Copyeditor for hire - let me help you make your book awesome.
Okay, here's the deal. I am running a freelance editorial business called Ronin Revisional Services, as I've seen lately that the number of people wanting to successfully self-publish their own novels and books is pretty high.
Unfortunately, the number of badly-edited self-published novels and books is also pretty high, which a) hurts self-publishing as an institution by degrading its quality as a whole, and b) does not help you sell the book that you are shedding your blood, sweat, and tears to finish. As much as you love doing it for the sake of the craft, I bet you wouldn't mind selling a few copies while you're at it.
Also, lots of authors who are looking to be traditionally published could also benefit from a scrub before submission to literary agents and traditional publishing houses - competition is cutthroat out there. The cleaner your manuscript is, the better your chances are of breaking in.
Who am I? I'm a published freelance writer (BA in English Literature with a cognate in Technical Editing/Writing) who really, really loves well-written books. My current day-job is as a professional editor and ghostwriter, but I am also a novelist and short story writer. I've been editing manuscripts, both fiction and nonfiction, for about nine years. I was on the editorial staff of two separate literary magazines in college (gatekeeper of the dreaded slush pile). Words are to me what air is to other people. I'm able to provide both a full resume and personal writing/editorial samples.
So what am I offering? A complete copyedit/proofread of your work in progress for grammar and content, both a "redline" copy (with comments/suggested changes) and a finalized "edit" copy (which allows you to see the changes in place, and to see how they would affect the final look of the manuscript). Some authors prefer to only see redlines, and that's cool too, as it will make your edit 50% faster. These edits would be returned to you in a .doc format (can probably offer most other formats upon request). I have experience with editing fiction, academic documents, and technical documents. If you want to kick around plot ideas and whatnot for a work in progress, we can do that. I like the editor/author relationship to be very friendly and in the spirit of collaboration for a better finished product.
What does it cost? Here's how it breaks down. As a freelancer, I charge $30 an hour, at 10 pages an hour (10 pages = 4,000 words). So, for example, if you have a 30-page, 12,000 word manuscript you need edited, it's going to cost $90. Payment expected upon delivery.
I am currently doing free five-page (2,000 word) line edits "on spec" (one per author) in order for writers to see what kind of assistance I'm able to offer them. If you like what I do, we can then arrange for me to edit the rest of whatever you've got. The only caveat is that I get to use partial redlines as examples to build my editorial portfolio (you retain all rights to the content of course).
Note: The 2,000 word count for the spec edit is approximate - if you have a full chapter that is roughly that long (give or take), I will be happy to edit the entire thing. I'm not going to just stop mid-sentence or anything.
How do you pay? Paypal or Amazon Payments. I'm also looking into getting set up with WePay.
Please PM me to discuss any assignments you may have, or leave questions/comments/concerns below.
Thanks Redditors, and I hope to read your stories soon!
Posted May 17, 2012, 10:07 PM UTC · edited
This sounds win-win, but the Paypal thing is a deal breaker. There are other ways to accept payment, Paypal being the least of those options.
Amazon Payments and Wepay are two alternatives.
Thanks a lot for the suggestion Renieri, I will get to work setting up a payment option for those venues as well. :)
Happy to offer advice that will increase your business, so no thanks necessary. I may be looking for some editing in the next few months- can you pm me a link to some stuff or maybe we can start talking? It'll be a while before I'll need this kind of help (two to three months) but maybe we can see if we are a good fit, which is more important to me than your great rates.
No problem at all - if you give me an email address for you (via PM), I can send you some examples from one of my current projects of a redline and a finalized copy. I've been trained to edit at every level, from light proofreads to heavy developmental edits.
At my current day-job I work at both extremes - two of the authors in my "stable" are extremely skilled, and I barely have to touch their work other than to proofread for typos, and two of them are very poor writers - as such, I have to practically ghostwrite their reports for them.
I can also give you my current resume, though my post-college work experience focuses on technical editing. But my main education and interest is in fiction writing and general literary critique - I specialized in post 9-11 fiction. I just happen to live in an area where there isn't much demand for fiction editors, but a very high demand for editors in research and development. I am actively trying to move back into editing fiction though, since that's my true love and what I actually went to school for. Luckily the Internet is helping to facilitate that. :)
I'm working on a novel about spiritual transcendence, not as creepy or misguided as it sounds. It's a love story, as well as a story about personal salvation that taps lots of unknown questions rather than trying to answer them. Think Edgar Cayce and not Jimmy Swaggart. Anyway, I'm in the final stages of layout, but when I hit that writing stage the pages pour. I'm looking for someone who can get behind my writing, line edit but also make recommendations because they find they are invested in the story. I'll send you the rest in PM.
What's the problem with Paypal? I've never had any problems paying with it, although it may be a different story from the seller's end.
Assets can be seized for any reason and if you link your bank account, they can seize all assets tied to it- and they have done this to a number of people without noticed or explanation. This goes for both sides, seller and client.
Do a quick google search and you'll see the body count Paypal as left in its wake.
Will do. And I think I'll be unlinking my bank account.
If you must use Paypal (and sometimes we must) buy a prepaid Visa card if possible, load it with money and link that.
Well hell, I'd never heard anything about that. I've been using Paypal for a long time (as a buyer, never a seller) and haven't had any issues with them. Should have my Amazon Payments and WePay options set up soon though.