I’ve been a book reviewer for over five years. I’ve reviewed almost 400 stories for Joyfully Reviewed, RT BOOK Reviews Magazine and most recently and prolifically, Fallen Angel Reviews. There, I’m also an editor for the reviews that come in and am involved in the behind-the-scenes workings of the site. I’ve also provided beta reading for several authors and have done impromptu line editing and content editing as well. My most recent project was to assist in the editing of a translation of the Old Testament for the Eastern Orthodox Church.

WHO NEEDS AN EDITOR?

Are you a self-published author who doesn't have a finely tuned internal editor?

Have you received a contract to be published at a smaller digital publisher where little to no editing is done?

Do you want to be published by a larger digital publisher and/or a NY print publisher but want a leg up on the competition by having a clean manuscript when you send to a potential agent or publisher?


LINE EDITING

Line editing is checking for grammar, punctuation, sentence structure and typos.

This service is invaluable to you as a writer. Many readers are much more savvy than of yesteryear and many are reviewers, either chatting on a review site or on their blog or Facebook.

The more I read, the less tolerant I am to stumbling over grammar errors in stories. They now drive me to distraction to the point of never reading that author again for fear of a repeat performance. If your story isn’t edited well, you may get a reader to read a second work by you. But if they’re having to read through what amounts to a very raw copy that you’ve passed off as a final edition, you may not get their loyalty a third time, no matter how fabulous your story’s concept.

Typical industry rate for Line Editing is anywhere between $0.0025 and $0.003 per word, which is for example, between $62.50 and $75 for a 25k book, etc.

I will read your story at LEAST twice to make sure all errors have been found. For grammar corrections, I don’t often correct grammar in conversation unless it’s so horrid that an average reader would have difficulties understanding what is being said. I would, however, correct spelling and punctuation regardless of what is being read.

For grammar and punctuation, I use the Chicago Manual of Style, 16th edition.


CONTENT EDITING

If you’d like me to do content editing as well, here’s what it entails.

• Your story is important to you! Now is the time to make it important to readers, and to a publisher as well. With so many submissions to publishers, you must give them your best efforts, otherwise it’ll be overlooked. The best-selling authors of today did not submit incredibly raw copies of their work. They made sure it was their best effort. You should too… or don’t be surprised when your story is rejected. A well-edited story does not guarantee a contracted story. But a poorly edited story will almost guarantee failure.
• I’ll make sure characteristics of the plot and of the characters don’t change. For instance, when I beta read for a well-known author, I noticed the character’s parents were one religion at the beginning of the tale, but by the middle they were listed as something else.
• Are there any holes in your story? Inconsistencies in logic? Slow pacing and/or a sagging middle? Does it suspend disbelief?
• Head hopping? Does the scene start in the hero’s head but by the end the reader is inside the heroine’s?
• Overall, does the story work? As a reviewer, I’ll provide to you an overall reviewer’s opinion paragraph.

This process is very time consuming and involves my thorough concentration. I will go through your manuscript with you with comments and feedback until you’re satisfied or three times, whichever is sooner.

Industry rates are anywhere between $0.005 for new editors and $0.0075 for more experienced editors, for just the content editing.

As a beginning freelance editor, I am charging only $0.005 per word for both content and line editing, which makes each editing component $0.0025 per word.

If you're interested, please shoot me an email at denise at denisemcclain dot com. Make sure to include the length of your project and when you're looking for me to edit (not only when you'll give it to me, but when you expect it returned), as I am working on other edits and projects, and need to ensure your time frame satisfaction.