Thanks for your interest, but Chase Editing is no longer accepting new clients. 

Novels (beginning at 50,000 words): You pay ¾¢ (three-fourths of a US cent) per word upon your satisfaction at agreed-upon checkpoints, usually a third, then two-thirds of the way through. You never pay any fees before approving your edited material. If not satisfied at any time, you may stop for no charges beyond the edits you have already approved and paid.

My escape clause for not continuing to edit is I reserve the option to withdraw services, and the client owes nothing for unpaid edits.

–Pricing example for novels: 60,000 words, less 3,000 free = 57,000 words at ¾¢ each = $427.50

Every edit is unique. Only you can judge whether suggestions help your manuscript to read smoother, be more compelling. Until you approve at least the first third of your novel, you don’t risk a penny to find out.

Novellas (10,000 to 49,500 words): You pay 9/10¢ (nine-tenths of a US cent) per word. 

–Pricing example for novellas: 20,000 words at 8/10¢ each = $180.00

Short Stories (2,000 to 9,500 words): To pay one cent per word.

–Pricing example for short stories: 5,000 words at one US penny each = $50.00

Returning clients

You already have e-mail and text access to Chase Editing. In lieu of 3,000 free words, you choose whether we work one chapter at a time, several in a block, or the entire novel at once. You set deadlines (not always possible with new clients). You choose payment schedules, usually after all edits are complete. Returning clients command additional individual benefits.

Contracts

My contract for editing your manuscript is simple and one-sided–in favor of you, my client. After you look over a 3,000-word free sample of your edited writing, you decide whether to proceed or not. For those who do hire me, I edit to a certain benchmark for your evaluation.

1. If you’re satisfied with edits to date, then you pay for only those words edited so far, and we continue to the next benchmark.

2. If you’re not satisfied, there is no charge, and we don’t continue. It’s that simple.

Services

Full-service copyediting is much more than a single-pass copyedit to fix errors. With multiple reads involved, I edit for U.S. spelling and punctuation. Grammar in dialog and narrative is matched to characterization under your guidelines and feedback. I highlight effective repetition and flag and suggest alternatives to unintentional repeats which annoy readers and take away from good repetition. I comment on setting, style, theme and plot, helping to fill plot holes when they open. Facts are regularly checked and reported to you with documentation. Through all of this, you choose what advice to use.

Some “can do” services

Microsoft Word. For those word-processing with Microsoft Word, when I switched to all-electronic grading in the 1980s, Microsoft Word was primarily for business writing, along with its spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations. In my college classes, most students wrote papers with WordPerfect. I graded both writing programs with [blue brackets] inserted directly into the text, the same method employed by most academic and newspaper editors for whom I submitted material.

The good news is when Microsoft Word later developed its sidebar edit feature, it was primarily for business writing, but story and novel writers liked the sidebars, so I developed grading and editing tools to accommodate so that edits with sidebar balloons now go almost as smoothly as [brackets]. Almost. However, you’re the boss. Approximately a third of my clients like MS Word’s “Review/Balloons,” and I’m happy to accommodate if that method is your choice.

Proofreading: For a very small increase over my bargain basement edit fee, I can proofread your revisions based on my earlier edits. The process most favored by clients is to proof revisions a chapter or section at a time. 

Some “can’t do” items

I do not offer proofreading for manuscripts edited by anyone other than myself. I’ve tried to perform the service several times, and it’s turned into complete full-service editing.

Again, the additional service I do offer is proofreading your revisions of my edits.

Another not-so-good side of processing is for those MS Word users insisting on editing with “Review/Track Changes.” This option was developed to deal with business letters and memos going through drafts circulated among executives and secretarial staffs. It is designed for accept-or-reject decisions, not for comments, multiple choice suggestions, explanations, or professional manuscript tools and macros to speed editing. Edits using “Review/Track Changes” actually limit full service, so the feature is not one I can usually offer.

Because of full-service editing for a number of clients at the same time, I cannot possibly predict how much time it will take to edit an unseen manuscript by word-count alone. Some manuscripts having most mechanics in place with authors providing helpful feedback skim to the finish line like a catamaran before a good wind; others without such benefits can trudge along as though we’re hacking through dense green jungles.

I want your business and firmly believe you’re the boss, but writers having tight schedules to publish with short deadlines need to consider a larger editing service, perhaps one employing a staff of junior copyeditors.

 

 Member:    Northwest Editors Guild