My editing rates and information.

I have gotten quite a few requests for a list of my editing prices lately, and it occurs to me that I usually do that in email on request. I am getting tired of copying and pasting for everyone, and I guess I should try to be more professional instead of being that exclusive club that has the long line but is empty inside. Or something. Insert metaphor here.

So here’s the gist of what I usually tell prospective clients.

QUALIFICATIONS: I have a BA in English from the University of Pittsburgh.  I am an experienced high school teacher who has worked with remedial, college track, and ESL students.  I have also taught writing and grammar to children from age 4 and up.  I have done TOEFL and SAT prep, and have been published here and there.  Since 2012, I have been editing freelance and for Storm Moon Press.  And while it’s not quite a professional accolade, I have been heavily involved in fandom writing and editing for decades, where I have organized writing activities for writers and produced a gargantuan oeuvre of the stuff under the name Amand-r (see A03).

RATES: Line edit: 25/hr, Deep edit (structural work and rewrites): 35/hr, Proofing: 15/hr

Standard rate of pace is generally 10-12 pages/hour unless massive trouble is come across. All work is charted in excel for transparency of billable hours. You will receive a copy of this spreadsheet in addition to an invoice from me.

For an example, a 1.5 spaced MS of approx. 90K words and 240 pages took me 28 hours at the line editing rate. The author was ESL, so ze required a more intensive repair. Edits include a paper run-through and a computer run-through. You can have the paper copy mailed to you in addition to the computer file with marked changes. If not, the paper copy is shredded.

TIMING: Length to turnaround: I like to give myself 1.5-2 months for a book. Not because I plan on going crazy, but because I work in unstructured schedules, and sometimes life cuts in. Short stories of course, would take a shorter amount of time, but I tend to prefer that we leave a longer time, and then if I get your MS back to you sooner, we can all breathe happier. Payments, because I understand that an early return can upset fund planning, are not expected earlier. In fact, I can invoice then or at the end of the allotted period. I generally confine myself to a 4-quarter billing cycle.

WHAT I OFFER AND HOW I WORK: I prefer to work within an author’s style, and understand that what is grammatically correct isn’t always a must. I am familiar with and use the Chicago Manual, but also refer to Little Brown and AP when necessary. I am versed in Yahoo style, but mostly for business and web based clients.

I also offer alternate phrasing choices, and I try to explain in comments every single correction I make that is beyond simple typo/punctuation/grammar issues. I welcome feedback or questions after an author receives a MS, and am willing to work with them on issues that have come up (post-editing discussion of editing content is included in your fee). I am not, however, available to read substantial new additions to the MS (10 p or more) for free. I wish I could, but it’s possible to lose hours and hours of billable work that way, depending on the author, who I know is just concerned about their work and may not realize it’s extra.

Things I can do for you: Help you polish your work so that it is the best it can be, or thereabouts.  I can provide insight to your style and any stumbling blocks you might have, particularly over-reliances.

Things I cannot do for you: write your book, alpha read your book, or edit for free.

I have been told that I am straight-forward, and I don’t compliment a great deal, but I do try to point out good things in your MS and why they work. I will laugh at your jokes sometimes so that you know they make sense. But I am concerned with finding issues in your text, so most of what you will get from me is correction and criticism. It doesn’t mean I am soulless. I am just doing what you hired me to do. Let’s get that out of the way now so that when your work is published, your fans can tell you how amazing it is. J

REFERENCES/EXPERIENCE: I don’t like to give out specific references, but I can mention some of the subjects/genres I have read for professionally:

Grad work: Masters Theses in technical science (re: mining, just in case you wonder if I can do technical work) and Literature (standard)

Business work: (PPT decks, PDF files, white papers, etc) one of my clients, LiveWorld, is a mass social media management firm, and I edit the materials /presentations for the marketing dept. I have also edited website content. I can work with templates and styles.

Fiction: Mainly LGBTQ romance and erotica, but genre is not an issue for me. I have several named anthologies with Storm Moon Press (I do not get credit for the novels I have done with them), if you want to see my work. I have also edited solo for several authors in the genre. I am no stranger to romance, porn, kink, etc. I have no trigger warnings, though I am aware of them and can look for them if the author requests.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at amandr at gmail dot com, and I will get back to you as soon as humanly possible.

Thanks.