Consultant

Editor for hire

I am available for: Author Mentorship, book proposal evaluations, and writing articles, including Book Developmental Editing, Beta Reading and other book projects. I am particularly keen on Literary Fiction, Science Fiction and Historical and Romance Epics but can be relied upon to give substantial feedback on Manuscripts from any genre. 

Shot of four smart businesswomen talking and reviewing the latest work done on the computer in a joint workspace.

Sample 1. Beta Read Edits with extensive feedback:

I turned around startled, my heart slamming against my ribcage. There was no one there. I was alone in the middle of the woods, but I knew I’d just heard someone say my name.

Another scream rang through the night. {join to paragraph} Chills ran down my spine.

“Olivia, wake up. She needs you.”

The area marked in blue needs to be changed. Deleted or rewritten completely. It seems confusing. If the Protagonist is having an out of body experience, you need this to be portrayed clearly. One minute she is is out in the field chasing a suspect, and the next she is being awoken by someone at the station. For instance, if Olivia has any supernatural abilities, you might want to hint at it here.

It does not read very well, because you have tried to use present day with what happened in the past. The last sentence ‘Olivia, wake up. She needs you.’ Is not clear to me who needs her. I’m guessing the one who needs her is the child or person screaming/ Olivia heard in the woods earlier. But if they are now in the Police Station, surely the woman or child who screamed is now in a location of safety.

You could rewrite this using narration, by introducing the supernatural abilities Olivia has, but doesn’t know she possesses. After the paragraph: I couldn’t move…. That’s when you explain that Olivia experienced a mind jump. This is the crucial bit where you explain her supernatural abilities. You could explain what happened or leave it vague. How Olivia saw a struggle taking place, which seemed to render her frozen to the spot… and then she fainted. Maintain an air of mystery throughout, hint at the time frame. How long was she out? Keeping it brief. Either re-write or delete this section altogether.

I lifted my head up startled, blinking at the fluorescent lights of the station’s break room. I felt disoriented for a moment, my lungs struggling to catch enough oxygen, as the remnants of whatever I was dreaming about still held me paralyzed in fear. {Join to paragraph} Deep breaths, Blackwood. Come on. It was just a dream. Or was it? {include} That was just my brain’s way of processing the grim crime scene from last night. There were photos of the body spread all over the table, and that was probably the last thing I saw before giving into exhaustion. That’s all. Nothing to it. {Delete}

Sample 2. Beta Read Edits with extensive feedback:

“I was at the station today when this kid shows up, right? She was pretty banged up, hurt all over, bleeding…” I let out an incredulous laugh and turned to her. “And she tells me I’m her birth mother.”

Marie widened her eyes and looked at me in shock.

“No way.” She gasped, covering her mouth with her hand. “Olivia…”

“Yup.” I nodded and laughed again, shaking my head. “I’ve got a 12-year-old sleeping upstairs and I have no idea what to do, mom.”

Marie looked at me in quiet shock for what felt like an eternity. Now that my initial shock had somewhat subsided, I was starting to think about more practical things, like what was I supposed to do with this kid? Should I keep her? Report her to the authorities and send her back to wherever she came from? The kid was so scared of going back that I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if these people found her. {join to paragraph} So I was stuck. I had an unreported child in my house and I had absolutely no idea what to do.

Olivia is the Deputy Sheriff. Given her designation of authority she is supposed to know what to do in situations like this. This indecision undermines the readers intelligence. As a writer you want the reader to root for the protagonist. This means that if the protagonist shows any indecision as in this case, you will need to show why her indecision shows her vulnerability. You could do this by writing a little more narration to show how her own experience being adopted is affecting her lack of judgement in this case. Show that despite her being Deputy Sheriff, she was still human and prone to indecision exacerbated by the conflicts of interest in this scenario. Dialogue on its own would be limiting in its scope in articulating this to the reader.

Costs Breakdown:

Author Mentorship (Lets talk about your book!)

First Chapter and Synopsis Free Consultation

First Three Chapters (up to 50,000 words) $1000 or ££722.85 depending on the exchange rate

* And as applicable to Developmental Editor Fees for other Chapters

Developmental Editor Fees

50,000 words or less would cost $1000 or ££722.85
* depending on the exchange rate

up to 75,000 words would cost $1500 or £1084.15
* depending on the exchange rate

up to 100,000 words would cost $2000 or £1445.61
* depending on the exchange rate

up to 150,000 words and above would cost $3000 or £2168.38
* depending on the exchange rate

Proof Reader Fees

up to 100,000 words would cost $1000 or £722.85          *depending on the exchange rate

up to 150,000 words and above would cost $1500 or £1089.20
 * depending on the exchange rate

Beta Reader Fees

First Chapter up to 50,000 words and Synopsis Free Consultation

Up to 120,000 words Manuscript
       * Without Edits & Minimal Feedback
       * With Edits & Extensive Feedback

GBP£150, USD $206.94 AUD $283.19, CAD $261.70, EUR €175.93, up to 120,000 words
      *depending on the Exchange Rate

My business hours are flexible and I cater to Businesses, Students, and Authors. As a rule of thumb: Projects with around 10,000 words or less will be done within seven days.