Affordable Book Editing Services

Editor’s report

A critique is a big-picture assessment of your manuscript and is a recommended first step. You'll get an 8- to 12-page editorial letter similar to an agent’s report that addresses your book's strengths and weaknesses, structure, characterization, genre, marketability, and more. A critique is vital if you are seeking an expert opinion on your work, feedback on what to revise, and guidance on next steps.

If you'd also like margin notes, see Developmental Editing.

Report + margin notes

Developmental editing is a thorough big-picture review and edit of your book that includes a written critique and extensive margin notes. You'll get a detailed editorial letter that addresses the strengths and weaknesses of your book, any structural issues, its marketability, and more, PLUS you'll get extensive feedback and suggestions inserted into the margins of your manuscript. Lots of coaching on craft and examples will be included. You’ll also get a chance to chat with your editor by email, phone, or Skype. This is an excellent choice for every writer.

For an editor's report only, see Manuscript Critique.

Line-by-line edits

Line editing, aka substantive editing, is when we examine your book on the sentence and paragraph level and address awkward or unclear writing, wordiness, redundancies, clichés, weak dialogue, lack of transitions, verb tenses, points of view, and more. This is not a full copyedit, but some errors in grammar and spelling will be corrected. We’ll also point out any remaining big-picture issues. With a line edit, we aim to elevate your writing to an artful level. If you plan to self-publish, your book will need a copyedit prior to publishing it.

If your book requires a substantial rewrite, we can take care of this for you (what we call ghost editing, or book doctoring). Just inquire!

Pre-Publication Polish

Proofreading is the final polish of your book before it’s published and is recommended only for previously copyedited manuscripts. This service ensures that your book has minimal to no errors and is correctly formatted before it’s sold on Amazon, Barnes ’n Noble, Apple Books, Kobo, and in brick-and-mortar bookstores. We proofread Microsoft Word documents, PDFs, printed galleys, and e-book files (EPUB and MOBI).

Comprehensive Editing

This is a comprehensive editing package and the best option if you plan to contact agents and publishers or self-publish and want your book to stand out from the crowd. With this package, you'll get two rounds of editing: a manuscript critique followed by a line edit. In other words, you’ll get extensive big-picture feedback (the macro view) during the first round, then, after you revise your draft and submit it to us, you’ll get line-by-line edits (the micro view).

If you'd also like margin notes, see Developmental Editing.

In this service, we aim to address the following points: