Editing Services
Sarah offers editing services throughout the year. If you're looking for someone to read your work, please feel free to contact Sarah about her availability.
Sarah has an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults and is happy to look at work aimed for children or adult audiences. She specializes in genre and contemporary fiction, but if your manuscript falls outside of these parameters, please feel free to check with her on her ability to provide your writing with the assistance you're looking for.
OPENING CHAPTER EDIT
An opening chapter edit is about assessing the very beginning of a manuscript on a full picture and line level basis. It will focus on the big and the small.
Opening chapter editing is appropriate for authors preparing to query or submit a manuscript sample to a variety of markets.
Base: $100.
Sarah will read your first chapter (not to exceed 4,000 words) and provide inline comments, sentence level fixes and corrections (focusing on grammar, style, punctuation, and flow) and include a short edit letter about the larger scope of the opening chapter.
DEVELOPMENTAL EDIT
Developmental editing assesses manuscripts on an overall level. It deals with "big picture" issues and elements such as (but not limited to:) story structure, internal and external plot and character arcs, inciting incident, pacing, and characterization theme development, world building, and setting.
Base: 2 cents per word
Service includes inline comments throughout the manuscript as well as detailed feedback in an extensive revision letter. Sarah may also include worksheets to help the author focus on a specific craft area of need, as well as a possible reading list, when relevant.
LINE EDIT
A line edit is appropriate for manuscripts that are nearing the finish line. The structure and content of the manuscript should already be well-organized. Line editing is for manuscripts that require polishing.
Please Note: a Line Edit will not replace a copy edit. If you are an author planning to self publish, Sarah highly recommends reaching out to a copy editor beforehand. Please feel free to contact her if you are looking for references.
A line edit is appropriate for those authors who are preparing their work for submission to markets and agents.
Base: 1 cent per word
Service may include (but is not limited to:) punctuation, submission formatting, grammar, sentence flow, unneeded word repetition, fonts, small errors (extra spaces, typos, missing words, etc.)
EDITING PACKAGE
If an author is interested in both a Developmental Edit and a Line Edit, Sarah offers an Editing Package at a discount.
Base: 2.5 cents per word
Service includes a full developmental edit and a full line edit.
DISCOUNTS
If you are friends with Sarah, ask her about the Friends and Family discount!
If you are a Hamline Student (current or alumni) please ask her about the Hamline discount.
If you have attended a panel, lecture, or talk of Sarah's at a conference or event, feel free to ask about her conference discount.
If you are a marginalized author, please ask Sarah about her discount.
TESTIMONIALS
"Sarah puts to use a unique set of complementary editorial skills. Her big picture comments astutely honed in on my manuscript's weaknesses, and helped me focus on how to strengthen my character arc and plot. Plus she read my novel so closely, she caught all the little logic errors that are easy to miss, making for a fantastic line edit. Her edits were sharp and helped me get my manuscript into tip-top querying shape!"
-- Writer Elle Evans
"Sarah uses an excellent balance of what is working and what needs changing. Her grasp of structure and plot, and how to convey it to me, really brought my story to life."
--Author Rena Rocford
Sarah has an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults and is happy to look at work aimed for children or adult audiences. She specializes in genre and contemporary fiction, but if your manuscript falls outside of these parameters, please feel free to check with her on her ability to provide your writing with the assistance you're looking for.
OPENING CHAPTER EDIT
An opening chapter edit is about assessing the very beginning of a manuscript on a full picture and line level basis. It will focus on the big and the small.
Opening chapter editing is appropriate for authors preparing to query or submit a manuscript sample to a variety of markets.
Base: $100.
Sarah will read your first chapter (not to exceed 4,000 words) and provide inline comments, sentence level fixes and corrections (focusing on grammar, style, punctuation, and flow) and include a short edit letter about the larger scope of the opening chapter.
DEVELOPMENTAL EDIT
Developmental editing assesses manuscripts on an overall level. It deals with "big picture" issues and elements such as (but not limited to:) story structure, internal and external plot and character arcs, inciting incident, pacing, and characterization theme development, world building, and setting.
Base: 2 cents per word
Service includes inline comments throughout the manuscript as well as detailed feedback in an extensive revision letter. Sarah may also include worksheets to help the author focus on a specific craft area of need, as well as a possible reading list, when relevant.
LINE EDIT
A line edit is appropriate for manuscripts that are nearing the finish line. The structure and content of the manuscript should already be well-organized. Line editing is for manuscripts that require polishing.
Please Note: a Line Edit will not replace a copy edit. If you are an author planning to self publish, Sarah highly recommends reaching out to a copy editor beforehand. Please feel free to contact her if you are looking for references.
A line edit is appropriate for those authors who are preparing their work for submission to markets and agents.
Base: 1 cent per word
Service may include (but is not limited to:) punctuation, submission formatting, grammar, sentence flow, unneeded word repetition, fonts, small errors (extra spaces, typos, missing words, etc.)
EDITING PACKAGE
If an author is interested in both a Developmental Edit and a Line Edit, Sarah offers an Editing Package at a discount.
Base: 2.5 cents per word
Service includes a full developmental edit and a full line edit.
DISCOUNTS
If you are friends with Sarah, ask her about the Friends and Family discount!
If you are a Hamline Student (current or alumni) please ask her about the Hamline discount.
If you have attended a panel, lecture, or talk of Sarah's at a conference or event, feel free to ask about her conference discount.
If you are a marginalized author, please ask Sarah about her discount.
TESTIMONIALS
"Sarah puts to use a unique set of complementary editorial skills. Her big picture comments astutely honed in on my manuscript's weaknesses, and helped me focus on how to strengthen my character arc and plot. Plus she read my novel so closely, she caught all the little logic errors that are easy to miss, making for a fantastic line edit. Her edits were sharp and helped me get my manuscript into tip-top querying shape!"
-- Writer Elle Evans
"Sarah uses an excellent balance of what is working and what needs changing. Her grasp of structure and plot, and how to convey it to me, really brought my story to life."
--Author Rena Rocford