Services Menu
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​Developmental Editing
Rate begins at $50 per hour.
Developmental editors work closely with authors to strengthen and refine the content of individual manuscripts. We consider a given manuscript's intended message, as well as its style, organization, pacing, and overall arc. In fiction, we help develop characters, address plot holes, and hone universes; in creative non-fiction, we look at themes, organization, and for an overall logical presentation of material. This type of editing is analysis-based--developmental editors use our experience and best judgment to strengthen the overall piece. This may include substantial editing, insertion/deletion of material, or directing an author to rewrite selected parts of the manuscript.

Line Editing
Rate begins at $45 per hour.
Equal parts art and craft, line editing is a deep-dive edit of your manuscript on the line-by-line level.

Line editors edit with the reader’s perspective in mind while preserving author style and voice. We concentrate on elevating tone, improving style, maintaining consistency, enhancing clarity, and (in fiction) polishing dialogue. Line editing involves restructuring sentences, decreasing repetition, and addressing word choice. As with copyediting, line editing also incorporates technical corrections, including edits for grammar and punctuation.

This is the type of editing in which I specialize, and it can be done in conjunction with writing coaching and/or developmental feedback. Many of my clients, especially first-time authors, find my coaching/feedback invaluable.

Copyediting
Rate begins at $45 per hour.
Copyediting is often confused with proofreading, but these are not the same services.

​Copy editors focus on the technical aspects of writing; through a thorough line-by-line reading, we correct grammatical errors, misspellings, incorrect homophone usage—all the mechanics of the language. We examine the the flow and consistency of the text, and we often eliminate wordiness. We also ensure that brand names, titles, and institutions, are referred to correctly and consistently, as per a given style sheet or usage manual. Word choices, sentence structures, and even meter are considered at this level of editing. A copy editor may occasionally rewrite a sentence or move a paragraph, but this level of editing does not include substantial reshaping of the text or changes to the overall arc of the manuscript.

Proofreading
Rate begins at $35 per hour.
Proofreading is the final stage before a manuscript is published. If your manuscript has not been, at a minimum, professionally copyedited, it is not ready for proofreading.
 
Proofreaders make your work "camera ready." We take a line-by-line look at a manuscript to ensure that all typos, misspellings, and stray characters have been addressed. We correct very simple grammatical errors, which are usually created by typos (e.g., become vs. became). We also check issues related to basic formatting such as consistent treatment of headers, and we will sometimes double-check the copy editor's work, if necessary, to ensure correct usage/spelling of manuscript-specific terms, brand names, titles, or institutions.

Note: I do not proofread manuscripts I have edited, as is proper editorial practice. However, I do work with trained proofreaders who will likely be available to provide this service as a secondary Agreement with Erika's Editing.

​Rewriting
Rate begins at $45 per hour; editing is not included.
​If a manuscript is not yet ready for editing due to issues such as excessively poor writing or sub-par translation, or if the manuscript contains heavy instances of awkwardness or repetition, it may need to be rewritten. Authors whose passion overrides their skills, who wrote their work in haste, or who are non-native English speakers may especially benefit from a professional rewriting.
 
Rewriting entails reworking a manuscript to clean up language in the technical sense, thereby bringing forward its core ideas and intent. Rewriting is different from developmental editing in that the editor is rewriting only, and is therefore not looking for issues related to manuscript development; rewriting is different from a copy editor's work because copy editors correct the mechanics in an existing text rather than writing text afresh.
 
I offer rewriting services for shorter manuscripts (~20,000 words or fewer) only.

Résumés, Correspondence, Proposals, and Smaller Projects
Rate begins at $45 per hour.
Not everyone in need of editorial services is an author. On a case-by-case basis, I will provide editorial assistance to those who have highly individual, smaller projects such as résumés, cover letters, press releases, book proposals, grievance letters, guest blogs, and similar. Any/all of the above-listed services will be included and modified as needed for short-form, rather than long-form, writing.

Other Services by Fidel Louis
Erika's Editing is proud to offer business and financial copyediting, business plan writing, and translation in three languages as provided by Fidel Louis. To learn more or contact Fidel, click here. Fidel also offers services for "Résumés, Correspondence, Proposals, and Smaller Projects" as described above.
If you are unsure of the services you
require, I will help identify your needs. 
Contact me for a free consultation.