I provide several different types of editorial services, and can provide self-publishing assistance in sever other fashions. Below is a sample of my pricing and the work that I perform. Feel free to reach out to me at john AT falstaffbooks.com for details or to book an editing slot.
Professional Beta Reader
This is the most basic service that I provide. I read the manuscript with a professional eye and provide a short letter with editorial suggestions. This editorial overview provides big-picture notes on structure, style, and general writing skill level, making suggestions on what needs to change. Examples may include discussion of characters that seem irrelevant or underdeveloped, weak openings/lack of hook in the first chapters, general confusion with the plot and intent, or too much worldbuilding/description at the cost of not enough characterization or plot. I will also address things like overuse of adverbs or not enough distinction between character voices. There will be no line editing or sentence-level notes in this process. This is just an overview to point out the general strengths and weaknesses of the work.
Rates – Up to 50,000 words – $200. Longer works are $200 per 50,000 words.
Developmental/Line Editing
This is most of what I do, and it is the heavy lifting of my editorial work. This is the sentence-level, detail work where I go through the entire book line by line and take apart the structure, the language, the character development and everything else. This is not a copy edit or a proofread, and should not be considered the final, publishable version of the book. This is the step where we make sure the story makes senses, the character’s motivations are clear, and that it is a readable, logical, and satisfying story. We focus on word choice, repetition, clarity, style, and narrative voice. Some grammatical errors will be pointed out, but this should not be construed as the be-all, end-all of grammar edits. This is where we make the book good, and we focus on grammar in a later step of the process. This is also the longest phase of editorial, typically taking 2-4 weeks once I begin a project.
Rates – $.02/word, rounded up to the next 100 words. Example – a 100,525 word novel would cost $2,012.00
Copy Editing/Proofreading
I don’t really do this work, but I can refer you to editors that I hire if you like.
Interior Layout/Ebook Creation
I use Vellum to create ebooks and print books from MS Word files. If you would like to hire me to make sure the book looks good on the inside, I typically charge $200 for the layout of a standard novel. If you want much in the way of fancy stuff, it’ll cost more. If you have a symbol for chapter headers, or want interior illustrations, there is an additional charge for that work.
