As a writer – and in terms of these services – my speciality lies in the realm of speculative fiction, but I am also open to literary fiction of all genres. I will add that I tend not to work on extreme horror.
I currently provide content edit, copy-edit, proofreading and formatting services. All services are payable via Paypal upon delivery. Details below
Please contact me initially via the Contact page to discuss your project.
Background
Educated to degree level – BA(Hons) Humanities – First Class, my career path has meandered somewhat, with my last ‘normal’ job being a teaching assistant and librarian within a secondary school. During that time, my role developed into a literacy and speech, language, and communications (SLCN) specialist working with special needs teens.
Prior to that I was employed on a professional basis as a Project Manager and Senior Software Author for a technical publications company for several years. This involved writing and taking documents (such as user manuals, technical brochures and system software design documentation) through draft stages to camera-ready copy according to the customer’s own house style and specification requirements. Customers varied from the military to telecommunications to the film industry. These stages also including proofing and editing before being turned over to the quality assurance department.
Content Edit
A full content edit checks your story for structure, readability, pacing, consistency and flow. My method of working at this level is a ‘suggestion-based’ approach which leads to discussion between myself and the author. This stage is very much a two-way conversation and is not dictatorial in any way. An editing stylesheet is also provided.
Prices are based on a ‘first-pass’ only status.
Rate: 0.016/wd UK; 0.02/word USD
Copy-editing
This level of editing incorporates sentence structure, readability and grammar-level study of the work, as well as fact-checking (where necessary). This is also the stage where I apply the style* agreed upon with the author.
*I work to either Chicago Manual of Style rules (usually US-based publishing) or Oxford Hart’s Rules (UK-based).
If a copy-edit has been included in the request as well as content edit, the initial quote will be a guide only. If the developmental edit results in rewriting triggering a much greater wordage, then the copy-edit quote will be applied to the new wordcount. Similarly, if the word count decreases, the copy-edit price will also be reduced. We can agree on a ‘wordcount buffer’ where there will be no change in the prices agreed.
The price includes a second read through of the edited work.
Rate: 0.016/wd UK; 0.02/word USD
Proofreading
This is the final stage which checks for missed typos, layout issues, Table of Contents, page numbering and the like. Proofreading should take place after formatting to incorporate layout issues otherwise these cannot be checked as part of that proofread.
Rate: 0.008/wd UK; 0.01/word USD
Some of the books I’ve edited, copy-edited or proofread (via Brigids Gate Press):
Formatting
Please contact me via the Contact page to discuss your project.
Note that books MUST be at a final clean copy stage for formatting. If changes occur afterwards, these can adversely affect the text layout of the finished document, particularly of the pdf supplied for paperback.
Small changes are often easily absorbed without additional charge but large chunks of text might lead to a further cost.
Please note these rates are for ‘standard’ fiction and poetry books. If ‘extras’ are required, eg footnotes or many images, a higher rate might be applied but all this can be discussed on enquiry.
Print versions are created using Affinity Publisher rather than just converting from Word to pdf. This allows proper typesetting and ensuring pages are aligned at the baseline without widow/orphan issues. It also allows the setting of master pages and tight control of placing of text and illustrations.
The same pdf can generally be used for both paperback and hardback versions of the book. Please indicate where you intend to publish your book when you get in touch so that I can work to the appropriate margins.
Ebooks
Documents are styled in Word to a standard acceptable for creation of a Kindle ebook, an epub version is also generated and both .docx and epub are supplied to the customer. Epubs are also validated prior to delivery.
Books supplied for Kindle are kept to simple formatting as Kindles do not support headers/page numbers and keep to basic fonts, whilst ereaders allow the (human) reader to change font/size affecting the flow of text beyond the control of the formatter in many instances. Epubs do offer some greater scope in this instance, however.
Content – Images and Dividers
Images and dividers supplied by the writer can usually be inserted at no extra charge.
Note that formatting does not normally involve working on the individual pictures themselves, I just insert those provided. I can adjust images if needed, apply filters to achieve a certain effect etc, via Affinity Photo/Designer but that might involve extra charge depending on requirements.
Examples of formatted works:
Rate for .docx, epub, and pdf – all supplied together
Up to 25K words: £40
25K-50K words: £80
50K-100K words: £120
100K+ words: £159
Note that fiction collections and anthologies or poetry collections with special formatting requirements might be subject to a slightly higher charge.
Prices can be negotiated within the ranges indicated above.
Payment is via Paypal on completion of the project.
Charities and those facing economic hardship
When my own circumstances permit, I provide formatting for charity publications, eg anthologies, free of charge. I am also happy to negotiate or waive charges for those in real hardship. Such issues can be discussed on contact.
I operate in the belief that people will not abuse my trust in this respect.