Tag: developmental editing

Featured Service: Paige Duke, Independent Editor

Paige Duke editorYou’ve done the hard work of planning, writing, and revising, and now you’re ready for editing. Trusting your book to someone else can be a daunting prospect. How will you find an editor who will respect your voice and vision, yet still do wonders for your book?

I’m Paige Duke, an independent editor, and I’d love to take a look at your book. We all know that grammatical errors and inconsistencies in a manuscript can undermine an author’s credibility and turn readers off to a great story. So, I enjoy working with authors to help them create polished and professional books that stand out in the market. Not only do I work hard to get a book’s grammar and punctuation in great shape, I edit for consistent style conventions so that your manuscript meets industry standards. Here are just a few tips to give you an idea of the kinds of style issues I look for: Continue reading “Featured Service: Paige Duke, Independent Editor”

A Holistic Description of the Editing Process

cutting up a manuscriptBeta read, proof-read, copy edit, line edit, stylistic edit, substantive edit, aunt Mary’s read-through: you name it. Ask just about anybody what the different types of editors are called, and they’ll give you a different answer. And why should we care? We can’t afford them anyway.

Knowledge of these various functions can be applied to our own self-editing process and make us better writers. So… we can’t afford four different editors. We should be sitting ourselves down at various stages of the writing process and making certain decisions, whether we have help or not. Continue reading “A Holistic Description of the Editing Process”

Is a Developmental Editor Right for You?

editingAccording to Big Al’s Publishing Process Survey, only 45 of the 85 respondents paid to work with an editor, although another 17 traded services. There are a number of reasons, ranging from the artistic to the monetary, for deciding not to work with an editor. I’ve taken the other path and worked with at least one editor on every project I’ve published. It’s my single biggest publishing expense on each book, which, given my propensity for thrift, shows how much I value my editors’ feedback.

When writers do choose to employ a professional editor, they normally do it at the end of the process, either working with a copy editor or a proofreader. I do that as well, but I also work with a developmental editor often before I type the first words. I’ve talked about this with enough fellow writers to realize I probably lost a few of you right there:  The process of creation is sacrosanct. I just want an editor to clean up my grammar and look for a few bad habits. I don’t want them to interfere with my creative vision. Continue reading “Is a Developmental Editor Right for You?”

Featured Service: Bookside Manner Editing and Proofreading Services

Bookside Manner Editing ServiceYou’ve worked hard on your novel. You’ve written and revised. You’ve gotten feedback from your beta readers. Now it’s time to give it that final polish.

I’m Kelly Cozy, founder of Bookside Manner Editing Services. I provide line editing, copyediting, and proofreading for all genres of fiction, and for select nonfiction categories. I’ve been an editor for more than 20 years, and hold degrees in English (creative writing) and journalism from the University of Missouri at Columbia. Let me put my expertise to work for your book.

Editing is one of the most crucial steps in publishing. Typos, grammatical errors, or inconsistencies will cause readers to put your book aside — and if these mistakes occur in the first few pages of your book, you may lose sales as well.

I know from experience how important editing is. I’m also a writer, and the author of four independently published novels. I know how much time and effort go into writing a novel, how difficult it is to self-edit your own work, and how important it is that your novel be polished and professional while still retaining your distinctive voice and style.

I also know that writers aren’t made of money, and that’s why I’m offering you a free sample edit. Send me a 2,000-word excerpt from your manuscript — I will line edit, copyedit, or proofread the excerpt and return it to you with edits, changes, and comments. You’ll be able to decide if Bookside Manner’s services are right for you without spending a penny.

Details about services, rates, and qualifications are available at Bookside Manner’s website. Together, we’ll get your novel ready for readers.

What customers are saying about Bookside Manner:

“Not only did Kelly finish her edit a full month and a half before my deadline, but when I got it back my manuscript was dripping with red.  She’d caught every one of my cursed homonym mistakes, reined in all of the wayward punctuation, made innovative and informed suggestions based on an obvious grasp of my characters’ personalities, slashed the superfluous adjectives to ribbons, and trimmed the fat down to the bone. I’d never been so pleased with an edit in all my life. Thanks to her diligent efforts, I was able to easily turn that shabby draft into a clean, polished, and positively resplendent final version. I published this second book with confidence, but also waited to see if there would be any hidden mistakes that Kelly or I had missed.  It’s now been a solid year and no one has mentioned noticing even the slightest typo.”
……………………………– Emily Thompson, Clockwork Twist: Trick

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