Services / Pricing

How does my editing work?

Send me 1200 words as a Word, Pages or Google Docs file, and I’ll return you a free sample edit and a quote. If you like the sample and agree with the quote, we’ll discuss the timeline for delivery of services and sign a contract. I’ll invoice you for half the fee, and begin the job when I receive your payment.

My edit involves two rounds of amendments and discussion, as you’ll have your own thoughts on the changes suggested. We can do this via email or through comments on the document itself, using Word’s comments and track changes features or the equivalent on Pages. Google Docs is also a platform I like to use, as it’s flexible and collaborative in real time.

Why send a sample edit?

A sample edit lets you see how I work. It also gives me a chance to assess what kind of editing your manuscript requires, and how much work it is likely to involve.

Editorial Services Pricing

Every editing job is different; some manuscripts require more work than others. My quote will take into account factors such as:

Deadlines that are very tight.
Jobs that are unusually complex.
Writing where the author’s native language is not English.
Work that needs highly specialised knowledge.

My rates are:

$45/hour for proofreading.

$55/hour for editing, whether it’s copy-editing, line-editing, or proof-editing.

Depending on the detail of the editing required, you’ll be looking at something like:

$1500–$2850 for up to 50,000 words
$2600–$4500 for up to 90,000 words

I can cap the price on the quote to avoid surprises.

Content Writer Pricing

I can turn your ideas into polished, professional prose. The arts are my specialty, but I am by no means limited to that topic. My rate as a content writer is $85/hour.

What kind of editor do you need?

Editors draw the lines between the different kinds of editing in slightly different places. Here’s how I’ll make your writing flow smoothly and professionally:

Proofread

This is your most ground-level edit, which finds missing punctuation, wonky grammar, spelling errors and typos. It checks for consistency in the way names and numbers are spelled. Proofreading formats dialogue to make written speech clear. It also smooths out visual elements by making indents, line spacing, fonts, headings, and italics consistent.

Copy-edit

A copy-edit checks the logic of sentences and makes sure the writing says what you intend it to say. For instance, “The male Kiwi eats roots and leaves,” is not the same as, “The male Kiwi eats, roots, and leaves.”

Both of those make sense, but presumably you mean one, not the other.

For copy-editing, I read for clarity and accuracy. I look for unnecessary repetition, timelines that don’t add up, and unexplained appearances or disappearances. Copy-editing checks facts and figures, and ensures that things and characters maintain consistency. I query places where the action and intention are unclear, and suggest word choices that you might find more effective.

Line-edit
This edit looks at language: does it flow, is it precise, does it have impact? Any cliches or clumsy wording? Are shifts in time or between points of view clearly signalled? Have you got the best words for the effect you want? Line-edits examine the style and impact of each sentence as well as giving an overview of the pace, tone, and logical flow of the whole piece.

For instance, if the romantic heroine’s “shining hair is raddled with red,” I’ll note the pleasant alliteration but I’ll also flag “raddled” for robbing your heroine of her shine. It’s technically correct, meaning both “intertwined, interwoven” and “marked with red (of a sheep)” but its secondary meanings are less ideal: befuddled, drunken, afflicted. As a word geek, my nostrils flare at that, and not in a good way.

Proof-edit

This is an increasingly popular merger of copy-editing, line-editing, and proofreading. It’s also what I do best, as I find the distinctions between types of editing slightly artificial. It’s somewhat restrictive to just fix some aspects of a work while overlooking the rest.

A proof-edit fixes typing, grammar and spelling errors, makes formatting consistent, and also examines word choices, logical consistency, style, language, flow, and other issues of readability.

Proof-editing: A cost-effective choice.

Proof-editing is an all-in-one bundle of edits aimed at making your writing the best it can be in one fell swoop. Well, almost one fell swoop. Once you’ve responded to any kind of editing with your amendments, I’ll want to take another look to make sure no typos or other errors have been introduced as a result.

Substantive Edit:
I am not a substantive or structural editor. However during most edits I will ask for clarification if plot points or scenes aren’t clear to me. You may find my questions intriguing and useful to your writing.

Manuscript Assessment or Creative Writing Feedback?

I don’t give marketing or publishing advice. The New Zealand Society of Authors website lists manuscript assessors that you could approach.

I can give general feedback on a creative writing project. In that role, think of me as a jacked-up beta-reader. That’s useful if you don’t have a community of objective beta-readers, i.e. not friends and family. I’ll comment on where and why your writing is strong and where it’s less effective. For a novel-length manuscript, my eight- to ten-page report outlines how your work strikes the reader, and comes with a generous seasoning of writing tips.

My aim is to leave you challenged and inspired.

My rate for this service is $150 for the first 6000 words and $5 per 1000 words over that.