When Words Matter

What Should We Do Together?

Let's say you've got a great idea. Or even just a glimmer that's tugging at that small spot at the back of your brain. OR you've already started putting pen to paper (or pixels to screen) but you're not 100% sure where you're going. This is when coaching comes in.
Part outlining work. Part sounding board. (Often part therapy session.)
We'll start with what you've got and where you are, and figure out what you need and where you're going.
Billed at an hourly rate.

You made it! You've finished the full first draft (or, more likely, you've finished multiple drafts, but you've finally decided that it's time to put it in someone else's hands). This is when the fun begins.
During a developmental edit, we'll work together through the full manuscript from start to finish. We'll put together a style guide and character profiles and descriptions. And we'll check timelines and story flow.
We'll probably have a few conversations (via email, video call, phone call, etc.) to make sure we're on the same page.
We'll start with all the answers, then find all sorts of questions to figure out as we go along.
Billed at a per-word rate.

Sometime either before or after your line edit, you might realize that you've got some topics in your manuscript that readers might be either drawn to or put off by. They might be the whole reason for the book, or they might be small scenes or character descriptions.
They may seem fine to you (after all, you know exactly what you mean by them), but your beta reader(s) or editor(s) might have called them out.
This is when you bring in a sensitivity reader—someone who is on the lookout for those details and can give you a thumbs-up or thumbs-down on whether or not to keep them in.
My specialties in this area include: Gen X, LGBTQIA+ (specifically cis gay male), and "growing up in a small Midwestern town in the 1980s."
Pricing varies based on length of work.

Congratulations! You've got words on the page. Lots of them. In fact, you've kinda got the whole thing laid out from opening scene to denouement. It's ready... or is it?
I mean... you think you've got something going on, but you know it needs work.
If you're not ready to show it to your friends (let alone start the query process), but you really want to show it to someone, that's when you want a beta reader—an impartial reader who can give you feedback and nudges. Someone who will tell you what's working AND what isn't.
Pricing varies based on length of work.

You made it! (?)
You've gotten through the content edits. You know that everything pretty much works. But is it... right?
During a line edit, we'll get into the nitty gritty of the manuscript. We'll make sure that all of those things from the style guide we created are actually being followed.
There may be fact-checking. There may be "now that I'm reading it, does this make sense?" questions. There may be hair pulling and tooth gnashing (those tend to be rare if the developmental edit went well).
When we're done, you'll be *so close* to the end.
Billed at a per-word rate.

Overall, the manuscript is kinda... done. You've nailed down the weird flyaway moments in the story. The main character's hair is the same color and length throughout. None of the travel requires folding time and space to happen (unless, you know, that's possible in your universe). Now we need to make sure it's cleaned and polished.
In a copy edit, I'll be going through the full manuscript "one last time" to check all of the fiddly things: grammar, punctuation, spelling, and such.
This is the kind of work that's often done in a bit of a vacuum, with headphones on, so that I can focus on the text and nothing but the text. It's fun (sorta), but can be a little intense and grammar-nerd-y.
Billed at a per-word rate.

Depending on the end goal of your manuscript, proofreading is typically the very last thing we'll do. In a perfect world, this happens after the manuscript has been formatted (or "typeset") and is just moments away from being "done."
At this stage, the hope is that we won't be finding any errors, but the formatting process can do very strange things to a document. Spacing gets weird. Punctuation disappears. Graphic elements shift. Proofreaders find all that stuff and alert the designers to fix it.
Billed on a per-word basis.

Most important in non-fiction works (of any length), fact checking is often included as part of the other stages of editing in fiction (depending on what the author and editor agree on).
It can be a great stand-alone option, too!
Billed on a per-word basis.