Editing and proofreading services

• Proof-editing for indie authors
• Line editing and copy editing for indie authors
• Traditional proofreading

Proof-editing for indie authors

You’ve written your novel. You’ve revised it and revisited it and have made improvements along the way. You’ve sent it to your beta reader, your friend, the woman from your creative writing group, and have made a few tweaks here and there as a result. So, what now? Are you ready to hit publish? Not quite yet.

When you’re as close to your novel as you are, it’s easy to read what you think is there rather than what’s actually there. Give your book the best chance of success by having it professionally proof-edited. Think of your reader and give them a frictionless experience. You don’t want anything to jolt them out of your story.

These are the services I provide as part of proof-editing. I will edit your manuscript using Track Changes on Microsoft Word. The edit includes the items checked below:

Correcting spelling errors and typos	✔
Correcting punctuation errors	✔
Correcting inconsistency in the spelling of proper nouns (people, places, etc.)	✔
Correcting inconsistency in the styling of numbers, abbreviations, speech punctuation, etc.	✔
Correcting inconsistency in the use of hyphenation	✔
Correcting bad word breaks	X
Checking chapter titles and page numbers against contents page	✔
Checking for missing text	✔
Checking for repeated text	✔
Raising a query for anything that jumps out as needing the author’s attention, i.e. where something seems wrong but could be a deliberate style choice by the author	✔
Making minor sentence edits for clarity	✔
Ensuring document formatting is consistent	✔
Reordering sentences or paragraphs	X
Checking the 1) timeline, 2) character descriptions and 3) geography for sense and consistency	X

A short sample edit will not only allow me to quote accurately, it will also ensure we are the right fit. It’ll allow us to tweak the process and open up channels of communication to give our editor–author relationship and, ultimately, your book, the best chance of success.

Proof-editing fee: depending on the level of intervention, between £28.65 and £32 per hour. (Approx. 34–38 USD)

On average, it usually works out as somewhere between £11 and £16 per 1000 words. (Approx. 13–20 USD)

So, a ball-park figure for a 50,000-word novel would be £550–£800. (Approx. 650–1,000 USD)

You will know the cost of your project up front.

Proofreading	£28.65
Copy editing	£33.30
Substantial editing, rewriting, development editing	£38.30

There is a minimum fee of £50 (approx. 60 USD) for any proof-editing project.

This service is wide-ranging and includes the processes checked below. I will edit your manuscript using Track Changes on Microsoft Word:

Correcting spelling errors and typos	✔
Correcting punctuation errors	✔
Correcting inconsistency in the spelling of proper nouns (people, places, etc.)	✔
Correcting inconsistency in the styling of numbers, abbreviations, speech punctuation, etc.	✔
Correcting inconsistency in the use of hyphenation	✔
Correcting bad word breaks	X
Checking chapter titles and page numbers against contents page	✔
Checking for missing text	✔
Checking for repeated text	✔
Raising a query for anything that jumps out as needing the author’s attention, i.e. where something seems wrong but could be a deliberate style choice by the author	✔
Making targeted stylistic refinements	✔
Making sentence edits for clarity and flow	✔
Ensuring document formatting is consistent	✔
Targeted suggestions for potential reordering or deletion of sentences and paragraphs	✔
Checking the 1) timeline, 2) character descriptions and 3) geography for sense and consistency	✔
Targeted suggestions for fixing POV slips	✔

I will also create a style sheet. This details all the style decisions you have used in your book: whether that’s using Oxford commas, or not; spacing your en/em dashes, or not; writing numbers as words, or not. It includes an overview of characters and places so there are no slips, like an Italian restaurant suddenly having a different name in chapter 13; like Rachel suddenly becoming Rachael in chapter 9, or having blue eyes then brown. Think of this as your style bible. You can refer to it for any sequels, prequels or other writing you do in the same world.

To work out an accurate quote for your manuscript as a whole, I offer a short sample edit.

Line editing and copy editing fee: depending on the level of intervention, between £33.30 and £37 per hour. (Approx. 40–45 USD)

On average, it usually works out as somewhere between £14 and £17 per 1000 words. (17–20 USD)

So, a ball-park figure for a 50,000-word novel would be £700–£850. (850–1,000 USD)

You will know the cost of your project up front.

There is a minimum fee of £50 (approx. 60 USD) for any line editing and copy editing project.

Traditional proofreading

Proofreading is the final stage of a book’s journey from concept to publication.

In traditional publishing, I assume the book has already been copy edited and has already been typeset.

So, I know a traditional publisher will not want me to make any direct changes into the manuscript.

Proofreading is the final quality check. If I see anything amiss, I will mark up the text using either BSI symbols or clear notes in the margin, depending on the publisher’s instructions. This can be done electronically or by hand.

The marked-up text is then returned to the typesetter who corrects the errors.

And, voilà, there you have it: a manuscript ready to hit the shelves.

These are the services I provide as part of proofreading. Your manuscript will be marked up using PDF tools. A proofread includes the processes checked below:

Flagging and correcting spelling errors and typos	✔
Flagging and correcting punctuation errors	✔
Flagging and correcting inconsistency in the spelling of proper nouns (people, places, etc.)	✔
Flagging and correcting bad word breaks	✔
Checking chapter titles against contents page	✔
Checking page numbers	✔
Checking for missing text	✔
Checking for repeated text	✔
Checking captions and annotations	✔
Raising a query for anything that jumps out as needing the author’s attention, i.e. where something seems wrong but could be a deliberate style choice by the author	✔
Rewording sentences	X
Reordering sentences or paragraphs	X
Checking the 1) timeline, 2) character descriptions and 3) geography for sense and consistency	X

Proofreading fee: depending on the level of intervention, between £28.65 and £30 per hour. (Approx. 34–36 USD)

On average, it usually works out as somewhere between £11 and £14 per 1000 words. (Approx. 13–17 USD)

So, a ball-park figure for a 50,000-word novel would be £550–£700. (Approx. 650–850 USD)

You will know the cost of your project up-front.

To work out an accurate quote for your manuscript as a whole, I offer a short sample proofread.

There is a minimum fee of £50 (approx. 60 USD) for any proofreading project.