Commissions

Where to start

Please complete the contact form. I shall get back to you as soon as possible and we can discuss your book and whether my next available editing slot would be suitable for you. If at that stage we think we can work together I’ll correct the first 2,000 words of your MS for you to assess my skills and decide if you want to pursue the arrangement; I work in Word with track changes so that you can see what I’ve done. If you like what you see we can agree the fee. I charge a base rate £4 per thousand words, negotiable within certain parameters. I require advance payment via PayPal of 50% of the fee, the balance due within 28 days of receipt of the final files.

Line editing and proof reading

I will do the line editing and proof reading then send you the file for your approval. If it’s a long book I’ll do it in blocks of 5-10 chapters so that you can stay involved in the process on a regular basis. Corrections will be for grammar, spelling, punctuation and minor alterations to improve flow, fill small plot holes and achieve consistency. I will contact you about factual errors I come across, but it is your responsibility to do your research.

I use Word’s track changes and will send you two files, one with the tracked changes so that you can see what I have done, and one ‘all edits accepted’ file ie with all the changes incorporated. The former will include short comments pertinent to the text. Longer comments/discussions will be by email. The purpose of the ‘edits accepted’ file is not to suggest that you must agree to all my suggested changes, but to give you a copy that you can read easily to assess if you think my changes are ones you want to accept. You will be able to go through the tracked changes file, choosing which changes to accept and which to reject, or just accept them all; it’s your work, you decide. If you are not sure why I have made certain corrections we can talk about them. If you’ve never used track changes I shall send you instructions; it’s a very simple but very powerful system.

Formatting

Formatting is included in the price. Once you are happy with your edited file send it back to me for this final stage. I will remove all the hidden stuff that will be in your Word file from all the corrections and amendments we will have subjected it to. I will format a ‘clean’ copy to doc, epub and pdf formats for eBook and print-on-demand publishing.