 percent error-free, and errors can be introduced at every stage following the copy edit—during the incorporation phase when you’re making your changes, when the proofreader gets hold of it, when the formatter is tinkering about. Think of the last time you read a book from a Big Five publisher and found a typo. They are sneaky little buggers, I tell you!

What if I don’t agree with all of your suggestions?

It’s your manuscript. You are welcome to ignore whatever changes you are not comfortable or do not agree with.

Can you explain some of the common terminology used by editors?

Editors try to keep the jargon to a minimum, but a few of the common terms you might come across include:

• MS = manuscript

• stet = “let it stand” [This happens when you or the editor don’t agree with a change made to the text. The editor or author may place a row of dots in the text under the material that is to remain, cross out the mark or correction in the margin, and write “stet.” That is a signal to leave the text in question as it was originally.]

• TK = “to come” [Use this when you need to add something later as it’s easy to search for.]

• echo = the same word occurring in proximity within the text

• style guide = a reference guide to maintain consistency across a publisher’s publications in relation to grammar, spelling, and punctuation rules, formatting, and handling of the text in general. (Examples: Chicago Manual of Style, in-house style guides developed by in-house editors with rules based on the publisher’s preference (which may and often do deviate from the industry standard Chicago rules), Associated Press, Canadian Press, etc.)

• style sheet = the same as a style guide, only shorter and tailored to a writer’s specific project; often lists all characters, geographic locations, preferred and/or specialized spellings, verbal tics approved by the editor, dialect, dialogue preferences, etc.

Can you read my story for free, just to give me an idea if I’m on the right track?

No. But I’d be happy to work with you on a read & report for your project.

What are industry-standard tools for editing?

I strictly follow the Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition, as well as Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th edition, and the Associated Press Style Guide, and have online memberships as well as hardcopy reference books for all of these trusted sources. I am versed in the Canadian Press Style Guide as well. The book publishing industry in North America relies mostly on Chicago, in addition to their in-house style guides. If you are an author from the UK looking to make a splash in the North American book market, I would advise following North American industry standards, with exceptions, of course, to be worked out between you and your editor. As an American ex-pat living in Canada for the past two decades, I’m quite familiar with the practice of different spellings in US vs. UK/CAD English (color vs. colour, neighbor vs. neighbour, etc.).

Can you recommend books or resources that would help me self-edit my project or improve my writing?

A few of my favorites include:

• Intuitive Editing, by Tiffany Yates Martin (This is the BEST editing handbook I’ve read to date.)

• Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, by Renni Browne and Dave King

• Dreyer’s English, by Benjamin Dreyer, Copy Chief, VP, and Executive Managing Editor of Random House US

• Save the Cat Writes a Novel, by Jessica Brody

• The First Five Pages, by Noah Lukeman

• The Plot Whisperer, by Martha Alderson

• Wired for Story, by Lisa Cron

• Revision and Self-Editing for Publication, by James Scott Bell (pretty much everything Bell writes is great)

• Show, Don’t Tell, by Sandra Gerth

• Spilling Ink, by Anne Mazer and Ellen Potter (intended for young writers but I’ve found it so fun and helpful!)

Can you give me some tips on things I can do to self-edit my project if I can’t afford to hire an editor right now?

Certainly. Among the things I look for when editing a project are word overuse, heavy reliance on adverbs, too many dialogue tags, and specialized, world-specific spellings. Here are a few tips:

• Do a search in your manuscript for the following words: just, that, gaze, gasp, voice, tone, eyes, heart, stomach, throat, chest, breathe, look, back, soft, low, know, feel, felt, hear/heard, stare, staring, stared, glared. Also look for overuse of physical expressions: eye rolling, arms crossing, sighing, hands on hips. That sort of thing. Use the search-and-highlight function in Word to see how many times these words show up in your manuscript. If it’s too many, CUT.

• Look for adverbs (especially “suddenly” and “immediately”). You don’t need many. Stephen King is noted for saying, “The road to hell is paved with adverbs.” I’m not quite that pedantic, but less is more.

• Remove adverbs from dialogue tags. Example: “Make sure you lock the door on your way out,” she said softly. <— Remove the adverb “softly.” Let the dialogue do the heavy lifting.

• Do a search for double spaces and then replace with a single space. The contemporary rule is a single space after closing punctuation. We no longer need that extra space as books are not manually typeset one letter at a time. Instead, this process is accomplished via digital technology.

• If you have a verbal tic (a word you like and use more often than you should—mine is “atop”), search and destroy.

• Rely as much as possible on “say/says/said.” You don’t need to muddy your prose with noisy dialogue tags via “exclaimed,” “declared,” “replied,” “remarked,” “retorted,” etc. Sure, sometimes this is necessary (he hissed! she yelled! he cried!), but everything in moderation, dear writer. Benjamin Dreyer’s book, Dreyer’s English, has a fantastic passage on flexibility with the use of “said.”

• Search for ALL instances of “began” and “start.” Example: She began to walk across the room. Recast this sentence: She walked across the room.

• Do a search and replace to turn straight quotes into curly quotes.

• Run a spell-check on your manuscript.

• If your story is filled with unique words and names (particularly true in fantasy), please make a list of your preferred spellings to provide to your editor. This will become part of your style sheet and assists with consistency/continuity throughout.

• Do not rely solely on programs such as Grammarly and ProWriting Aid to fix your manuscript. These programs can be very helpful but they are far from perfect and can, in fact, introduce new errors and turn your MS into a word salad.