You want to improve the story, and need more guidance and constructive criticism

ROUND ONE: We’ll start with a manuscript review and structural edit, with a detailed read-through to identify any major problems, boring parts that need trimming, conclusions that can be made stronger, suggestions for rewrites, plot improvements or problems, focusing on the story arc and structural analysis. We’ll ask lots of questions and provide tips and recommendations. Your editor will be like a personal writing coach. We’ll send an editorial report on the big issues that can be improved, with tons of specific comments to improve your draft. After you’ve rewritten to your satisfaction, we’ll move on to part two.

ROUND TWO: an in-depth, comprehensive, line-edit that includes rewriting sentences, improving word choice, organization, plotting and pacing. We’ll make the dialogue stronger and more believable, the action more tense and nail-biting, and the emotional peaks less melodramatic and cheesy. For non-fiction, we’ll strengthen your argument and make the writing more engaging.

Anything that can’t be easily fixed, we’ll flag or comment as something that could be improved.

The result will be a very clean and much improved manuscript, but with lots of comments and suggestions, which will probably require some rewriting and extra work on your part. Getting back a heavily edited manuscript like this can be challenging, but know that it will drastically improve your writing skills and help you identify your weaknesses. During the revision process, it’s possible to create new consistency issues, which is why we recommend a final proofread or at least some beta-readers to help finalize your manuscript.

$0.04/word.

Not sure what you need? Check out our literary services!

You’re committed to producing a masterpiece, no matter what it takes

ROUND ONE: (Same as in “Extra Bloody”)

ROUND TWO: (Same as in “Extra Bloody”)

ROUND THREE: A final round of proofreading to improve your rewritten or reworked sections, after you’ve had time to reflect on and incorporate our suggestions and comments. We’ll eliminate any remaining typos, errors, or inconsistencies.

This is basically like the “Quick Kill” service – or proofreading on steroids, and again we’ll hack, slash, rewrite, fix, tweak and improve anything we can, but this time we won’t comment on the bigger picture, and we’ll really hone down on the little details, eliminate repetition, trim the writing, and make sure everything is as good as it can be.

If you accepted all of our changes in the last round, but didn’t revise or rewrite any of the issues we flagged, there may not be much for us to do in this round – but it’ll be worth it even if we only catch a handful of typos. $0.06/word.

NEW: Check out our literary services!

Your manuscript is lifeless, but you don’t know where to start…

Due to popular demand, we’re adding a low-cost manuscript review + passive developmental edit to help you find and fix the “cause of death” before you invest in editing or proofreading. You’ll get expert eyes on your manuscript, and while we won’t focus on or fix every little issue, we’ll help you identify the big red flags that are killing your book slowly. These are the places readers will give up and agents will ditch your manuscript into the slush pile. In-depth comments and suggestions will be provided to help you clarify and restructure your book, but this feedback is “hands-off”: we won’t go in and actually make changes, though we will point out signs of weak writing, repetition, and provide tips on how to improve as a writer. If you think your manuscript might be a mess, or you want to focus on the large, important stuff that matters most, this is for you.

$0.01/word.

Need an autopsy? Click here to get started!

FIRST CHAPTER CRITIQUE – HOOK YOUR READERS

Whether they’ve received a free review copy or paid to purchase your book, the majority of readers will only give it 5 pages to hook their interest. If they don’t care about the characters, don’t understand what’s happening, or are turned off by the presentation of material, they’ll put your book down and never pick it up again.

It is critical that your first chapter sucks them in and keeps them reading. There’s no use editing the full book if you lose readers in the first chapter.

We’ve set up a unique “first chapter critique” service which includes up to 5,000 words (which should actually include 2~3 chapters… or a prologue, preface or intro). This will be a deconstructive developmental edit, pointing out exactly where your weaknesses lie and what you can do to make them better, but will not include a full edit or proofread. We will, however, edit your blurb, bio or query, as long as they fit within the 5K word limit.

$297 – one time fee.

Interested in this service? Click here!

GHOSTWRITING SERVICES

Our top-notch editing services will preserve your voice, while improving your writing as much as possible. But sometimes we wish we could just grab the pen and write it for you. True writing mastery can take decades to earn, so even though we can point out flaws and suggest ways to improve, we could still make it better if we had the freedom to rewrite more heavily. Some of our clients wanted more than an editor or writing coach; they wanted a writing partner who could help them get the book over the finish line. And since I also know most ghostwriters are rubbish, I’ve decided to offer these high-level services to help those who need them.

I’m still working on the clever names for these.

Dueling Pistols (cowriting) – $0.12 cents per word.

Includes all our normal levels but with much heavier rewriting and revision, including story development. You can expect roughly 25% of new or rewritten content.

The Big Bang (ghostwriting) – $0.25 cents per word.

You will have an idea, an outline, a collection of post-it notes, yellowing binders of autobiographical anecdotes, rough scenes or sections or blog posts, or recorded videos talking through your ideas. We’ll help you develop it, organize it and write it. We’ll even include a book cover that will triple your sales, compared to the ugly ones other “writing gurus” are offering with their expensive publishing packages.

Let us know if you’re interested in this service when you submit your sample.