One step closer to your closest reading yet.
Copyediting
Maybe you’re an independent publisher looking for a freelancer who can work within a crunch.
Maybe you’re an author looking to polish your manuscript before sending it out to contests or open calls.
I’m here to make your life easier.
Do you have a house or personal style guide? Fantastic. Otherwise, I will default to the industry standard Chicago Manual of Style. I can also work in AP, APA, and MLA.
You may have time constraints that only allow for a light edit. Or you may want me to really sink my teeth in and help your style and flow. Or you may have a budget. Email me your editing needs and constraints and let’s discuss.
Rates
My base rate is $40/hour for Fiction and Creative Nonfiction (including Memoir). For technical and marketing copyediting, please send an inquiry.
I charge based on time rather than word count to account for differences in complexity. For example, a stylistic and encyclopedic 100,000 word novel will take more work than a 100,000 word light romance beach read, generally speaking.
Feel free to contact me with inquiries.
What is copyediting?
If you’re a publisher, you already know what you want. Feel free to skip this section and put me to work.
If you’re an author, let’s make sure what you want is a copyeditor.
A copyeditor is not:
A developmental editor. A developmental editor helps with big picture items like plot and character development. I work on a smaller scale than that.
A content editor. This is similar to a developmental editor. Content editors work on a more structural level. Again, I work on a smaller scale.
A proofreader (hear me out). I mean this in an industry sense. When you think proofreader, you’re probably thinking someone who checks grammar and spelling. And yes, I do that. When I say proofreader, I mean someone who looks at proofs of a manuscript and checks alignment, margins, and formatting before printing. I do not do that as a copyeditor.
An acquisitions editor, agent, or distributor. Maybe it goes without saying, but I’m not the person who’s going to put your book out into the world. I’m the person who’s going to make sure it doesn’t have any mistakes in it when it is out in the world.
A copyeditor is:
…a proofreader. Or what we normally think of as a proofreader outside of the industry jargon meaning. I check grammar, spelling, usage, italicization, dashes, ellipses, etc.
A fact checker. Would someone really be driving that model of car in that year and in that city? Does that breed of dog really shed that much? Was the moon full on May 7, 1989? (No, it was a waxing crescent.) Let my obsession with veracity and research help you save face.
A general error net. Did you make it rain more than the yearly average in Alamogordo in just one week? I’ll let you know.
A copyeditor can sometimes be:
A stylistic editor. If you want, I’ll make notes on your flow, pet phrases, overused imagery, etc.
A line editor. Not all line editing is copyediting, and not all copyediting is line editing. This goes hand-in-hand with stylistic editing and has to do with flow, consistency, and how comfortable lines feel with each other.