Book Coach

I will work with you to map out a first-draft nonfiction manuscript. 

 $1150 for a 3-month package (includes 12 one-hour weekly Zoom meetings or phone calls and weekly writing submission critiques)

$2100 for a 6-month package (includes 24 one-hour weekly Zoom meetings or phone calls and weekly writing submission critiques)

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As your book (writing) coach, I help you identify the most suitable and marketable theme for your manuscript. I will help you stay focused on your theme, help you choose stories that offer evidence of your theme, keep your ideal audience in mind, and serve as an accountability partner. Please note that coaching does not include copyediting; however, I offer editorial guidance and feedback to improve your writing as you go.

Because manuscripts vary in length and complexity and each writer works at their own speed, I cannot guarantee that you will have a completed manuscript at the end of the 3-month or 6-month package. 

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Manuscript Assessment

Overall Analysis

$500 to read manuscript and write detailed report

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With a manuscript assessment, there is no editing. Instead, I provide a detailed report. Since I work in nonfiction, prior to the assessment I will need to know your answers to these questions: Who is your audience? What is your purpose? What promise does your manuscript make to the reader?

I will tell you what works and what doesn't, such as:

• Is a clear theme (argument) maintained consistently throughout?

• Have you fulfilled your promise to the reader? 

• Is the subject matter thoroughly and accurately explored?

• Are the style, tone, and approach appropriate to each of the above?

• For memoir, what is the overall quality of the storytelling, including plot, characters, description, setting, and dialogue?

• What level of editing needs to be done (see below)?

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EDITORIAL SERVICES

Developmental Edit

Shaping Stage

$60/hour

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Also called deep-dive edit, macro edit, or big-picture edit. This is an organizational and structural editing stage. I might suggest moving chapters around, as well as large chunks of text within a chapter. I work with the writer to suggest how to plug holes in the material. For nonfiction, I will...

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• make the chapter arrangement logical.

• give the text a cohesive flow.

• highlight jargon to be defined or eliminated.

• check to assure the tone and language are appropriate to the purpose and audience.

For memoir, I will...

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• comment on plot and character development.

• analyze the effectiveness of the theme.

• comment on scene development and dialogue.

• analyze the suitability of the material based on the ideal audience.  

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Line & Copy Edits

Smoothing & Correcting Stage

$45/hour 

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It's hard to separate line and copy edits. These are paragraph- and sentence-level edits. I check the flow. I decide if every paragraph, every sentence, and every word is necessary. I make sure...

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• the text is clear, logical, and coherent.

• the structure is consistent throughout and easy to follow.

• the tone is appropriate to the material, audience, and purpose.

• spelling, grammar, and punctuation are consistent and correct. 

• repetitious words are removed.

• awkward phrasing is rewritten.

• you've used active voice and you're showing not telling.

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Proofreading

This service is only offered to my clients for whom

I have edited the manuscript

Quality-control Stage

$30/hour

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The end of the line to make the manuscript the best it can be. It's the final review, after the manuscript has been typeset. A clean-up, looking for errors of any kind that happened during the typesetting process: checking for PUGS (punctuation, word usage, grammar, syntax), any inconsistency of font style, weight, and size, problems with page layout, numbered charts, graphs, and images, and widows and orphans.

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