Are you in the middle of a doctoral dissertation? Are you an assistant professor applying for a grant or submitting materials for tenure? Are you afraid that using Grammarly or ChatGPT will cause your work to be flagged for use of AI? Let me help you.
I offer editing services for academic writing, job or grant applications, and fiction. Editing is a side career that I’ve practiced for more than twenty years, during which I’ve edited a non-fiction manuscript and the accompanying book proposal, several doctoral documents, articles for the International Trumpet Guild Journal, my own collection of trumpet etudes, and a self-published book by a first-time author.
Click the sentence that best fits you to see how I can help with your current project:
I don’t even have a finished draft.
This is okay! Send me what you have, and I can perform a developmental edit in which I identify any areas where your argument isn’t working or where a reader might have questions. I can also check for places where your text doesn’t adequately support your graphics, charts, or musical examples; tell you which statements will need a citation from an outside source; and suggest content that you might be able to add if you are struggling to reach your page count. Developmental editing saves you the hassle of laboring over a lengthy project only to have your review committee tell you that your argument isn’t fully fleshed out or that a third of your word count feels like “filler” and needs to be cut.
Writing isn’t really my strength, but I’m afraid if I try to use a product like Grammarly I’m going to be accused of not doing my own work. (Or: I need to make major cuts to meet a specific word- or page-count and I don’t know where to start.)
This is where line editing can help. When I line-edit a document, I preserve as much of your original writing as possible while making suggestions about sentence structure and word choice that can help your writing sound more sophisticated. If you feel like you’re constantly using the same word over and over, aren’t sure how to talk about your subject without using “I” or “you”, or aren’t sure what to cut to streamline your word count, line editing is for you. I always offer my comments as optional edits that you can either accept or reject, which means you still retain full agency over what you present. I’ll also include some commentary so that you understand why I’m recommending a change and can become a more confident writer. Please note that line editing takes more time than other forms of editing and therefore may be more expensive due to the total number of hours.
My document is finished! Now what?
Congratulations! I can perform basic copy editing and formatting, which includes…
- Proofreading your work for spelling/punctuation/grammar
- Ensuring that your writing complies with the Chicago Manual of Style (or another style guide)
- Double checking your footnotes and bibliography to ensure that they follow the proper format, contain the necessary information, and are numbered correctly throughout the document
- Standardizing the margins and layout of graphic elements so that they don’t cause awkward paragraph breaks
- Making sure that the table of contents includes the correct page numbers for all your charts and chapters
Copy editing is tedious, detail-oriented work that will take me much less time than it will take you, because I already have most of the formatting rules memorized. As a bonus, you won’t pay for any time I spend looking up any guidelines that I don’t have memorized; I write these hours off as an investment and offer them to you free of charge.
I think I might need your help, but I don’t think I’ll need it for another two months.
I am willing to reserve time in advance for individuals who (1) contact me with a two-page writing sample and an overview of what they need; and (2) are willing to pay a 50 percent deposit, based upon my estimate of the total hours that the project will take. (Please remember that I am offering an estimate and the actual total hours may change as the project unfolds, so the remaining balance due may turn out to be either more or less than this initial payment.) In fact, this is an especially good idea if you think you will need your edits in late March or early April, which is around the time that doctoral submissions to ProQuest take place.
What does it cost?
For non-fiction projects longer than 2,000 words, I charge a flat rate of $50 per hour, regardless of the type of project or type of editing. The first three hours ($150) must be paid as an up-front lump sum when you first send your manuscript; this payment allows me the financial flexibility to reschedule any other commitments that might interfere with my ability to meet your deadline. I will not edit your document until I receive this payment, but I WILL charge you a rush fee if a late payment puts me into a crunch versus your deadline, so please budget accordingly.
If you are writing fiction, please contact me directly to discuss your needs, as my rates and terms will be different.
Why should you hire me (instead of using your school’s writing center, asking for help from a friend, or paying for a cheaper editor through an online service)?
My work comes with a few guarantees that I don’t think you’ll easily find with someone else:
- I don’t miss deadlines. Ever. Once we agree on a delivery date, you’ll get a finished product on that date. Is your friend going to move his or her schedule around to make sure your draft gets completed on time?
- If you’re a musician, I already know your subject, and I’ve successfully passed a doctoral defense. Can your writing center make sense of your harmonic analysis?
- If you aren’t a musician, or if your project takes me out of my comfort zone in some other way (i.e. it requires me to use a new style guide, figure out unfamiliar software, or make sense of technical content that isn’t in my wheelhouse), you won’t pay for my learning curve. I don’t charge for the time I spend developing my own skills, even if I’m developing them for the benefit of your project. Most online editing services will charge extra for situations like this; with me, you get those hours free.
- I stand behind my work. If someone (ProQuest, your review committee, etc.) identifies a specific and recurring issue with your final draft that is a direct result of a change I have made (i.e. I’ve told you to use boldface on every one of your tables, but they want italics), I will fix that issue free of charge.
Finally – though this should go without saying – I never rely on AI to edit or to write. You can be completely confident that any and all suggestions are coming from a human being and that your integrity will never be in question.
How long does it take (and what if you need it done faster)?
I can turn most projects around within a 7–10 day window. (If yours seems like it will take longer, I will tell you up front.) If you are in a real crunch and need your project done in less than a week, I can normally accommodate this type of request.
Rush edits cost:
- $65 per hour if you need your draft back within 5–6 days of when I first see it
- $90 per hour if you need my edits within 2–4 days
- $150 per hour if you need me to completely clear my schedule to pull off a 24-hour turnaround (and this is an absurd fee, so let’s just assume you know better than to ask for this)
If you and I have an initial exchange in which we set a deadline and agree on what you need me to do, but you are then late in sending me either your draft or your $150 deposit (i.e. you get it to me with less than a week to go before your deadline), please be prepared to pay rush rates. If you are late in sending me your draft/deposit but also have flexibility on when you need me to get back to you, I will waive the rush fee but will require an extra week to work.
Note that rush rates do not apply to follow-up edits, where I am taking another look at a project I’ve already seen and making the same types of changes as before. They do apply if you need me to do something new (i.e. I have already edited your text, but now your ProQuest deadline is in three days and you need me to handle all your formatting).
Want to be sure that I know what I’m doing?
Click any of the buttons to read some of my work, or send me up to two pages of your project and I’ll respond for free with a sample edit and an estimate on what your edits would cost.