Why not do it all yourself?

Well, most authors are too close to their work to see mistakes. They’re so into their plot and characters and arguments, they don’t see it from the perspective of the reader.  This applies to both fiction and non–fiction. Authors miss obvious grammatical errors, awkward sentence construction, incorrect punctuation, mis–spellings, and monotonous or systemic patterns of writing that leave the reader bored or unsatisfied.

In technical and academic writing, a boring or awkward writing style is certain to lead to frustration, as the reader is already struggling to assimilate technical material.

In non-fiction, too much narration, poor dialogue, inconsistent plots, poor character development and awkward sentence structure is sure to turn off your readers.  You need a pro to catch these and make suggestions and changes in the manuscript BEFORE you send it to the publisher!

I will sum up my editing philosophy in one sentence: The purpose of an editor is to make the writer look good.

Many publishers receive dozens of manuscripts every day. Their trained eyes can immediately spot a bad manuscript, and recognize a good one. The bad ones go right into the trash can!

Here’s a little secret I’ve learned from writing 8 books: Regardless of the type of book you are writing, the most important thing about any manuscript is that your narrative needs to flow smoothly so as to hold the reader’s interest.

This is what I call the Law of Good Writing. This applies just as well to technical and academic writing as to novels. For example, I just finished reading a physics book by a Professor Emeritus at MIT [name and publisher withheld!]. The book cover is one of the best I have ever seen; the paper, of the very highest quality. The manuscript, even for an academic work, is engaging. Yet the book has many obvious grammatical and sentence errors that should have been caught by a good editor. In this case, a poor editing job makes the professor look bad, and detracts from an otherwise excellent work.

As an author, you need to engage your reader and make it easy for him or her to understand what you are saying. And do you know what? A good editor can do that for almost any book, no matter what the genre.

I always have others read my books; either a paid editor, or, for novels, general readers who would be my target audience.

If you are the type of author who is willing to spend months editing and rereading a manuscript (as I am) it is possible to do it yourself, but the time you must spend is prohibitive. For example, I wrote “The Vibrational Universe” in 3 months. But it took me 9 months to edit it! I went over and over the manuscript more than 50 times (the book is 300 pages) until I had EVERY WORD and EVERY SENTENCE exactly as I wanted it. If you don’t want to wait that long, however, you need to hire a professional who can quickly spot where you went awry.

A good editor does not arrogantly rewrite your book and lose your personal voice. Like an expert gardener, I will eliminate the weeds and leave the overall conception of your work intact, as well as your personal writing voice.

A good editor makes CONSTRUCTIVE suggestions, and never makes gratuitous, negative comments. My goal is to enhance the positive aspects of your book and eliminate anything that detracts from a good read.

My mission is to make your book the very best it can be.

Understand that I cannot re–write your book, and that the quality of your narrative depends solely upon what you put into it.

I love writing, however, and I will treat your book as if it were my own work. And in fact, it IS my work, because of my association with it. Your published manuscript is a reflection of my editing, and therefore, I want it to be of the highest quality.

This section  describes the steps of the editing process in detail. Review the table below for my approximate charges.  

Please read the Conditions under which I offer my services.

What is the difference between a Standard Edit and a Substantive Edit?

In a Standard Edit, I mark up your document, but I do not re-write it. That is, I will correct spelling, punctuation, and grammar, and also arrange the order of your book in proper format. I will  comment on anything else that needs correction (like awkward sentence structure, wooden dialog, plot and character inconsistencies, redundancies, etc.) marking the exact sentence and page number. Then you correct it!

In a Substantive Edit, I will do all these things, AND rewrite the manuscript for you, while still keeping your material intact. A Substantive Edit takes much more time and concentration, and is naturally more expensive.

Some authors prefer a one-stop-shopping approach, where their editor corrects and rewrites everything. Other authors don't want an editor to touch their material, other than the standard markup. It's up to you! I am flexible.

Content/language editing deals with dialogue, plot description, character development, vibrancy of language, smoothness and readability of manuscript, sentence structure, and manuscript organization.

Line editing or proofreading is the identification of typographical and spelling errors, unnecessary or missing spaces, grammatical errors, incorrect use of punctuation, formatting of text and graphics, and incorrect use of words, called malapropisms.  Malapropisms occur when a word is used when another was intended. 

 Malapropisms can be difficult to spot and can lead to unintended consequences, for example, saying, “there’s a lot of dysentery in the ranks,” (when dissention is meant) or “I’m prostate with grief” (when prostrate was meant). One of the most common malapropisms is the mix-up of the words principle and principal; for example: "It is important to apply strict-coding principals in this project."

That sort of thing can really ruin your manuscript and make you look foolish!

In order to give you an intelligent fee estimate, I will carefully  edit the first 1200 words of your sample, free. I will also rate the sample using the following categories on a scale of 0 – 100:

a)     Before we agree to work together, I first require a selection of your writing. Please send me, via email, the first 5 pages of your manuscript, to kmaclean@ic.net, along with your requirements. Save the file as a Word document. Include also a brief description of your book, and a word count of your full manuscript. I will then do a free edit on the first 1200 words of your sample and give you a cost estimate, based upon the word count, and the quality of the sample.

b)     My professional fee varies according to my estimate of the amount of work needed, and how long it will take to complete the edit. I will determine that from your sample, and the word count of your full manuscript. Approximate charges are set out in the tables above.  Obviously, good writing, regardless of genre, will take less time to edit than poor writing, and my estimate will reflect this.

c)     After we have agreed to work together and payment has been made, send the full manuscript, in Word format, to kmaclean@ic.net.  Make sure you zip the file. Do not send the full manuscript or make a payment without prior arrangement.

d)     The fee must be paid in advance of the work. Publishers: once we have established a business relationship, the up-front fee can be waived.

e)    I reserve the right to reject your manuscript if:

1)     There are too many errors or the writing quality is too poor. In this case, I wouldn’t be able to constructively help you. You do get a free edit of your sample, however, which will tell you where you need to improve. You may then resubmit your book to me at any time. This way you save money and I utilize my time efficiently.

2)     Your manuscript is polished and in excellent shape. You shouldn’t have to waste your money paying a professional editor to critique an already excellent manuscript.

In both cases, I will refund your money -- minus a 20% editing overview fee -- and return your document.

f)      Non-fiction, particularly academic writing, takes more work to edit than fiction.  My quote will reflect this.

g)     In addition to the standard professional edit, I will also make constructive comments about anything I like in your work, as well as anything I feel needs improvement. These comments will be from a general reader’s point of view. I always find these suggestions very helpful in my own writing.

h)     If there are similar, repetitive errors throughout the document, I will make all the necessary recommendations for improving the work and then stop at that stage, before reaching the end of the manuscript. This is standard editing practice. There is no benefit to you if I continue to make the same suggestions and changes over and over again.

i)     I will comprehensively edit your manuscript only once through.  I am happy to discuss issues with the author via email. The cost of a follow-up edit depends on the amount of work it takes.

I will edit your material in Microsoft Word. Word gives us a basic manuscript layout, or "look and feel," for editing purposes. Your publisher will then refine and tweak the edited layout for printing.

I will turn on “Track Changes” and you will see the edits in red. My comments will be enclosed within curlicue brackets, like this: {you have a plot inconsistency here -- see p. 34}.  You can then accept all changes, or view each edit individually. To do this, go to Tools – Track Changes – Accept or Reject Changes. Use the Find buttons to go to the next or previous change. Simple!

I will also include your original manuscript. You can use Word's "Compare Documents" feature in the Track Changes menu, to compare the edited document to the original. Or, if you like, I can leave deleted text in the manuscript, like this: What this document is trying to address should never be considered completed, but rather be continually kept up to date.  Very often this leaves a cluttered document, however.

If I reach a point in your manuscript where I’ve identified all of the major issues, but have not reached the end, I will send the edited part of the manuscript back to you. Your job is to look over the manuscript and revise the entire book, following the guidelines and comments I’ve given you.

You have the option, for an additional fee, to have me re–edit your manuscript from beginning to end. I will give you an estimate, before I begin the work, of the additional cost. If you have done a good job rewriting your book, it will take me less time.

To pay your editing fee, go to http://kjmaclean.com/Editing/Payment.html.

You will be directed to a secure https site where you can send the funds either by Pay Pal, or credit card.

P.S. I love books and I love writing. Editing is something I really like to do; it's not just a job. A book is like a child. It's your creation! Having written 8 books myself, I know how much work you have already put into it, and how much you want others to read and enjoy your work. You need someone who is meticulous and who actually cares about what you have written, and has the desire and ability to make it the very best it can be. These are the vital intangibles that I offer to every author and every book that comes to me.

I look forward to working with you!