Editing Services and Proofreading

After you’re written your book and your web content, you might be asking yourself, “What’s next?”

From a seasoned published author and writing mentor, the honest answer is to have your document professionally edited and proofread. As a writer, you’re so close to what you’ve written, that it’s almost sure that you’ll have errors in your text that you just won’t see because you’ve written the words, edited the words, and maybe even given your text a final proofread, and you think you’re ready to publish it.

Did you know that even professional published authors have someone else edit their stories, books, and content? The reason is because a fresh set of eyes will uncover formatting errors, grammatical errors, and even typos that you totally missed.

The Cost to Proofread Your Book or Web Content

Sign up for proofreading services here.

I charge by the word to proofread your content. Proofreading is not editing. It’s making sure that the way your text appears is correct—no spelling errors, correct punctuation and formatting.

I charge $0.015 per word to proofread your document.

When you ask someone to proofread your work, it should already have gone through a thorough and professional editing cycle. This is the last step before publishing your work.

Click here to contact me to schedule proofreading services for your work. I’ll give you instructions for sending me your document. Then I’ll tell you the total cost, when the proofreading will be completed, and we’ll discuss payment plan options, if that’s your desire. It’s easy, simple, and professional. Why wait? Contact me today.

The Costs for Editing Your Book or Web Content

There are several types of editing processes that determine the costs for editing your book or web content.

The Comprehensive Editing Process – (Sign up for this Process Here)

This type of edit goes beyond proofreading and looking for typos and grammatical errors. Also known as a developmental edit, this is the most costly form of editing. What does it involve? It requires the editor to work with the author to rewrite text and sometimes to move it from one chapter to another, all the while ensuring that the “new” text helps to better communicate the author’s original ideas.

I charge $0.05 cents per word to get your writing to the top professional level achievable.

A comprehensive edit includes many of the following elements, but this is not an exhaustive list:

• Adding and deleting headings in a document
• Adding styles to headings to create a Table of Contents
• Making the content more readable
• Displaying and verifying that the information is accurate in one or more places within the text
• Formulating the writing structure so that it delivers what the target audience expects
• Rearranging content so that all the information about a specific subject is contained in one chapter, rather than many (nonfiction books and web content)
• Organizational structure of topics
• Retaining the author’s tone and voice while creating easy-to-understand sentences and paragraphs.
• Making sure that the flow of the work engages the reader
• Marks those places in the manuscript or web content that are too slow-paced and uninteresting
• Makes suggestions for improving the text
• Asks questions that only the author can answer about specific portions of text that are confusing or that require more information
• Focuses on the marketing aspects that make a good book great!

The Clarification Editing Process – (Sign up for this process here)

Clarification editing is the most common type of editing service that you’ll find in the marketplace. It’s more than proofreading for typos, and it’s less time demanding than a comprehensive edit. Editing for clarification is almost self-explanatory, but what it gives your book or web content is an overall professional edge that most published work doesn’t have. It improves the flow and orgaization of your content, flags any problems or lack of transitions from one topic to another, makes suggestions and gives examples of how to improve sections of content by naturally bumping up the excitement factor that makes readers want to keep reading. The clarification edit also is not just a one-step process. It’s a two- or three-step process that engages both the editor and the author until the problem or text is satisfactory to the author.

I charge $0.02 cents per word for web content and nonfiction.

I charge $0.03 cents per word for novels, children’s books, and all types of fiction. The reason for the higher fee is that fiction writing requires another set of editing rules that are more strict regarding dialogue and formatting.

What is Copyediting? (Sign up for copyediting)

Copyediting is the most basic type of editing service that you’ll find listed on most websites. The professional editor looks at and corrects the content’s presentation, paying attention to grammar rules and style guidelines according to The Chicago Manual of Style, which is the bible in the publishing world for web content, fiction, and nonfiction. If for some reason, your content doesn’t communicate clearly with the reader, a copyeditor will put a little comment in the margin that states something like: confusing, what happened to the character who appeared three  chapters ealier, etc.

A brief list of copyediting elements would include all the items in clarification editing, plus:

• Calling out incorrect or over-the-top writing
• Subject and verb agreement
• Word usage errors, such as alright for all right or your Mom for your mom
• Punctuation and grammar rules
• Consist use of capitalization, spelling of people, places or things, and numbers
• Incorrect placement and usage of references or citations
• Missing elements such as a Table of Contents, Bibliography, or Chapter Titles
• Bulleted lists
• Labeling of figures or photos

 What’s Next?

If all this talk about proofreading and editing has you confused as to which type of editing would be best for your book or web content, then contact me and we’ll set up a short, 15-minute phone call. You’re under no obligation to sign up for my editing services, but at the very least, you’ll understand how to begin choosing the type of professional editing service that’s perfect for you!