Developmental Editing
Youʼve finished your manuscript, but youʼre not ready for the mechanical side of editing yet. Instead, youʼre looking for someone to point out:
- Plot Development Complications: Where places in the plot are weak (inconsistent with the overall plot, cumbersome, too convenient, etc.); problems with pacing for the exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution; and chapter sub-plot development issues.
- Character Development Issues: Whether or not your characters are unique from the other characters in the manuscript (unique identifiers); if theyʼre static or dynamic; and if theyʼre believable (strengths and weaknesses).
- World-Building Hiccups: If the setting for the manuscript makes sense; whether or not foreign terms (common with science-fiction/fantasy manuscripts) are defined in the prose in a way thatʼs not cumbersome.
- Voice/Pacing: If the manuscript is consistently in the same tense and point of view.
- Contradictions/Inconsistencies: If characters are behaving differently than they have in the past (and itʼs not related to the plot or character development); inconsistencies in technology use (common in science-fiction manuscripts); and contradictions in events.
Deliverables:
- Editorʼs Letter: An overview letter explaining the overall impression of the manuscriptʼs readability, likeability, and marketability for the chosen audience; chapter-by-chapter summary detailing the positive and negative aspects of the chapters; character development, motivations, likeability, and use of dialogue.
- Annotated Word Document: In-document comments pointing out the positives and negatives of the manuscript.
- Style Guide: A document outlining the spelling for proper nouns and foreign terms for the future copyeditor and proofreader, as well as any notes on specific styles chosen by the author (number formatting, as an example).
Cost and Turnaround Time
- $0.0125 per word
- 7-10 days
Line Editing
Line editing involves looking at each paragraph, sentence, and phrase within a manuscript to make sure it reads well. If youʼve ever heard of “showing rather than telling” or “passive voice” in a manuscript, then you know what line editing addresses.
Line editing fixes:
- Awkward Wording: Whether itʼs a phrase not jiving with the rest of the sentence or an entire sentence gunking up the flow of the writing, line editing will fix those awkward moments.
- Passive Voice: This hiccup happens often for new writers, but with a little tweaking, it can easily be fixed.
- Redundancy and Consistency: Repetitive wording and phrases sticks out substantially for a reader, especially starting three sentences in a row with the same word. Inconsistent tense and points of view confuse a reader, and line editing looks for those moments of confusion.
- Wordiness: When three sentences can be condensed into one concise sentence, it should be done to avoid beating the reader over the head with a description or an action.
- Word Choice: Looking for errors in word choice takes into account the audience of the manuscript, such as their age and reading skills.
Deliverables:
- Editorʼs Letter: An overview letter explaining the overall impression of the manuscriptʼs readability, likeability, and marketability for the chosen audience and explanations for the types of changes made in the document (fixing passive voice, removing excessive wording, etc.) to better help the author see these errors in their writing in the future.
- Annotated Word Document: Track Changes will be turned on to facilitate the author accepting/rejecting the changes made easily.
- Clean Word Document: A document with all of the Track Changes accepted in case the author would like to read through it without the red.
Cost and Turnaround Time
- $0.0125 per word
- 7-10 days
Copyediting
Youʼve already had someone complete developmental editing, so you know the manuscript is in good shape, but it needs someone to look at the mechanics of your grammar, spelling, syntax, and symbol formatting. Thatʼs where copyediting comes in!
Self-Publishing Genieʼs copyediting services include:
- Grammar: According to the Chicago Manual of Style, Seventeenth Edition, “grammar is the set of rules governing how words are put together in sentences to communicate ideas.” Is your noun-verb agreement correct? Are your adjectives positioned correctly? Are your phrasal adjectives hyphenated properly?
- Punctuation: Periods, commas, semi-colons, colons, question marks, exclamation marks, hyphens, dashes, parentheses, brackets, braces, slashes, quotation marks, apostrophes, spaces, lists, and multiple punctuation marks all have rules for their usage. Formatting an ellipsis, em dash, and improper punctuation with quotation marks are some of the most common punctuation errors out there, not to mention the commas!
- Spelling: Any copyeditor following the Chicago Manual of Style will tell you the Merriam-Webster Dictionary is the preferred one, but thereʼs so much more than just proper spelling of terms. Thereʼs the distinctive treatment of words (italics for foreign terms); formatting of names, terms, and titles of works; formatting of numbers (the one to ten rule or the one to one hundred rule); treatment of abbreviations; and mathematical symbols and terms, just to name a few. Spelling and the treatment of words is a broad category with many rules. Copyeditors know each one.
- Quotations and Dialogue: Whether or not to use a comma or period with double quotation marks (dialogue tags, for example), setting off poetry, creating block quotations where necessary, formatting run-in quotations, quotations taking up more than a single paragraph, single-word speech, direct discourse, and so much more are a part of this category.
- Style Guide Consistency Check: Copyeditors provide a style guide to their clients if itʼs the first type of editing theyʼre providing. This allows the author to point out which spelling they want for a specific proper noun if itʼs spelled more than one way in a manuscript. For example, Ann versus Anne.
Deliverables:
- Editorʼs Letter: The editorʼs letter for a copyedit will have an overview letter and a section explaining each type of error found in the manuscript, as well as ways to look out for and fix those errors in the future. This is rarely something other editors provide, but I find clients want to improve their writing, and this editorʼs letter aims to do that.
- Annotated Word Document: The annotated Word document will have the Track Changes showing to allow the author to accept/reject the changes as they see fit.
- Clean Document: All of the track changes will be accepted for this document in case the writer would like to read through without all of that red.
- Style Guide: If one was not provided during the developmental editing stage, then one will be provided with copyediting for future proofreading purposes.
Cost and Turnaround Time
- $0.0125 per word
- 7-10 days
Proofreading
A professional has already been over your manuscript for any plot holes, character development issues, and copyediting errors, but you want to make sure itʼs absolutely polished before itʼs sent off to be published, whether youʼre self-publishing or pursuing a traditional publisher.
Self-Publishing Genieʼs proofreading services include checking for:
- Any Missed Grammatical Errors, Punctuation Errors, and Spelling Errors
- Consistency of Character Names, Places, etc.
- Extra Spaces between Words and Sentences
- Extra Spaces at the Beginning and Ends of Paragraphs
- Indents
- Text Consistency (Headers and Body Text)
- Page Numbers
- Proper Breaks between Sections and Chapters
- Triple Asterisks
Deliverables
- Editorʼs Letter: The editorʼs letter for a copyedit will have an overview letter and a section explaining each type of error found in the manuscript, as well as ways to look out for and fix those errors in the future. This is rarely something other editors provide, but I find clients want to improve their writing, and this editorʼs letter aims to do that.
- Annotated Word Document: The annotated Word document will have the Track Changes showing to allow the author to accept/reject the changes as they see fit.
- Clean Document: All of the track changes will be accepted for this document in case the writer would like to read through without all of that red.
Cost and Turnaround Time
- $0.0125 per word
- 7-10 days
Interior Book Design
The editing part is finished, and the manuscript is in good shape for submission to a literary agent or publisher, but youʼre not looking for one of those. Youʼre going for self-publishing, or youʼre a boutique publisher looking for someone who knows how to make your manuscripts look good. The formatting wish is everything you could ever hope for!
Self-Publishing Genieʼs formatting services include:
- Formatting for all major electronic retailers (Amazon, Nook, Kobo, iBooks, Smashwords)
- Formatting for all major paperback retailers (Amazon, IngramSpark, BookBaby)
- Formatting for submission to literary agents or publishers
Deliverables
- EPUB Files: Appropriate .ePub files for electronic publication (this allows for the most diverse formatting options for fonts and alignment of objects and text).
- Word and PDF Files: Appropriate Microsoft Word and PDF files for paperback publication and agent/publisher submission.
Cost and Turnaround Time
- $250 for electronic formatting
- $250 for paperback formatting
- 7-10 days
Cover Design
“Never judge a book by its cover” is a phrase often used to imply people shouldn’t judge something on its outward appearance, but let’s face it, most readers click on the catchy cover design over the plain one every time. Let us take your cover ideas and turn them into a beautiful reality!
Self-Publishing Genieʼs cover design services include:
- Designing an eye-catching cover for digital publication
- Designing an eye-catching cover for paperback/hardcover publication, including the blurb and author bio on the back of the book, and any other key features you’d like!
Deliverables
- PDF and JPEG Files: Appropriate PDF and JPEG files at the proper resolution for upload to sites such as KDP, B&N Press, Smashwords, and many more!
Cost and Turnaround Time
- $250 for the electronic cover
- $250 for the paperback cover
- 14-21 days
Indexing
Have a nonfiction manuscript you want readers to navigate quickly and easily? An index at the back of a paperback/hardback manuscript with page numbers and corresponding entries helps readers find the information they need. And if you want an index for your eBook as well, we can make that happen!
Self-Publishing Genie’s indexing services include:
- Sourcing index terms from the manuscript for the client’s approval or using an already-made index of terms from the client to create an index inserted at the end of the manuscript.
- An index formatted according to the Chicago Manual of Style.
- A professional layout for both the physical and digital copies.
Deliverables:
- Terms List: A list of terms for preapproval.
- Concordance File: A concordance file for future use.
- Indexed Manuscript: A fully indexed manuscript (paperback/hardback and/or ebook).
Cost and Turnaround Time
- $250 for paperback/hardback and/or ebook index
- 7-10 days