Editorial Services

dsc_0445If you’re reading this it’s either because you’re curious to know how I can help you with your novel, or you have way too much time on your hands and like clicking buttons. If you’re here because of the novel thing, keep reading. (If you like clicking buttons, feel free to click away. Then consider getting a job as an elevator operator. Seriously, it’s all about the buttons. Just imagine the job satisfaction. Plus, you get to wear a cute uniform. Ask for one with brass buttons. You know why.)

I am offering three editorial services for aspiring (and perspiring) novelists. I don’t have a complex fee schedule and you won’t find any sprawling spreadsheets illustrating all the different ways you can give me your money. My editorial services are for writers who have worked hard on their novels, have written a first draft and a second and maybe a third and have cleaned up grammar and typos and formatting and are ready for an editor’s assistance to take it to the next level.

In other words, this isn’t your rough draft. It’s not a collection of ideas slapped together in search of a point. It’s a complete novel. Maybe not a great one yet, but finished.

Don’t worry. If you’re not sure which editorial service you’re looking for, I’ll help you figure that out.

The first service is a new offering. It’s designed for those of you who are eager for feedback on your book, but aren’t quite ready to commit to a full manuscript edit. With The Blue Pen of Hope, you’ll submit the first 30 pages of your novel (up to 10,000 words) and I’ll go through those pages, making notes and comments and suggested edits in the manuscript (using Track Changes). I’ll also provide a general overview of my thoughts about the book – what works, what needs attention, what the audience might be, and so on. I’ll give you my gut feelings about marketability, too, though you’ll want to take those with a grain of salt. This is a crazy, unpredictable, and subjective business. A book I think is brilliant and lovely might never find a publishing home. And one I’m convinced isn’t ready for prime time might become a bestseller. But hey, at the very least, you’ll have more ideas for your novel and how to make it better. I can promise you that much. The cost? $400. And for that price, you also get a $300 discount on either the Red Pen or Purple Pen, should you decide to hire me for one of those services later (on the same book, of course).

The second service, The Red Pen of Life and Death, is an in-depth analysis of your novel. This service is designed for those of you who are getting good feedback on your novel but still no offer of representation. What you’ll be getting with The Red Pen of Life and Death is exactly what I give authors when a publishing house assigns me as their editor. This is where the typeface hits the page (yeah, lame, but better than “rubber meets the road”). I’ll read your manuscript cover to cover and provide specific editorial suggestions throughout (using the Comment and Track Changes features in Microsoft Word, when possible). I’ll also include editing examples for many of these suggestions. And, I’ll even spend up to an hour on the phone with you to talk in general about the book as well as answer any lingering questions you might have about my notes. Sometimes it’s the little things that make the difference between an interesting, well-written novel and a compelling, must-publish-this-now novel. I’m reasonably skilled at uncovering those little things.

The third service is a Comprehensive Edit (colloquially, The Purple Pen of Publishing Pulchritude) that includes a big picture edit (similar to the Red Pen above), followed by a detailed line edit after you’ve made your changes to the manuscript. This is designed for authors who are intending to self-publish, and want the book to be in the best shape possible before…hiring a copyeditor to make sure it’s even in better shape before hitting publish on Amazon or wherever. See what I did there? I emphasized the importance of hiring a separate copyeditor even after the line edit. Copyeditors are the unsung heroes of publishing. They find things we don’t. But before they get the manuscript, the line edit will make things as clean and neat and lovely as possible. I promise. Oh, and also with the Purple Pen, we’ll chat on the phone or via email or Skype throughout the process as needed. Because editing is a lonely life and I could use a friend. Well, that, and it’s easier to sort out plot and character issues via conversation than smoke signals.

A few notes:

  • The Blue Pen of Hope and The Red Pen of Life and Death are not line edits. I won’t be dotting all the i’s and crossing all the t’s or correcting every grammatical error. As your noveldoctor, I will focus on identifying the bigger issues that need work, then offer a customized prescription to help cure those problems. Oh, you’ll still get plenty of little editing marks (have antacid handy when opening the file) – and I’ll dot some of those i’s and cross some of those t’s as I see them, but this is a macro-edit (or “developmental edit”), not micro-edit.
  • I‘m a kind-hearted editor, but I’m not going to sugar-coat the truth (as I see it). If I think your novel is “beyond saving,” I’ll say so. I’ll do my best to offer direction, but I’m not going to give you false hope if I don’t think your novel has much of a chance finding success in the traditional publishing process. I don’t like this part of my job. But thankfully, I’m only one voice in a choir of editors and book doctors. Perhaps someone else will see something I missed. I hope so. I promise I’ll unabashedly cheer for you when your debut novel eclipses Stephen King’s aggregate sales numbers. I want you to succeed.
  • And here’s my little disclaimer: I can’t guarantee you’ll sign with an agent or get published if you take heed of my editorial suggestions. (Anyone who promises this is lying, drunk, or has photos of a publisher in compromising positions.) But I sure hope you come away from the process feeling like you’ve learned something of value – something that makes you a better writer.
  • NOTE: It’s entirely possible that I might pass on the opportunity to edit your novel, due to available time and/or lack of “connection” with the project. Don’t feel discouraged by this. I just prefer to work with projects that resonate most with my interests. The good news is that I have a wide variety of interests. The bad news is that I still only have 24 hours in a day and some of those are for sleeping/eating cookies.
  • ANOTHER NOTE: I generally don’t work on books that are longer than 150K words. There are exceptions, of course. But don’t be too awfully disappointed if I turn down the opportunity to work on your 500,000 word Apocalyptic Amish Vampire Romance.

So you want to know how much this is going to cost you? (Did you scroll down here before reading the longwinded intro above? Yeah. I would have, too.) Here are the fees. 

The Blue Pen of Hope: $400 [You know this already. I mentioned it above. This is a fixed fee. You also get a virtual coupon worth $300 off either of the following services for the same book, should we agree to work together again in the future.]

The Red Pen of Life and Death: Starting at $1600 [Many projects will qualify for the starting rate, but if your novel is more than 80K words or in need of special attention, the fee will be higher.]

The Purple Pen of Publishing PulchritudeStarting at $2500 [This is based on a word count of no more than 80,000. A longer book will generally incur a larger fee.]

That’s it. Simple, really. For the Blue Pen, the entire fee is due up front. For the Red Pen, half of the fee is due at least a month before the scheduled start date to secure the spot in the queue and hold us both to the deadline fire, and the rest upon delivery of the marked-up manuscript. For the Purple Pen, half of the fee is due at least a month before the scheduled start date, and the other half is divided into two parts, the first of which is due upon the delivery of the first round of edit notes, the second of which isn’t due until I deliver the line-edited manuscript. You can use PayPal (to steve@noveldoctor.com) or send me one of those old paper things they call checks. I’d even consider bacon, but only if it’s really good bacon and I have space in my refrigerator.

Okay, now all you have to do is email me. We’ll figure out the details.

Please note: I do my level best to stick to the agreed-upon schedule, but words and stories are temperamental little beasties. And so is my granddaughter, whom I am caring for full-time these days. Sometimes that schedule gets wonky (and/or shot to hell) and I have to adjust start dates and deadlines. It’s not like I’m trying to delay your project – it’s just that I really invest myself in every project I work on, and sometimes those projects turn out to be much bigger on the inside. (TARDIS reference achieved.)