I’m an editorial veteran with more than twenty years’ experience as a journalist, professional writer, editor, and fiction writer.
If you’re in the market for a well-versed editor for your novel, memoir, or creative non-fiction manuscript, I’d love to connect.
“Jay is an incredibly thoughtful and generous editor who brings a wealth of story and editing experience to any project that comes across his desk. His sense of character, plot, tone, and style is impeccable.” — Paul Morrissey, Eisner Award-winning Writer & Editor
Developmental Editing (Manuscript Feedback)
This offers you a bird’s-eye critique of your manuscript. Using a two- or three-page synopsis or beat sheet of your story as a guide, I will evaluate your manuscript to see how well it adheres to things like story arcs, character beats, plotting, scene craft, pacing, and structure. Where things seem flat, slow, or off-course, I will point that out and offer suggestions for revision. You will get a written assessment of all the above as well as notes in the margins of the manuscript that track my thoughts in the course of reading. A developmental edit will also include a light copy edit as I inevitably will patch up any salient typos and make grammatical/punctuation fixes as I go.
Line Editing & Copy Editing
Line editing is a heavy-duty version of a copy edit, but both are aimed at the same thing: Making sure the style and quality of your writing is up to par. Which one you need will become clear once I take a look at a sample of your work.
In a line edit, we’ll go through the book line-by-line, paragraph-by-paragraph to see how your language is functioning for things like tone, style, vocabulary, and sentence structure. If you’ve never had anyone edit your manuscript, it’s likely you’ll need a line edit. All edits are made in a Word doc, using Track Changes.
In a copy edit, we roll up our sleeves and get to the nitty-gritty of grammar, punctuation, vocabulary, syntax, and style. We’ll comb your manuscript, fixing errors and making sure your style conforms to established publishing conventions. In my practice, this usually means making sure your manuscript is in line with the Chicago Style Guide.
All edits are made in a Word doc, using Track Changes.
Proofreading
This is a scan of your manuscript for lingering typos and errors that any earlier editing may have missed. If your manuscript has already been through a rigorous copy edit, but you want to be sure it’s clean before you publish, a proofread is the right choice.
What’s It Cost?
The cost depends on what you need help with. But usually, I calculate rates based on word length and the type of edit required. The rates vary from between $0.04/word to $0.01/word and fall in the ranges cited in the Editorial Freelancers Association’s official rate sheet.
Rest assured, though, that my rates are competitive and priced to meet the budgets of any and all serious writers.
A FREE Sample to Start Things Off
For starters, we can start with a FREE no-obligation sample edit of three pages lifted preferably from the middle of your manuscript. That should be enough for both of us to decide if we’re a good match and for me to determine what level of editing your manuscript would best benefit from.
My quote will depend on which service you go with and the word count of your manuscript.
How Long Does It Take?
A Developmental Edit or Manuscript Critique usually takes three to five weeks for manuscripts running between 60k to 100k words.
Line Editing is generally on a three- to four-week timeline for 60k to 100k word manuscripts.
Copy Editing usually takes two to three weeks, again depending on the length of the manuscript and how intensive the edit needs to be.
Proofreading usually takes ten days to two weeks for manuscripts between 50k and 70k words.
The above are general estimates, and mileage will vary depending on the manuscript. Contact me using the form below.
Jay Antani 