I take on a limited number of editing projects per year. I offer developmental editing (also called “substantive” or “story” editing) and copyediting services for the following types of writing:
- academic writing in the arts, social sciences, and humanities.
- creative non-fiction and memoirs.
- novels (fantasy, speculative fiction, low or no-spice romance [select genres], historical fiction, and inspirational fiction).
Please note: I do not offer line-editing or proofreading services.
Fill out the contact form below to get in touch me. We’ll discuss your project and goals, and see if I’m available and a good fit to work on your project. If you’re not sure what type of editing you need or you want to see if you like my editing style, I’ll ask you to send me the first 10 pages. I’ll respond with sample edits on 2-3 pages, a short summary of my feedback, and recommendations for next steps.
Service Details
Academic developmental editing (substantive editing):
- Description: This is big-picture editing. I’ll focus on helping you clearly communicate your ideas, connect the thesis with support, and refine your structure to help readers follow your argument. My goal is to help you improve overall structure, organization, presentation, and mechanics to match your audience and meet your goals. We’ll also do some sentence and paragraph level work that’s related to this wholistic look at your manuscript.
- When to pick this one: Developmental editing happens after you’ve self-edited your first draft a few times and/or worked with a critique partner. It looks at the document as a whole, and helps you further refine and polish a manuscript that’s already pretty much complete.
- Price: $0.045 per word
Academic copy editing:
- Description: This is more zoomed-in editing. I’ll work with you on clear, concise writing, consistent voice, repeated mistakes, and more. This is not a detailed line edit or proofread, but I will address grammar, spelling, and punctuation patterns that I notice in your writing (note: I do not check or fix documentation).
- When to pick this one: Copyediting happens after developmental editing (or the equivalent level of intensive editing on your own or with a critique partner). Here, we’re looking at paragraph and sentence-level concerns more than how the document works as a whole.
- Price: $0.035 per word
Creative developmental editing (story editing):
- Description: This is big-picture editing for fiction and creative nonfiction. I’ll read through your whole manuscript and offer feedback on character, plot, consistency, theme, story structure, and flow. I’ll work with you to patch up any plot holes, further develop characters, polish dialog, and more. We’ll also work together on how your book fits into your genre and how you want to meet or subvert reader expectations.
- When to pick this one: Developmental editing happens after you’ve self-edited your first draft a few times and/or worked with a critique partner. Here, I look at the story as a whole to help you further refine and polish a manuscript that’s already pretty much complete.
- Price: $0.035 per word
Creative copy editing:
- Description: This is more zoomed-in editing. I’ll work with you on clear, concise writing, consistent voice, avoiding repetition, and polishing up your writing to make the story cohesive and help your authorial voice shine. This is not a detailed line edit or proofread, but I will address grammar, spelling, and punctuation patterns that I notice in your writing.
- When to pick this one: Copyediting happens after developmental editing (or the equivalent level of intensive editing on your own or with a critique partner). Here, we’re looking at paragraph and sentence-level concerns more than how the story works as a whole.
- Price: $0.025 per word
Qualifications and Experience
I have a bachelor’s degree in English from The Ohio State University and a master’s degree in Rhetoric and Writing from the University of Findlay. During my time at Findlay, I worked in the university writing center and coached undergraduate and graduate student writers on a variety of academic projects and a few personal fiction and non-fiction projects. I have also provided freelance editing services to creative writers. I have experience editing master’s theses, PhD dissertations, children’s books, personal memoirs, and fiction.
Like An Anchor 