Your Partner in the Author Journey

Hello. The Word Sojourner is a sacred place for authors of all forms of science fiction and fantasy to find a partner for their book journey. Authors with finished manuscripts, just like parents, have to allow for someone to polish and make sure the direction is clear and ready to take on the world.

Authors tell a story, create characters and worlds, research and stretch a story into an experience. The process is arduous and painstaking, and very personal. Being that close to the process makes it hard to step back and look at the bigger picture. That is a part of what an editor does, starting from the bigger picture and down into the weave of characters, events, storylines, research and yes, grammar, spelling, and punctuation. As an editor, I become a partner in the story. Its success becomes just as important to me as it is to you.

My start in the editing world came about in 2017 when I met a charismatic self-published author at a SciFi Convention. He had two novels into a series and was in the midst of a Kickstarter campaign for the third. I gave myself a present because I liked the premise of the series and purchased all three, two in hand and one to come later. As a lifelong reader, it felt a little daring to take that kind of leap of faith. Haven’t we all picked up a book that kind of broke our hearts when we found it to be so much less than it should have been? But there was something about the author that made me want to take the chance.

I read the first two books while waiting for the third, and while I thoroughly enjoyed them, I couldn’t help but want to make them better. I emailed the author and expressed to him what I saw and how it made me want to take a red pen in hand. To my surprise, he offered me the opportunity to do just that with book three. I’ve been doing so ever since.

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Services Offered

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Manuscript Evaluation

Not every manuscript will require all levels of editing. Often I find that a copy edit and/or a proofread are the only items necessary. In order to determine what is or isn’t needed, every manuscript needs an evaluation. The charge is minimal but important to determine the time and level of editing needed.

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Developmental Editing

Developmental issues are the larger story issues such as structure, character and world development, settings and descriptions, point of view, and the general story flow. Consistency is an important structural must. Once the structure is sound, anything can happen and the reader will follow wherever you take them.

Close-up of a red pencil highlighting the phrase "to hte dock" in a printed document with red pen markings.

Copy Editing

Once your manuscript has developmental structure, the next step is copy editing. Think of the process as a series of incremental focuses, starting without magnification and with each following step the focus is drilled down. This stage is devoted to the words themselves. Grammar and sentence structure, spelling, punctuation and the fine tuning.

A printed page with handwritten red annotations and corrections, including words such as 'the', 'shamed', 'died', 'leave', and 'athletes', with a red marker pen placed on the paper.

Proofreading

The final editing item is proofreading. Every suggested change and reworking that happened prior has the chance of leaving behind some little errors. The proof is the final polish prior to publishing. Its purpose is to catch the little things that fell through the changes. The crumbs of spelling errors, incomplete punctuation, and other sneaky glitches that found their way through when we weren’t looking.

Pricing

Pricing for my services are charged at a flat rate based on the total word count of your manuscript. Package rates for two or more services will be discounted rates quoted at the conclusion of the evaluation. Evaluations are not included in package rates, and are required.

Editing work will begin at an agreed upon time once 50% of the payment is made and a contract is signed. The remaining 50% is expected prior to the completed work being returned. No refund is available once work has begun on your manuscript.

Less Than 40,000 Words

Manuscript Evaluation: $80

Developmental Editing: $600

Copy Editing: $280

Proof Reading: $160

Between 40,000 and 100,000 Words

Manuscript Evaluation: $125

Developmental Editing: $1,000

Copy Editing: $600

Proof Reading: $300

More Than 100,000 Words

Manuscript Evaluation: $200

Developmental Editing: $1,500

Copy Editing: $800

Proof Reading: $600