Frequently asked questions
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Some of the same info
but all here in a handy form on one page
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What is your availability?
For book projects, I’m generally scheduled ahead six to either months.
For shorter pieces — essays, articles, flash pieces, short stories — I can sometimes work those in within the current month. Sometimes, the next.
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How long will the edit take?
This depends on the length and the complexity of the ms.
For a ms critique or a dev edit of, say, 50,000 to 80,000 words, I like to schedule in a couple of months. Time to step away from the project, time to reconsider issues with fresh eyes. If my schedule is more complicated, I may need more time to maneuver within.
For a line edit of work of about the same length, it can take about twice as long. Depending. Line editing is close and meticulous work. It’s not something a person can do well eight hours a day, five days a week. It’s work that particularly needs to be spaced apart. If you want the best results, that is.
And I always want the best results.
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What does your developmental editing include? Do you do line edits at the same time? Copyedits?
It would be way too messy to try to do development, line work, and copyediting all at the same time. Think of it in terms of architecture: dev editing is like assessing the foundation of a building and its structural integrity, and if there are weak spots, suggesting solutions; line editing is like choosing the colors for the walls, setting the tone and character of the rooms, developing the living space; copyediting is like adding the blinds and the curtains, finding knick-knacks for the shelves, polishing the brass.
Each level of inquiry and refinement makes way for the next: dev for line, line for copy. And after the book has been designed, then the proofing.
But as a by-product of the line work in line editing, it is true that some copyediting issues will also be addressed. Many others may be identified as needing to be resolved later. Some editors combine the two levels in one. I don’t. There’s enough else to be considered in straight copyediting that I think it makes sense to keep them separate. There’s value in another set of eyes doing the fine work of copyediting.
There are other considerations, of course. If you’re prepping a ms to go to agents or acquisitions editors, a good solid line edit by an editor who understands what’s involved in copyediting and who has a good eye can be enough. And maybe that’s all the money you want to spend, because a ms that goes to a publisher will then also go through their editorial process. You pay nothing for that. But knowing that, you’ll want a clean ms to send off yes, with beautiful writing, but if not absolutely every copyediting issue is addressed, that’s unlikely to cause problems. On the other hand, someone who is self-publishing should spring for that separate copyedit. There’ll be no other safety net for catching issues with a self-published book.
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How do you structure your fees? Per hour, per word, per project?
No matter whether an editor quotes you a per-word, per-hour, or per-project rate, that person is calculating the time it’s going to take her — or is likely to take her, as to some extent that figure will be an estimate — and basing her quote, in the end, on that. She’ll be aiming for a range of return.
If the scope of the project is pretty straightforward, I often set the work up under a project rate, though generally expressed as a range. There’s something nice in that assurance of cost from the author’s side, naturally. We all need to have an idea of the cost of something before committing to it. And what’s that range about? Generally it allows for a range of difficulty. Number or complexity of issues, or both. The sorts of things that don’t become clear — most particularly with dev editing — until one gets deep into the work.
If the scope is uncertain or likely to shift, then another approach is needed. One typical approach is to break the project up into smaller chunks of work, though with dev editing, this can be tricky. The editor really needs the entire work: all the parts within it work together to form the whole. If the nature and scope of the work is open-ended, with the author looking for editorial feedback on work as it’s being developed — that would be less dev and more about other aspects — or if the author is looking for coaching of some sort through a project or a plan, then a common approach is to set up a bank of hours that gets replenished when used. So, the author might pay for five or ten or whatever number of hours up front, and the editor or coach keeps a running tally as she works, supplying whatever incremental reports have been agreed on with respect to those hours and their use and letting the author know when the funds are getting low.
Basically, it comes down to figuring out and agreeing to project scope and then figuring some sort of plan of work that makes good sense to both parties. Coaching is generally ongoing. Editing is more often about working completely through a set of pages, whatever they might be, of a given length and supplying comprehensive feedback of the sort appropriate to the level of edit. An editor can line or copy edit a passage or work of any length. For a dev edit, the entirety of the piece is needed: article, essay, short story, book.
If there’s anything squishy or uncertain about that work to be edited, that complicates things. An editor must be able to come up with a reasonable estimate of the work involved if she’s to price that work before doing it. As coaching by definition is squishy and uncertain, that’s why coaching is so often done by the hour, with the author paying incrementally.
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What about the time involved in communication via phone or Zoom? Is that included or is there an additional charge? Do you charge for email?
With respect to phone or Zoom calls, I tend toward the flexible. When I return a ms critique or a dev edit, I like to factor in time as well to go over the work with the author. Sometimes that’s before I return the edit; sometimes, after. Depends on the person, depends on the edit. Typically, that’s by Zoom.
Throughout the process — when we’re talking a straight dev or line edit — there’s generally little reason for phone or Zoom calls. At that point, the author has handed off the ms and is no longer working in it. The editor, meanwhile, is making her way through it. If there are issues that arise for which she absolutely needs an answer to continue, that calls for an email. Now, for copyediting, as the copyeditor will be building a stylesheet at the same time, documenting all those picky little issues that you and she and also the proofreader will need to know, that’s another matter. With copyediting, there’s likely to be periodic email in from the editor with questions. With line editing, the editor can simply gather all those questions and include them in with the notes as issues to be resolved with the copyeditor. None of that is crucial yet. It’s different, of course, if you’re going for some kind of line and copy editing mix, which is a possibility. In any event, if copyediting is involved, there could be regular conversations in email to iron these points out. No need for phone or Zoom calls on issues of that type though.
As to charge, some editors include a call in as part of the price of the edit and some charge separately for it, feeling that it’s an add-on. I consider a call to go over the edit as part of the edit itself. No separate charge. I’m also not averse to hopping on a call if the author needs some further help in going over the edit later. But regular check-in calls would be something else. That’s no longer editing.
Some editors also include a certain amount of email in with their set fee and then beyond that begin to charge. I’m more easy-going on the email. Within reason, I’m fine with email. Usually there’s more of it in the beginning, as the author tries to find her footing in the process.
Now, coaching is completely different. Coaching is all about one-on-one guidance and support and teaching. In that case, phone or Zoom calls — talking regularly — is typically part of the primary work the coach undertakes. Email too. And in that case there’s a charge for that time, yes, and perhaps for the prep time as well. It depends on how the project has been defined and set up.
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Will you want to talk daily, weekly, biweekly, to send corrections or ask questions?
With a ms critique or a dev edit, most often I work along until I’m finished and then send everything off.
With line edits, well, sometimes there are questions. Most often, I can fold those into the ms comments. With line edits, though, we’d work through one or two chapters first, to make sure that you like what I’m doing, as that’s work that’s directly in the text. But then, for the rest of it, it’s best if I don’t hand off things incrementally because details later in the ms can have an impact retrospectively on details earlier in the ms. Even those one or two chapters done early on and handed over for you to review, I would “take back” (that is, you’d consider them handed off still) because there would likely be further changes to be suggested, changes which would come to light only later, as I read further into the work.
Ms critiquing and dev editing are about the work as a whole, so with either of those, it’s not really possible to do any kind of preliminary or sample work.
It’s really only with coaching of some sort that we’d need to check in so regularly. And of course, with a copyeditor, too, you might expect some email throughout the project, typically with a group of questions about issues to be decided.
Whichever kind of editing, for your part, you would need to be careful not to be writing forward at the same time. With coaching, it’s different. In that case, you’d not be freezing the work and handing it off. The draft can stay active and in your hands, even if I (or whoever) were to be working with a portion of it in some way. Why? Because in this case, the aims are different. The work would be in the nature of guiding and teaching. Anything I’d be doing with the text would be only to support your learning. You would still later want to hand the work off to an editor, and in a situation like this, that editor should not be me (or whichever coach you were working with). I’d be too close to the work by then.
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What will I get back from you?
For a ms critique
A concise editorial letter that addresses and discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the ms and offers suggestions for improvement
A video conference to walk through this overall analysis and recommendations
For a dev edit
Your ms with extensive marginal notes and commentary
A detailed editorial letter that addresses and discusses the major issues, drawing also examples from the ms
A video conference to walk through the analysis and recommendations
For a line edit
Your ms with suggestions marked directly in text for making sentences and passages (and so also the argument, the ideas, or the story) stronger and more effective, with supporting notes and commentary as needed
A concise editorial letter, if enough issues warrant it, that addresses and discusses the major issues, citing also examples from the ms
A video conference to walk through the analysis and recommendations
For coaching
It’s variable. Whatever work best supports the need. And we’d define this when talking through the project.
