The State of Your Story

Greetings fellow storyteller! If you are reading this, you are likely a writer looking to get your work to the next level: Sharing it with others. I’m here to help you edit your fiction or narrative nonfiction manuscript. My goal is the same as yours, to get your manuscript in the best shape possible!

Getting Published

A quality manuscript will get you noticed by an agent. That will get you the attention of a publisher. But that’s not the only route to take. Self-publishing is a viable route around the industry gatekeepers and gives you the power to get your story out exactly the way you want to tell it. The first question you need to ask yourself is the following:

Do I Need An Editor Now?

My answer to that is, how many people have read your manuscript and given you feedback? If it’s less than 3, I say no. Find a local writers’ group to help you polish your manuscript. You need to get a lot of feedback from a variety of people to hone your story to the point where you are sure you have a coherent story that has all of the fundamentals in place. It’s also ideal to get feedback from people who aren’t friends or family because you will be more likely to get the most honest and less biased critique.

I offer three levels of critique to cater to each author. Each tier is more involved and is priced accordingly.

Manuscript Evaluation
Content Editing
Development Editing

Manuscript Evaluation is the simplest and most broad service I do. In essence, I read your manuscript and tell you what I think about it. Once you’re comfortable with your manuscript to share outside of your immediate circle, this is where I come in. Think of this step before you look for an agent. Do you have a complete story? Is it a page-turner? Is your main character successful in being a vessel for an audience to follow, learn, and experience a journey with? Are your supporting characters substantial? Is your antagonist interesting and not two-dimensional? Are there obvious problems or gaps that can be filled in? Is this a sellable book? There is no editing done to your manuscript.

I send you back my written critique, which is The State of Your Story document. It’s typically around two to three pages long for a 60,000-word manuscript. Also, a one-hour-long phone call/teleconference meeting where we can talk about your questions and concerns and we can kick ideas around for what you can do next.

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Content Editing is my most popular service. This includes copy editing and line editing. Two, one-hour-long phone call/teleconference meetings at the end. You will get three documents back from me.

Inline edits and comments in your manuscript.
Chapter breakdown. Here I write down the main beats of each chapter and any pressing concerns I have with the chapter. An excellent way to see the beats of your story in front of you in a more digestible manner (manuscripts are tough to skim due to their size). Great way to find and address pacing issues.
The State of Your Story document as described above but more in-depth.

The inline edits will be copy-editing mistakes (punctuation, typos, verb tense) I find along with formatting errors (such as improper quotation usage). Line editing consists of such elements as sentence structure, contradictions/continuity errors, weak transitions, and overuse of words. Comments will highlight any problems (and compliments!) I find.

I keep my edits to be pretty simple at this level. I won’t constantly rewrite sentences. I want to keep your voice in your manuscript, so I will highlight and leave a comment such as “What do you mean by this? It’s confusing.” This way my edits are more like guidelines for you to consider. If I see a bad problem, I’ll rewrite the sentence/section and tell you why I did it. Then, when it happens again (we all have our bad writing habits, trust me) you’ll better understand the problem I’m pointing out and know how to fix it.

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Development Editing is the most detailed service I offer. This is for when you have a manuscript that you believe is close to being done, but you need detailed help addressing the parts that are nagging at you and you can’t figure out. The fundamentals are all there but you feel stuck. It’s surprisingly easy to get lost in your own story; consider me the one who will find you in the forest and guide you out. My edits will be much more involved.

You’re committed to your story and want to share it with the world. You want your writing to be the best it can be. We’ll talk about your concerns first, I’ll edit it with great detail on my own with what you told me in mind and you’ll get all three documents back that are listed in the Content Editing level. We will brainstorm ideas and craft those missing pieces together to finish your manuscript. You can expect a lot of feedback at this level.

About Me

After finishing school with a Communications degree in Television and Video, I spent the next few years working in the television and newspaper industry. Then I moved into marketing and research. Throughout this time, I worked on my blog, scratching my long-time itch for writing. After Hurricane Sandy rampaged through my home state in 2012, it got me thinking: what would happen if the power never came back on? I couldn’t stop thinking about it and started to write what would become The Darkest Winter.

In 2014, I joined The Mahwah Writers’ Collective to see if my first novel had any value outside of what I thought of it. The group not only made me a better writer but also made me a better listener and communicator. It’s been such a positive aspect of my life that it made me want to share these valuable skills with others. I’ve been running the writers’ group for 9 years and have been fortunate to work with many people who I can proudly say are my peers and friends.

References are available on request, please reach out to me with any questions and get a quote.