I always try to keep my prices affordable, but I am also more than happy to work with authors on a budget.
Consults
Consults are always free!
Contact me at Charleetwrites@gmail.com to schedule one today.
Beta Reading
I charge $5 per 5,000 words, up to the standard full length novel of 75,000 words.
After 75,000 words, I charge an additional $5 per 1,000 words.
Developmental Editing
For Developmental Editing, I charge 0.018 cents per word, up to the standard full-length novel of 75,000 words.
After 75,000 words, I charge 0.02 cents per word.
Copy/Line Editing
For Copy and/or Line Editing, I charge 0.023 cents per word up to the standard full-length novel of 75,000 words.
After 75,000 words I charge 0.025 cents per word
Proofreading
For Proofreading, I charge 0.013 cents per word up to the standard full-length novel of 75,000 words.
After 75,000 words, I charge 0.015 cents per word.
Formatting
For formatting for print and eBook, I charge 0.02 cents per word up to the standard full-length novel of 75,000 words.
After 75,000 words, I charge 0.023 cents per word
Please note, this service includes formatting for both print and eBook
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between the editing options?
Each of the editing types do serve a different purpose, and which one you choose depends on what kind of editing assistance you're looking for.
Beta Reading is going to focus on the overall story, and is generally just giving basic feedback from a reader's standpoint. Pick this option if you're wanting to see if your story makes sense overall, or to gauge reader interest.
Developmental Editing also focuses on the story, but it goes a lot deeper than a beta read would. It will focus on plot, pacing, character development, and chapter structure. Pick this option if you're early on in the writing process and want help bringing the story to its full potential, or if you're feeling stuck in any part of the writing process. It's important to know that developmental editing is not someone else writing your story for you.
Copy and/or Line editing are very similar to each other, and tend to get grouped together as one service, but they do serve slightly different functions. One way to think of it is to think of copy editing as "science editing" and line editing as "art editing". Copy editing addresses the technical side of things. For example, spelling, punctuation, and consistency. Line editing addresses the flow of the story. For example, making sure the flow and tone of the story are consistent within the story itself and within the genre as a whole. Pick this option after developmental editing, to help clean your document up from any inconsistencies or errors.
Proofreading is the final step in the editing process. It is a last look-through for any possible missed errors or minor tweaks. Pick this option once you've completed all the other editing processes, for a last look-through before you move on in the publishing process.
How many "rounds" of editing will my manuscript need?
This all depends on how much work you have done/want to do yourself. For the most polished, professional books, you will typically go through at least one round of developmental edits, and occasionally as many as two or three rounds, followed by a copy edit, and/or a line edit, and finishing with a round of proofreading. It is absolutely possible to do all the editing on your own, but that can be extremely time consuming, and having a second, or third, or fourth, pair of eyes on your manuscript never hurts.
What are the steps to self-publishing?
These are my recommendations, and generally how I went about publishing my first book. Other people will have other steps or methods or advice, and that's okay! Pick what works best for you and your story.
First and foremost, of course, is to write! It's okay if you don't know how to start, or maybe you know the beginning, but not the middle or the end, or any combination of those. But write nonetheless, you can always make changes to what you have written, but if you don't write your story, who will?
Once you have the bare bones, or rough draft, of your story, I recommend opening a new, blank document, and re-writing it at least once, if not twice. Don't copy-and-paste, actually re-write the whole thing. This is time consuming, but it does prevent copying previous mistakes over, or duplicating sections.
Once I had a first or second draft beyond the rough draft, I started the beta reading process. However, if you're feeling stuck in your story, or don't have it as fully fleshed out as you would like, I would recommend starting with developmental editing, and then proceeding to beta reading. Again, once you get your beta reader's comments back, I recommend creating another blank document and re-writing the story, this time taking into account any suggestions or comments from your beta reader(s).
These previous two steps basically served as my developmental editing process, because I was trying to get book one out on a fairly limited budget, and chose to do the work myself, rather than hiring someone else. If you don't want to do all the work yourself, here is where you would hire a developmental editor, if you didn't do so before the beta reading.
After I had finished with the beta reading, I started the process for the cover design. This is one of the most important processes you'll do for your book. They say "Don't judge a book by it's cover", but everyone does. You could have the most fantastic, well-written, expertly edited and formatted book, but if the cover is an eyesore, or just doesn't look professional, people won't read it. The cover design will be dependent on the final, formatted, page count, but you want to make sure you get the process started early enough to allow for any revisions you might want to make to the design itself.
While my cover designer was working, I also started doing my own copy and line editing. Again, I did this myself because I was confident I had the skills necessary, and I was trying to keep costs low. If you don't feel confident in your own editing skills, or simply want another pair of eyes to help, here is where you would hire for copy and or line editing.
Once I finished the copy edits, I did hire a proofreader so that I would have that second pair of eyes on my manuscript to catch anything I had missed.
With all my edits complete, I moved on to formatting. This I also did on my own, learning through trial and error, and it was a ton of work that was very frustrating at times. If you don't already know how to format, I would strongly recommend hiring someone to do this step for you, it will save you a world of frustration.
Also during this time period, I started the process of getting my own ISBNs, and a Library of Congress Control number. While places like Amazon KDP and Barnes & Noble Print offer free ISBN's through their site, they don't list you as your own publisher. If that's not something that matters to you, the free ones are great. If you want to have more freedom in where/how you print your book, you need your own ISBNs. The only official place to buy ISBNs is through Bowker, and they have great bundling prices. You will need a separate ISBN for each "edition" of your book. This includes paperback, hardcover, audio, and eBooks. An LCCN is free, but does take time to be approved, and is the only way for your book to be placed in public libraries.
Finally, with the book formatted correctly for print and eBook, I got the cover finalized from the cover designer, and uploaded everything to both Amazon KDP and Barnes & Noble. Both sites walk you through the process and make it very easy to understand, and both are free. Be very cautious of any company that wants to charge you for "self-publishing" services.
Contact me at Charleetwrites@gmail.com with any questions, or to claim your free consult!
