This is my core service menu, but if you need something that isn't listed here, please Contact me so we can discuss your project. If you're looking for a service that I can't provide, I might be able to recommend someone else for you!
Online Courses
The Six Foundational Elements of Romance Fiction
Master the structural elements of character-driven fiction to write romance novels that readers love. This self-paced online course includes plenty of examples from popular movies, three film analyses, and even a recorded plotting call with an author to help you understand how the six elements work to build a romance story.
10 Editing Hacks
This free mini-course puts self-editing tasks into a simple list format. Follow these ten steps before you send your manuscript to beta readers or submit to agents and editors.
Online Courses
The Six Foundational Elements of Romance Fiction
Master the structural elements of character-driven fiction to write romance novels that readers love. This self-paced online course includes plenty of examples from popular movies, three film analyses, and even a recorded plotting call with an author to help you understand how the six elements work to build a romance story.
10 Editing Hacks
This free mini-course puts self-editing tasks into a simple list format. Follow these ten steps before you send your manuscript to beta readers or submit to agents and editors.
Coaching and Business Services
I offer coaching, business services and project management on an hourly or project basis. If you want to brainstorm a plot idea to ensure your story is hitting all the required beats, let's get on a call together. Are you an author who needs external motivation or nudging to stay on task? We can discuss what methods fit you and we'll schedule regular check-ins to help you maintain momentum. And if something about your work process isn't, well, working I can offer lots of other productivity tools and techniques until we find one that matches your needs.
Coaching is $150/hour, but if you prefer a longer call, you'll be charged according to the length of our call. Book now!
Co-Working Sessions and The HEA Club
I offer weekly co-working sessions that are great for providing you dedicated time to write or revise or even schedule your social media posts for the month. I also have the pleasure of hosting a supportive group of romance writers whose experience spans from pre-published to experienced authors. Along with the co-working sessions, we have monthly roundtable discussions on a wide range of topics, presentations from industry professionals, a private Facebook group, critique opportunities, and so much more. You can see all the details here.
Developmental / Content / Substantive Editing (this one has a lot of names)
In a developmental or content edit, I look at your story as a whole and make suggestions on issues like structure, character arc, showing and telling, point of view (POV), internal and external conflict, plot holes or unresolved story lines, and pacing. I'll make comments on the manuscript itself with specific notes and also send you an editorial letter that details some of the bigger or more general points that should be addressed along with explanations, examples, and links to other resources as appropriate.
Real talk, kids: If you're a new author, you likely need a developmental edit. I am 99% sure of that. Multi-published indie authors continue to partner with developmental editors for a reason. Without a deep understanding of romance and story structure, it's nearly impossible to analyze your own writing and know which aspects of the story may still need some work.
$0.012/word (up to 100,000 words)
First, I will listen to your manuscript in audio then complete one thorough read of your story and offer suggestions within the document as well as in an editorial letter. I'm available if you have questions or would like to discuss changes after receiving my input.
Please note that my developmental editing experience has been mainly with romance fiction, so that is my strength. If you'd like me to work on a different genre, I'll be happy to discuss it with you, but I may end up recommending that you work with another editor who would be a better match for your book's needs.
Line Editing (also sometimes called substantive, just to confuse matters)
Line edits are where I do my most detailed work. At this point, your story structure should be set and it's time to dig into things like dialogue, scene pacing, tone, chapter hooks, and story details. I'll also review your writing for word choice, overuse of adverbs or fillers, clunky or confusing passages, and bad habits like repetition of words or sentence structure.
$0.015-$0.025/word (up to 100,000 words)
I'll request a sample of pages from the middle of the manuscript to determine the depth of work involved in the line edit. All edits are made within the document.
Copy Editing
Copy edits (or copyedits) are a detailed and technical check of grammar, syntax, and spelling, and may also include research and fact-checking. I work with a couple other editors for copy edits, so please be aware that if you book with me as a company, it may not be me as an editor actually working on your manuscript. I'll be very clear about that in our communication.
$0.009/word (up to 100,000 words)
All edits are made within the document.
Proofreading
This is the final-final-FINAL step before you're ready to publish your book or submit the manuscript to an editor or agent. By this point, at least one other person (and maybe three or ten!) has read through the work to help you craft the best story possible and correct grammar and spelling mistakes. One last set of fresh eyes is recommended to catch those little tiny errors that everyone else skipped over - double spacing after a period, a missing word, or unintentionally going from CHAPTER TEN to CHAPTER TWELVE in your numbering.
$0.009/word (up to 100,000 words)
All edits will be made within the document. As with copy editing mentioned above, I work with other editors on proofreading, so I may not be the one actually proofreading your document, but you'll still communicate with me about the project.
Note: You'll notice that a proofread is the same price as a copy edit. There're two reasons for that.
1. We read the manuscript just as closely and spend the same time and effort in a CE as we do in a proof.
2. I'm terrible at boundaries and if I notice issues that should have been caught in the copy edit, I'll still point them out for you.
Submission Guidelines and Process
I offer coaching, business services and project management on an hourly or project basis. If you want to brainstorm a plot idea to ensure your story is hitting all the required beats, let's get on a call together. Are you an author who needs external motivation or nudging to stay on task? We can discuss what methods fit you and we'll schedule regular check-ins to help you maintain momentum. And if something about your work process isn't, well, working I can offer lots of other productivity tools and techniques until we find one that matches your needs.
Coaching is $150/hour, but if you prefer a longer call, you'll be charged according to the length of our call. Book now!
Co-Working Sessions and The HEA Club
I offer weekly co-working sessions that are great for providing you dedicated time to write or revise or even schedule your social media posts for the month. I also have the pleasure of hosting a supportive group of romance writers whose experience spans from pre-published to experienced authors. Along with the co-working sessions, we have monthly roundtable discussions on a wide range of topics, presentations from industry professionals, a private Facebook group, critique opportunities, and so much more. You can see all the details here.
Developmental / Content / Substantive Editing (this one has a lot of names)
In a developmental or content edit, I look at your story as a whole and make suggestions on issues like structure, character arc, showing and telling, point of view (POV), internal and external conflict, plot holes or unresolved story lines, and pacing. I'll make comments on the manuscript itself with specific notes and also send you an editorial letter that details some of the bigger or more general points that should be addressed along with explanations, examples, and links to other resources as appropriate.
Real talk, kids: If you're a new author, you likely need a developmental edit. I am 99% sure of that. Multi-published indie authors continue to partner with developmental editors for a reason. Without a deep understanding of romance and story structure, it's nearly impossible to analyze your own writing and know which aspects of the story may still need some work.
$0.012/word (up to 100,000 words)
First, I will listen to your manuscript in audio then complete one thorough read of your story and offer suggestions within the document as well as in an editorial letter. I'm available if you have questions or would like to discuss changes after receiving my input.
Please note that my developmental editing experience has been mainly with romance fiction, so that is my strength. If you'd like me to work on a different genre, I'll be happy to discuss it with you, but I may end up recommending that you work with another editor who would be a better match for your book's needs.
Line Editing (also sometimes called substantive, just to confuse matters)
Line edits are where I do my most detailed work. At this point, your story structure should be set and it's time to dig into things like dialogue, scene pacing, tone, chapter hooks, and story details. I'll also review your writing for word choice, overuse of adverbs or fillers, clunky or confusing passages, and bad habits like repetition of words or sentence structure.
$0.015-$0.025/word (up to 100,000 words)
I'll request a sample of pages from the middle of the manuscript to determine the depth of work involved in the line edit. All edits are made within the document.
Copy Editing
Copy edits (or copyedits) are a detailed and technical check of grammar, syntax, and spelling, and may also include research and fact-checking. I work with a couple other editors for copy edits, so please be aware that if you book with me as a company, it may not be me as an editor actually working on your manuscript. I'll be very clear about that in our communication.
$0.009/word (up to 100,000 words)
All edits are made within the document.
Proofreading
This is the final-final-FINAL step before you're ready to publish your book or submit the manuscript to an editor or agent. By this point, at least one other person (and maybe three or ten!) has read through the work to help you craft the best story possible and correct grammar and spelling mistakes. One last set of fresh eyes is recommended to catch those little tiny errors that everyone else skipped over - double spacing after a period, a missing word, or unintentionally going from CHAPTER TEN to CHAPTER TWELVE in your numbering.
$0.009/word (up to 100,000 words)
All edits will be made within the document. As with copy editing mentioned above, I work with other editors on proofreading, so I may not be the one actually proofreading your document, but you'll still communicate with me about the project.
Note: You'll notice that a proofread is the same price as a copy edit. There're two reasons for that.
1. We read the manuscript just as closely and spend the same time and effort in a CE as we do in a proof.
2. I'm terrible at boundaries and if I notice issues that should have been caught in the copy edit, I'll still point them out for you.
Submission Guidelines and Process
- Use the Contact page to email me - ask questions, reserve a date, etc.
- A $150 nonrefundable deposit is required to hold specific dates on my project calendar.
- $150 is the minimum charge for any project.
- I will send you an agreement to review and digitally sign.
- All manuscript submissions should be in Word document format. I will use Track Changes and Comments to edit within the document.
- I will invoice for the balance of your edit cost (minus the deposit) the day I start work on your manuscript.
- Payment must be made in full before I return the manuscript.
- If you are not able to send me the manuscript by the date you have reserved, I will do my best to work you in around other projects, but I cannot guarantee I will finish your edit by the date I originally quoted if you submit late.
The Team
Me
Senior Editor Though I'm happy to work across romance sub-genres, I especially love snark, made-up words, and classic tropes tossed on their heads. If you have a billionaire CEO heroine (hey there, Lucy Score!) or a military hero who isn't a Navy SEAL (what's up, Jessica Scott!), hit a sister up! I adore seeing a heroine who saves the day and the hero who finds her competence sexy. |
Arrow
Chief Shedder and Editing Assistant Arrow particularly enjoys long walks, cheese, and throat scritchies. If you ever receive a Track Changes edit from me that shows correct grammar, then something like 5y0;sjdb, then a correction back to the original phrase, that's Arrow helping me edit. She's kinda terrible at it. Enthusiastic but terrible. |
Carlos
Director (remote), Snacks and Naps Snacks and naps. It's all right there in the title. Add in belly rubs, and you've got a happy #editorcat. Carlos has moved in with copy editor Theresa and Arrow misses him terribly! Carlos does not miss Arrow at all. Nor does he miss me. When I visit, he hisses and hides :D He's very happy as a remote employee now. |
Resources & Affiliations
Chicago Manual of Style
Merriam-Webster
Editorial Freelancers Association
Romance Writers of America
Washington Romance Writers
RomVets
Merriam-Webster
Editorial Freelancers Association
Romance Writers of America
Washington Romance Writers
RomVets
