Copyediting and Proofreading

What You Need

You have written, rewritten, and rewritten a compelling manuscript. You’re nearly finished! You’ve reread your material multiple times, but you want it to be as flawless as possible before it’s posted, printed, published, or shared. In the final stages of polishing a professional piece of writing, misspelled words, misused commas, semicolons, and em dashes, run-on sentences, overemployment of “just” and “that,” misplaced modifiers, and incorrect subject-verb agreement are some of the seemingly minute problems that may discourage readers, especially for a self-published book project. Every adept writer needs a scrupulous copyeditor and proofreader to double-check a style guide and ensure all errors are caught. Let a painstaking perfectionist assist.

How It Works

We will start with a complimentary fifteen-minute phone call or Zoom consultation to discuss your project, including word count and intentions for the finished work. Your project can be any length and most genres.

Once we agree to a proposal, fee schedule, and time frame, I will read your manuscript twice and provide detailed, suggested changes using Track Changes/Comments in Microsoft Word. For full manuscripts, I will follow The Chicago Manual of Style version 18 and Merriam-Webster Dictionary online, in addition to any specific style requests your text requires. I will provide two completed files: one clean Word document with all changes incorporated and one Word document with changes visible. (If we are working in a PDF file, I will provide one file with visible changes.) When copyediting a full manuscript, I can create a comprehensive style sheet for your specific project to share with a proofreader if necessary.

If you have already worked with a copyeditor and need a fresh set of eyes to cross all the Ts, dot all the Is, fix any formatting issues, misspellings, etc., I will quote the material as a proofreader.

Rates

Rates vary according to the scope and size of each project. I will provide an individualized quote and negotiate a rate based on your needs after seeing a representative sample of your unique project (at least 3,000 to 5,000 words for full manuscripts). We will discuss the parameters and agree to terms that meet your goals.

Additional Information

All submissions should be provided via email in Microsoft Word double-spaced in a standard size-12 font such as Times New Roman. (Accommodations can be made if you work in Google Docs.)

A standard manuscript page is about 250 words. To calculate your project’s page count, visit wordstopages.com.