Introduction to Editing

If you’ve never worked with a professional editor before, or if you’d like to start small and explore the possibilities, our Introduction to Editing service is a great way to begin.

After we get to know you and your writing goals, we’ll read your first 20 pages and write a one-page editorial letter, then schedule a collaborative editing session online. In that one-hour Zoom meeting, we will go through your pages with you line by line, exploring how revision at the sentence level can improve your writing style, your storytelling, and more. You’ll leave with recommendations for your next steps and a new understanding of how to strengthen your skills.

• Initial consultation to discuss your writing goals and process
• One-page editorial letter on your first 5,000 words (around 20 pages)
• One-hour collaborative editing session over Zoom
• Recommendations for development

Manuscript Critique & Developmental Editing

(also known as Substantive Editing)

Editorial Assessment

If you’re looking for big-picture feedback on how your book is working, our Editorial Assessment service will tell you. What would happen if you sent this out to agents right now? What kind of reviews would you get if you indie-published this tomorrow? We’ll help you understand how your work measures up — and how to get it to the next level.

An editorial assessment, also known as a manuscript critique, is an excellent way to get an idea of how your current draft would fare in the wild. What might happen if you sent this out to agents right now? What kind of reviews would you get if you indie published this tomorrow? An editorial assessment will tell you.

With an editorial assessment, we’ll read your full draft and make light annotations. When we’re finished reading, we’ll write a brief critique letter and schedule a 1-hour call to discuss your draft’s strengths and weaknesses. Is it time to send it out? Is it time to go back to the drawing board? We’ll give you our honest opinion, then help you decide which steps to take next.

We’ll put ourselves in the mindset of your ideal reader and get ready to settle in for a good read. As we read, we’ll take light notes in the margins, and when we’re finished, we’ll write an editorial letter that addresses the challenges this draft is facing. We’ll deliver your editorial letter and annotated manuscript, then invite you to schedule a phone call to discuss the critique. You’ll have a full hour to ask questions, troubleshoot problems, and work out a strategy for your next steps. When you’ve had a chance to dive into your revisions and are eager for notes on the progress you’re making, we’ll have an hour of consultation in reserve for you. You can send a revised passage, schedule a phone call, or both. We just want you to be confident that you’re moving in the right direction.

• Initial consultation to discuss your writing goals and process
• Lightly annotated manuscript
• Three- to five-page editorial letter, including recommendations for development
• One-hour strategy session over phone or Zoom
• One-hour follow-up or line-editing session as you begin your revisions

Comprehensive Critique

Our comprehensive critique service takes our editorial assessment to the next level. With a fully annotated manuscript and an editorial letter that examines your current draft’s challenges in depth, we’ll give you a crash course in writing using your own work as the text. A series of one-on-one consultations before, during, and after your critique will prepare you to make serious progress in your writing practice.

We’ll read and thoroughly annotate your entire manuscript, giving you a window onto your reader’s experience. We’ll leave notes wherever we laugh, cry, jump, or groan. We’ll ask questions wherever they occur to us and let you know where we were confused. We’ll highlight material to consider cutting and point out places that the writing doesn’t serve the reader.

If the notes in the manuscript are the trees, the comprehensive critique letter is the forest. It’s a thorough analysis of how the elements of fiction are handled in this draft. We’ll examine plots and subplots, story world, character development, showing versus telling, mood, tone, and tension, structure, exposition, style, voice, and editing needs.

After you’ve had a chance to process your critique letter and annotations, we’ll meet online or over the phone for a strategy session. You and your editor are both experts on the manuscript at this point, so it’s always an interesting conversation. You’ll have a full hour to ask questions and explore opportunities for improvement.

And when you’ve started your revisions and want reassurance that you’re moving in the right direction, you’ll have up to one more hour of your editor’s time on reserve. You can send a revised passage, schedule a phone call, or both. Our goal is to get you going on your next draft with confidence and a plan. If you want a comprehensive manuscript critique and individualized follow-up that guides you deeper into your craft, this is the critique package for you.

• Initial consultation to discuss your writing goals and process
• Fully annotated manuscript
• Comprehensive editorial letter (8+ single-spaced pages), including recommendations for development
• One-hour strategy session over phone or Zoom
• One-hour follow-up or line-editing session as you begin your revisions

Developmental Editing

Developmental editing is a creative collaboration through the messy middle of the writing process. Some writers get stuck here for years, but it’s our favorite part of revision. If you want a guide through the gnarly wilds of your work in progress, this is the one for you.

We’ll start with a conversation about your goals and your project’s history. If you’ve had an editorial assessment with us, we’ll review your recommendations for development and talk about how things have gone since then.

For each deadline, you’ll submit 5,000 words (20 pages) of your work in progress to your editor. Your editor will annotate your pages and discuss them with you in a one-hour critique conversation. By the end of the conversation you’ll have clear goals for your revisions and your next deadline on the calendar.

• Initial consultation to discuss your writing goals and process
• Annotated pages and a one-page editorial letter for each 5,000-word submission
• One-hour strategy session and/or line-editing session over phone or Zoom

Line-Editing Sessions

Whereas copyediting aims to make a piece of writing clear, correct, and consistent, line editing goes deeper, seeking to improve the flow, rhythm, and style of the work. This is where the magic happens and your writing improves.

Our line-editing sessions create space for exploring what’s happening on the sentence level in your work. What would happen if you broke the line here, rather than there? What is this word really getting at? Is it effective to use imprecise language here? Did you mean to use variations of this verb three dozen times in your story?

If you’re interested in taking a deep dive into improving the sound, flow, sense, and rhythm of your writing, this is a great way to learn. There’s no need to have a complete draft or to be anywhere near making a plan for publication. All you need is a desire to deepen your understanding of how your words are working on the page.

Read more about line editing here.

• Initial consultation to discuss your writing goals and process
• One-hour line-editing session over Zoom

Copyediting & Proofreading

(also known as Mechanical Editing)

When we accept a manuscript for copyediting, you will have the full attention of two expert editors. One of us will complete the first pass and the other will do the second. Together, your two editors will resolve queries and collaborate on more complex questions.

We’ll write a brief editorial letter with instructions for reviewing the edited manuscript, then send the manuscript, editorial letter, and style sheet to you, along with an invitation to schedule a follow-up strategy session.

When you’re finished reviewing our edits, you’ll send the manuscript back for post-editing cleanup. During this final and vital part of the process, we’ll incorporate your changes, answer your questions, and make new suggestions if appropriate. We will exchange the manuscript as many times as necessary until it is free of comments and tracked changes and is exactly the way you want it.

Although our post-editing cleanup service is indispensable, we bill separately for it as a disincentive to rewrite your book after it has been fully and professionally copyedited. We are happy to take the time to help you understand our revisions and will follow your lead to give your book the final polish that makes your story shine.

• Initial consultation to discuss the manuscript’s needs
• Fully copyedited and proofread manuscript
• Brief editorial letter with instructions for reviewing our changes
• One-hour follow-up or line-editing session as you begin your revisions
• Post-editing cleanup billed separately by the hour

Read more about copyediting and proofreading here.

Request a free consultation now.