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Copyedit Service

First book or tenth book, regardless of how experienced the author, all manuscripts require copyedit to ensure the published book will be the best it can be. Typos, incorrect grammar and punctuation, spelling mistakes, inappropriate word usage, etc., will greatly reduce the quality of a book. You want your readers completely focused on the important message you are trying to convey or engrossed in your story – without being distracted by having to do an impromptu copyedit themselves to figure out what you were trying to say...

If you can separate yourself from your own work well enough to do a thorough technical copyedit review, that is great; or if you know someone else who is qualified and willing to do it for you, that is even better. If not, we can provide the top quality copyedit service you need.

Service Details

The time it takes to complete the editing process is approximately three weeks on average; however, the time may be more or less depending upon manuscript size and degree of update required. Please note that our advertised normal publishing time does not include the editing service time.

Our copyedit service costs $.01 per word in the manuscript, counting all words regardless of length. See below for advice on how to determine the manuscript word count.

An editor will read your entire manuscript and make changes as needed in the areas listed below. Our guide is The Chicago Manual of Style which is the commonly recognized standard setting the rules and best practices for writing.

• Spelling
• Capitalization
• Grammar
• Punctuation
• Appropriate Word Usage
• Sentence Structure (Phrasing)
• Paragraphing
• Character Dialog
• Consistent Character Name Use and Spelling
• Italics for Titles (Movies, Books, etc.)
• Hyphenation
• Abbreviations and Acronyms
• Numbers, Dates, Time

The above areas are clear enough in a general sense; however, some additional explanation is needed to fully explain the editing process.

Before any changes are made the editor will do a general review of the manuscript to get a sense of the author’s style. Every author has their own style and there is nothing wrong with that. The last thing we want to do is try to impose our own style on your work. While editing the manuscript changes will be made to agree with normal standards – but without compromising the author’s style.

Probably the best examples of style related items are the use of slang or sentence fragments. While a word may be spelled wrong according to a dictionary or a sentence may be a fragment – they may be “correct” if appropriately used by the author within the context of their style and story. In these cases, we would change only when slang words or fragments are inconsistently or inappropriately used.

Biblical references and quotes of passages from the Bible are reviewed; however, the editor will make changes only when absolutely sure they are needed. This is because there are a great many slightly different wordings of Bible passages depending upon version or source.

During the editing process the editor may notice things which they cannot determine how to properly change or which they believe the author should consider. These would be discussed with the author before the editing process is finalized. For example, character “Bill” is identified as Uncle Bill on page 8, but as brother Bill on page 9. Another example: “The book ending is good; however, you said this was the first in a series. Perhaps adding a short Epilogue hinting at possible future developments would be a good transition to the sequel...”

Edited Manuscript Options

There are three options available for handling of the edited manuscript:

• Proceed directly to book formatting.
• Receive updated manuscript in Microsoft Word file (.doc) format reflecting all changes. Author reviews, makes any desired changes, and returns for book formatting.
• Receive manuscript in Microsoft Word file (.doc) format showing all changes using the Microsoft Word “Track Changes” tool. Author reviews and either accepts or rejects each change, makes any additional desired changes, and returns for book formatting.

Note: For all three options the author will receive an Adobe Acrobat Reader file of the book formatted text for review prior to set up for printing.

Determining Word Count

All words in the manuscript are counted, regardless of length. For Microsoft Word files, open the manuscript file and determine the word count from the Statistics tab of the Properties window under the File menu. For WordPerfect files, open the manuscript file and determine the word count from the Information tab of the Properties window under the File menu. For Microsoft Works files, open the manuscript file and determine the word count by selecting Word Count under the Tools menu.

If for any reason you are not sure how to determine the word count, feel free to email the manuscript file to us and we will promptly let you know the word count.

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