Thank you for your interest in my editorial services!
If you'd like to explore having me copyedit or proofread your project, e-mail me the following information:
Your topic: What is the work about? If it's a nonfiction book, include the table of contents. (I primarily work on nonfiction, but occasionally accept fiction projects.) See my Selected Projects and Selected Books pages for some of projects I've worked on; this may give you a sense of whether your project is a good fit for me, and vice versa.
Size: Let me know the size of the work (ideally, the word count, which Microsoft Word can tell you).
Your schedule: I'd like to know your approximate deadline for having the editing completed, to make sure that I will be able to fit your project into my schedule. For book-length projects, it works best if you contact me at least a month or two in advance; smaller projects require less advance notice.
Level/type of edit needed: As a copyeditor and proofreader, I usually work on material that is nearly ready for publication, although I often help writers who need just a little extra assistance to bring their work to that exalted state. If a piece needs major rewriting, reorganization, cutting or adding of material, adjustments in tone or voice, or other larger fixes —
or an overall evaluation to determine if it is publishable or worth going forward —
you may be in need of substantive editing and/or manuscript evaluation, which is outside the scope of what I do. I may be able to recommend another editor, or I may refer you to the Northwest Independent Editors Guild (www.edsguild.org) to find the right editor for your project.
Sample edit: If we determine that your topic, schedule, and level of edit seem to be a good fit for me, e-mail me a few pages. I'll edit or proofread them and e-mail them back to you, along with an estimate of how long I think the whole project will take and approximately how much it will cost. For a copyedit, I'll use the Track Changes feature in Word to make my edits, so you'll be able to see them and accept or reject each one (or accept or reject them all as a whole). For a proofread, I'll mark changes directly on the pages and e-mail them back to you in PDF form.
A note about Web sites: I much prefer to edit Web copy when it is still in Word (before it's placed on your site). This is by far the easiest and most time-efficient (and thus least costly to you) way for me to convey my suggested improvements to you.
Cost: I usually copyedit from 1,000 to 1,500 words an hour. My proofreading speed is roughly double that, assuming the document has been professionally copyedited (if not, it will take longer). I charge $40/hour and up depending on the complexity of the material, the deadline, and other factors.
For book authors, an average 250-page book is usually around 60,000 to 80,000 words, which means a professional copyedit can take 40 to 80 hours; a proofread, half that. It's a substantial investment, but good copyeditors bring a great deal of expertise to the table that can benefit a project enormously.
