FAQs
- What should the customer know about your pricing (e.g., discounts, fees)?
Developmental OR Copy/Line Editing OR Proofreading 1-50 pages / Up to 12,500 words $150 flat fee 51-100 pages / Up to 25,000 words $275 flat fee 101-150 pages/ Up to 37,500 words $399 flat fee 151-200 pages/ Up to 50,000 words $475 flat fee 201-250 pages/ Up to 62,500 words $599 flat fee You may choose either Developmental Editing, Copy/Line Editing of Proofreading. Or you may have all three done at the same time. The majority of my clients chose that option. Please contact me for details on pricing for that option. (Did you catch the proofing error in this paragraph? lol...)
- What is your typical process for working with a new customer?
To begin now, prepare your pages. Make sure they are with standard margins, double-spaced, numbered, done in a regular font at 12 point. Save this as a word.dox file. Once I'm hired, you'll send the pages by email or snail mail along with payment done either by check or Paypal. For a full manuscript (up to 600 pages) where I am doing Developmental and Copy Editing and Proofreading all at the same time, I schedule a month. When I am hired just as a Developmental Editor or Copy Editor or Proofreader I take a few days to a week depending on the length of the manuscript. Very small projects can be done in a day or two. For a quick definition of terms: Developmental is overall structure, plot, story, characters, length, ending. Is the work compelling? etc. Copy/Line editing is grammar, paragraphs, word choice, set up on the page, chapter breaks, redundancies, etc. Proofreading is spelling, grammar, usage, etc. Some clients want coaching, structure, deadlines, exercises as they prepare their submission for me. If that is your situation, then we would schedule phone or in-person meetings which will include live editing, suggested assignments, and so forth. Phone/In-person sessions are $150/hr., scheduled in 2 hour blocks of time, though some writers prefer 3 hours. These are scheduled to fit the writer's lifestyle, deadlines and finances. In a 2 hour session we typically of over 20-25 pages. We meet in the Financial District of SF, close to BART or by phone, or both.
- What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
I learned to edit by being edited in the harrowing yet brilliant advanced writing workshop conducted by Kate Braverman. I further learned by being in creative writing summer workshops with Frank Bidart and Marilynne Robinson. I hope these names are familiar to you as they are brilliant! I learned how to critique by doing it, by receiving it on my own pages, and by being mentored by some of the most important writers in the US. I continue to learn because I continue to write. I am in a peer group where we edit each other's work. This is an astonishing group including Garth Greenwell who was this year nominated for the PEN/Faulkner and long-listed for the National Book Award. I know every word of his novel and he knows mine. Also in my peer group are Janet Fitch, David Francis, Ilya Kaminsky, Josh Miller and Sam Dunn. We all need feedback! This never stops. We are blind to our own work even as we get better and better at writing and self-editing. The goal is to get the best feedback possible, from writers you think are better than you are. That is what I do! And think you maybe should too!