Copy Editing
Publish Your Book with Confidence
Your manuscript represents months—or years—of work. Before you publish it, I can help you make sure your writing is clear, consistent, professional, and ready for readers.
I provide experienced, independent copy editing for self-published and indie authors at an affordable, straightforward price. Check my credentials here.
My goal is simple: to help you publish a book you can be proud to put your name on.
Want to see how I work before hiring me? I’ll copyedit five pages of your manuscript at no charge (see below).
Professional Copy Editing Without a Traditional-Publishing Budget
Traditional publishers may send a manuscript through several rounds of editing involving multiple editors. Independent authors rarely have the budget for that kind of process.
That does not mean you should have to choose between publishing an unpolished manuscript and spending thousands of dollars on editing.
I offer a practical alternative. Send me your best and final manuscript, after you have completed your own revisions, and I will give it a careful professional copyedit designed to improve clarity, correctness, consistency, and readability.
I have graduate-level academic training in Communications and decades of professional experience as a writing educator. I keep my fees intentionally affordable for independent authors by:
1. Reading every word of your book myself for needed corrections, and
2. Using special AI-assisted literary tools I crafted myself. No, my tools WILL NOT add AI artifacts of any kind to your manuscript. My AI tools give you maximum copy-editing benefits at a minimal price.
Is Your Manuscript Ready for Copy Editing?
Copy editing works best when your book’s writing and structure are already substantially complete.
If you are still considering major changes to the organization, plot, argument, chapters, characters, or overall direction of your manuscript, developmental or substantive editing may be a better first step. I also offer Developmental/Substantive Editing for authors who want an experienced assessment before moving into final copy editing.
Addressing larger issues first can save you money and help you get much more value from the copy-editing process.
What I Do When I Copy Edit Your Book
When I edit your manuscript, I look closely at the language on the page with one overriding goal: Make your writing clearer, cleaner, more consistent, and easier to read without taking away your voice.
For the issues I identify, I show you:
- The wording or problem as it appears in your manuscript
- My proposed correction
- The reason for the correction
- Any additional recommendation I believe you should consider
In most cases, each chapter will have multiple entries like this one, each with this level of detail. Some books I have edited have only 2-3 per chapter; others have had dozens per chapter.
You remain in control of your manuscript. Your options include Recommended or Required Edits, but you make the final decisions and make the revisions to your manuscript yourself.
My job is to help your writing become more precise, polished, and professional while preserving what makes it yours.
Once you have made the changes you want, your manuscript should be in a much stronger position for typesetting and final proof review. YOU decide what changes you want to make, and you make them.
What I Check and Correct
My copy editing typically checks for elements like:
- Sentence and paragraph construction
- Grammar, punctuation, and spelling
- Spelling consistency
- Proper noun usage
- Misused or easily confused words
- Repeated words and phrases
- Unnecessary redundancies
- Excessive adverbs
- Run-on sentences
- Excessive passive voice
- Unnecessary parenthetical phrases
- Capitalization consistency
- Acronym consistency
- Compound-word consistency
- Numbers and number style
- Heading and subheading consistency
- Bullet and list formatting
- Formatting of book, movie, and other titles
- Quotation-mark consistency
- Em dashes, en dashes, and hyphens
- Periods and ellipses
- Open or mismatched brackets and quotation marks
- Double spaces
- Dialogue-tag consistency
- Excessive exclamation marks
- Common typographical errors
- Other issues that interfere with clarity or consistency
Clarity is always the ultimate goal.
You Get a Careful Two-Pass Edit
I carefully read every word in your manuscript. That gives me multiple opportunities to identify inconsistencies, awkward wording, grammatical problems, punctuation issues, and other errors that can distract your readers.
No responsible editor can promise that a manuscript will contain absolutely zero errors after a single round of editing. Even books from major traditional publishers occasionally reach print with mistakes.
What I can promise is decades of professional experience, careful attention to your manuscript, and a thorough professional edit at a fair price.
Copyediting: Affordable, Straightforward Pricing
My flat fee for copy editing a completed, best-and-final manuscript of up to 50,000 words is $199.
For manuscripts longer than 50,000 words, add $5 for each additional 1,000 words or portion thereof, based on the Microsoft Word word count.
No Hidden Charges
Once we agree on the fee, that is the fee you pay. There are no surprise increases.
- Payment is due when you submit your complete manuscript and reserve my time.
- I will send you an invoice you can pay with any credit card. See my refund policy here.
- I Keep Agreed Deadlines. My typical turnaround time is 7–10 business days (M-F). The exact date depends on my workload when I receive your manuscript. Once I accept your project, I will give you a delivery date and will meet the deadline we agree upon. The deadline clock begins the next business day after I receive payment.
The copy-edited manuscript is my final work product for the agreed copy-editing fee.
If you rewrite, expand, or polish the manuscript after my edit, those changes may introduce new errors or inconsistencies. If you want me to copy edit the revised manuscript again, I can do so for an additional fee. That is one reason I strongly recommend sending me your best and final draft before copy editing begins.
Try My Copy Editing Before You Hire Me
Choosing an editor is easier when you can see the quality of the work for yourself. That is why I offer a free five-page sample copy edit of your manuscript. There is no charge and no obligation.
You can see how I approach your writing, the kinds of issues I identify, and whether my editing style is a good fit for your book before you commit.
Contact me and tell me about your book.
Your Next Step
1. Send me a short email
Tell me your book title, offer a three-sentence synopsis, and your word count. Please share a little about yourself. No need to reveal any secrets; I just like a little background on the authors I serve. Feel free to ask me any questions in this email.
Contact me and tell me briefly about your book.
2. Or attach five pages from your manuscript to your email
Attach five full pages from your manuscript (preferably from the center of a chapter), and you’ll receive a sample copyedit of it within 48 hours (M-F). The sample will help you decide if you want to engage my services. There is no obligation for this sample copyedit document.
3. Or attach your complete manuscript to your email if you wish
Yes, I will give it a quick survey at no charge and tell you whether ot not I can earn my fee. That may speed the process. No worries if you wish to send your manuscript after our initial email and I have answered any questions you may have. When we agree, I’ll then send you an invoice and completion timeline.
NOTE: I can sometimes evaluate a work in progress if it is substantially complete, but the fee covers one assessment of the manuscript you submit. It does not include ongoing evaluation of multiple revised drafts.
Copy editing (line editing) is not included in this Developmental Editing service. Once you complete your revisions, your manuscript may then be ready for professional copy editing.
I look forward to hearing from you!
I want you to be pleased with the work I do for you—and confident enough in the result to come back when your next book is ready.
What Other Authors Say
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NOTE: Copy Editing and Proofreading Are Not the Same
Copy editing takes place while your book is still a manuscript. It addresses the language itself: grammar, punctuation, consistency, usage, readability, and clarity.
Proofreading comes later, after the manuscript has been typeset or formatted into “proofs” ready for printing. Its purpose is to catch errors that remain or were introduced during conversion from manuscript into a formatted book.
If your manuscript still needs editorial improvement, copy editing should come before proofreading. Never treat proofreading as a “final edit.”
