Have you ever re-read one of your books after publishing it, stumbled over a typo on the first page and thought: “Noooooooooo!”
Or have you had reviews that praise your story but grumble over punctuation?
Then you need me.
You see, I’m a writer myself. I know how important editing is for a book to do well.
If you’re ready to jump in, send me an email right now.
This is what one of my clients said:
“Attention to detail and an inherent understanding of what works, what doesn’t and how language works is your guarantee that the last little kinks are gone before your story lands with your readers.” – Mette Holm
The Three Levels of Editing you Can Choose
Proofreading is the elegant expression for typo-hunting.
If you have trouble to check your spelling, find those nasty homophones that often hide from spellcheckers, and fix errors in your character names I’ll be there for you. This editing level should be the final step before you’re get your book formatted. I will still let you actually make the changes because you’re the author and know best.
Line editing means polishing paragraphs in detail.
This includes finding the best words to express what you want to say, tightening up paragraphs, and doing all of it without destroying your unique voice. This is a much deeper edit than a simple proofread, and it will require you to go through it after my work and make the necessary changes which may include rewriting entire paragraphs.
Developmental editing is the queen of all editing.
This level is about taking a good look at your whole manuscript, the entire plot, the development of your characters and the setting. This is where I point out continuity errors (forgot to plant a weapon somewhere for your character?) and help you create a tight manuscript that can really grip your readers. Developmental editing is most effective if you let me help you after writing the first or second drafts, since the results will likely require rewriting, adding or moving chapters.
The Genres that are the Best Fit
Do you write the following genres: Fantasy, Romance, Space Opera? Then you might have found your perfect editor.
If you write Horror, Military or anything really dark, we’re not really a good fit because it’s not my thing.
Prices for Editing and Proofreading
Prices are calculated according to total word count in the raw manuscript (before editing), and I’m giving you samples below so you can easily see into which range your novel will fall.
Proofreading – $0.005/word
($250 for a 50k novel, $375 for a 75k novel, or $500 for a 100k novel)
Line Editing – $0.010/word
($500 for a 50k novel, $750 for a 75k novel, or $1,000 for a 100k novel)
Developmental Editing – $0.05/word
($2,500 for a 50k novel, $3,750 for a 75k novel, or $5,000 for a 100k novel)
You also need to know that I only offer very few spots throughout a year since I need time to write my own books. If you like my offers, take the next step now:
Contact me for a sample edit!
I offer to edit a sample of your manuscript (no more than 2,500 words) for you for free, so you can see how I work and what I will ask you to fix.
Drop me an email through Buehsteppe Verlag, and we’ll arrange the details. Expect an answer within three workdays.
A Little Bit About me
I am not a native speaker of English but I believe this gives me an advantage, since I have consciously learned about all the tricks and pitfalls of spelling and grammar. In addition, I hold the equivalent of a Master degree in English from Kiel University.
There is one thing I won’t do: I’m not editing anything that’s been written or translated by AI. I already had the pleasure of dealing with such, and my answer is, never again.
You see, calling those programs “intelligent” is a marketing ploy. They are statistical models for stringing one word after the other, to try and mimic creativity. I work with and for humans.
If you’re like me and also prefer working with real human beings, contact me for a sample edit.
Smart Things to do Before Submitting a Story for Editing
Remove Tabs or Spaces to Indent a Paragraph
That is a common error and it’s the worst to fix, because it must be done manually, especially if you used tabs. Stop doing this immediately and use the paragraph format settings instead. Both I and the formatter of your book will thank you from our hearts.
Fix your Dialog Punctuation and Format
This is another source of errors that are extremely tedious to fix. Take a good look at this page on the Self-Publishing School website if you’re not sure whether you’re using the correct format. This is for American spelling, which is most likely what you’re using. Note that there are different rules for British English (which is different from German, as well).
Run Spellcheck
Spellcheck won’t catch everything (those pesky homophones again), but doing a quick run before you send me your manuscript will make both our lives much easier. In fact, I keep spellcheck running when I write, and – pro tip here – I add my (fantasy) character names to the dictionary, so I can make sure I spell them right.
You did all of that already? Contact me and lets get started!
Details and Disclaimers
I run my editing services through my publishing house/author services – Buehsteppe Verlag – and under my legal name, Frauke Möbius. I will bill you through PayPal since I’m based in Germany.
