You've spent what seems like an eternity writing your first draft, and you've gone back and fixed the obvious flaws. Now, after being immersed in the project for so long, you find that you're losing perspective. Maybe something is off, but you're not sure what. Or you want the book to be shorter, but you have no idea which passages to cut. Or you've been looking at the same text for so long, you've lost the ability to tell if it's any good.
Before you submit your manuscript for publication, or even for copyediting, consider developmental editing or a manuscript critique.
Developmental editing: Despite the name, developmental editing isn't what most people think of as "editing." Rather than make direct revisions to the text, I read your entire manuscript and evaluate its strengths and weaknesses, giving you a sense of what you'll need to address when you begin your next draft. The focus is on big-picture issues like suitability for the intended audience, structure, concept, plotting, characterization, believability, and clarity. In addition to summarizing the biggest issues in an editorial letter, I'll flag instances throughout the manuscript using Microsoft Word's commenting feature.
Manuscript critique: Like developmental editing, a manuscript critique provides a summary of your book's strengths and weaknesses, but it doesn't include comments in the margins. It can be more or less in-depth, depending on your budget and the needs of your project. This service includes:
- A description of the issues you'll need to address in your next draft
- One or two examples of each issue
- Suggestions on what you can do to improve the work
Price: Please submit your manuscript for an estimate