Your story
Your voice
Polished and ready
Editing Services
Copyediting
Polishing the mechanics
Once your storyline is set and revisions are complete, you're ready for copyediting. This step polishes grammar, punctuation, and spelling and ensures consistency of proper nouns. It also aligns the text with The Chicago Manual of Style so that style choices match what readers are used to seeing in other published books. I am known for having a light hand and respecting author choices.
A copyedit includes an extensive style sheet tracking terms and style choices, such as which kinds of numbers are spelled out. The style sheet for fiction also tracks character information, locations, and timelines.
This is the exact service I offer to publishing houses. All suggested changes are tracked so you can see them clearly and accept or reject as you see fit, and I send a clean copy as well. The end result is a manuscript that's ready for formatting.
Novels:
$.02 to $.025 per word
For example:
50,000 middle grade starts at $1000
Proofreading
Checking the book's actual pages
This is the final stage before a book is published. Proofreading is only for manuscripts that have already been copyedited and, ideally, are already formatted. Everything is in place, and I'm looking for last stray typos, spacing issues, heading inconsistencies, and commas that somehow got italicized (it happens).
This is not a substitute for copyediting. If time or money dictates only one round of editing, a copyedit will best serve your readers. If your manuscript has been copyedited and is in its final layout, you are ready for a proofread.
Novels:
$.015 to $.02 per word
For example:
50,000 middle grade starts at $750
Copy + line editing
Mechanics + smoothing
This service is popular with indie authors and querying authors alike. It combines a copyedit with a line edit to ensure sentences flow smoothly.
A line edit eliminates common writing shortcuts that turn off potential readers, agents, and publishers. It solidifies POV, tense, pacing, and the balance of show vs. tell while watching for filter words, repetition, filler, and clichés. The manuscript tightens up so clarity, emotional impact, and your voice become central.
While I do look for pacing issues and the balance of show vs. tell, this combined edit includes less overall feedback in this area than you’d get with a standalone line edit because our goal with a copy + line edit is to have a manuscript that’s ready to publish or submit without additional revisions.
Novels:
$.03 to $.035 per word
For example:
50,000 middle grade starts at $1500
Query letter services
Let's get some attention
My query letter clients have received numerous agent requests!
Query letter review — $100
Let's make sure your letter meets industry expectations and brings out the best parts of your story.
Query package — $200
Query letter plus synopsis review and a submission edit on the first chapter or full picture book text.
Ultimate query package — $300
Query letter plus synopsis review and a submission edit on the first three chapters.
Book proposal edit — $400
I'll draw out and highlight the best selling points for your book and format the document to industry standards. Includes a copyedit to make your proposal and sample chapters shine.
Line editing
Smooth, concise, intentional
A standalone line edit goes deeper in addressing issues with pacing and show vs. tell, occasionally eliminating passages or recommending more author-added content to bring out the impact of a section.
In this hands-on edit with changes tracked, I polish out filler words, repetition, filler, and clichés to tighten up your message. I read the manuscript aloud to ensure sentences flow smoothly together and remove any awkward phrasing that might distract the reader.
This type of edit can also help with tense or POV changes, word-count reduction, and age-range suitability.
Cookbook editing
This includes extras like ensuring ingredients are used and listed in order, yields and times make sense, and doneness cues are provided.
Novels/cookbooks:
$.04 to $.05 per word
For example:
50,000 middle grade starts at $2000
Shorter works
Polishing all kinds of writing
Short stories, poems, articles, college application essays, business materials:
Up to 5000 words — $100
Above 5000 words — per-word prices
See here for résumé, cover letter, and academic CV services.
Picture books
Copy + line edit
Up to 2,000 words — $100
Final proofread
Up to 50 illustrated pages — $100
Active member of SCBWI and
co-coordinator for the Editorial Freelancers Association KidLit Chapter.
Still not sure what you need? Contact me and ask! I love helping writers narrow down the choices to find what will suit them best, and I’m happy to customize an option if none of these hit the mark exactly.
Check out the FAQ page if you have more questions.
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