IS YOUR MANUSCRIPT A TANGLED MESS?
It’s been months of cancelled social engagements and near-solitary confinement. The deadline to submit your manuscript is just a few weeks away.
Now, 100 crisp white pages lay neatly in your lap and you’re full of excitement as you settle down to read.
But after the first few chapters, you frown and wonder, ‘What on earth was I thinking?’
It doesn’t take you long to realise the whole thing isn’t quite up to scratch.
How I can help
You’ve spent months researching your topic and hearing the sound of your writing voice in your head, so it’s virtually impossible for you to remove yourself from your work to see it objectively. That’s how I can help with a developmental edit.
It’s a full critique that admittedly might hurt, but it’s a vital next step if you’re serious about publishing a professionally polished book to industry and market standards.
Developmental EditING
My Developmental Edit is a big-picture edit that helps you strengthen your book idea and/or structure.
It includes everything offered in my Reader’s Report, with the aim of digging deeper, reviewing:
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- Your book idea, style, and structure in relation to your intended readership;
- Your opening/closing ‘hook’;
- The phrasing of sentences and paragraphs to ensure clarity of message;
- Your overall voice and ‘storytelling’ style;
- Language appropriate to your intended readership;
- The main point effectively conveyed in relation to your book’s message;
- Your knowledge/expertise effectively conveyed;
- Any holes, missing arguments, confusing ideas;
- Clichés, stereotypes, mixed metaphors;
- Appropriate sources cited, complete bibliography;
- Inclusive appropriate language;
- Whether you are leaving ideas on the table;
- Whether you need to cull;
- Overall strengths and weaknesses, with suggestions on how to improve flow.
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It will also include:
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- A 45-minute phone or video conference call to discuss the edit/any queries.
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Your developmental edit includes an annotated manuscript and a separate report.
Why might you use this service?
This will suit you if:
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- You have a completed manuscript but feel overwhelmed with too many or conflicting beta reader reports;
- You have an idea for a book and need help to develop and structure your ideas;
- You are halfway through your manuscript but feel stuck and unclear about how to move forward.
Please note that there is no hands-on editing. If you have finished writing your manuscript and need a final sweep through, please see my copyediting service below.
CopyeditING
A copyedit ensures your finished manuscript is as polished as it can be before your publisher sends it off to the typesetter.
This is a thorough, line by line edit to check spelling, grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure.
I will also check, for example, if the table of contents is correct, chapter and/or sub-headings are appropriately placed, footnotes/endnotes correctly indexed, illustrations are captioned, and highlight any other mistakes or ambiguities that may have arisen.
You can expect an annotated manuscript, red lined with comments. It will also include:
- A 45-minute phone or video conference call to discuss the edit/any queries.