Process
How this works, start to finish.
Hiring an editor shouldn’t feel like a leap of faith. Here’s exactly what happens, in order.
BEFORE ANYTHING
We find out if we fit
1
You reach out and tell me about the book: title, genre, word count, and what you want it to become.
2
I reply within two business days. I answer your questions and comment on what you’ve told me about the book. If you like what you read, the free sample comes next.
3
Free sample: you send your opening 2,000 words and I send back a real critique of it. You review it and judge the fit on my actual work.
4
You decide. No pressure and no follow-up chase.
BOOKING
Your slot, confirmed
5
A 50% deposit books your slot. I confirm the final quote on the full manuscript and give you a delivery window.
THE READ
The read, then the document
6
I read it as a reader. Straight through, minimal notes, letting the book do what it wants to do.
7
Then I go back through as an editor, turning every reaction into a diagnosis, anchored to chapters and pages.
8
And I keep going back as many times as the book needs. The number of reads is whatever it takes to give you the best analysis I can.
9
While I have your book, you’re not in a black box. You’ll hear from me when I start, and if anything needs your input along the way, I’ll ask.
10
I build your document and deliver it: the letter, the notes, the book map, whatever your tier includes. The remaining balance is due before delivery.
AFTER DELIVERY
You sit with it, I answer
11
You read it, start revising, and collect your questions and doubts.
12
When you’ve sat with the letter and want to talk back at it, I answer. Every question the feedback raises is part of the service.
13
If your tier includes a wrap-up call, we book it here, once the letter has had a few days to settle. Read everything once without trying to fix anything. Then read it again with a pen.
One letter, start to revision
The manuscript
A science fiction dark romance, around 100,000 words. The same book behind my anonymized sample letter, shared with the author’s permission.
The diagnosis
Two books were fighting inside one draft: a literary novel about consciousness, and the erotica smothering it. Under both sat one habit: the story discharged every charged moment the instant it built, either explaining the tension away or consummating it. And the antagonist walked in cold at the climax, after twenty chapters offstage.
The moves
Small and surgical. Seed the antagonist with a single unnamed glimpse during the heroine’s collapse, so his arrival lands as recognition instead of surprise. Cut the narrator’s questions and let the reader sit unsure about the love interest, because doubt hits harder when the reader reaches it alone. And tighten the parked middle so the recovery chapters carry threat instead of comfort.
What happened next
Within days the author was back inside the manuscript: cutting the narrative questions chapter by chapter, reworking the collapse scene to hide the antagonist’s first appearance in it, restructuring the middle, and trimming the book under 90,000 words. A few of the bigger points, in her words, “hit like nothing else.”
See how I work before you commit.
Every project starts with a free sample: send your opening chapter or first 2,000 words, and I’ll return a detailed critique so you know exactly what you’d be paying for. One per author.
Request your free sample
Prefer to talk it through first? A call is available before you book or after delivery. Just ask.