EDITING SERVICES
Customised end-to-end editing and publishing solutions
Very few book ideas see the light of day. For an idea to turn into a book that reaches its intended readers, an author goes through years of research, writing, and rewriting along with phases of doubt and uncertainty, pressure from editors or mentors, and a constant battle with vulnerability that comes with any form of artistic outlet.
Being a writer myself, I get that. To ease this process for you, my mentoring and editorial process is designed to help you float through the rough patches, skip over the pitfalls and bring your book to life, while maintaining your authorial voice and style.
Whether you're at the stage of conception, or you're done with your final draft (bravo!), you'll find that our services will guide you every step of the way. The relationship between an editor and a writer is quite intimate in that, we carefully balance our interests and beliefs and work together, with our goals aligned towards making your work reach its optimum value in terms of content as well as quality.
Our role is to be a powerful intermediary between you and your readers, to strengthen your words and tell your best story.
We provide editorial services, mentoring, and publishing consultation to poets, writers of fiction and narrative non-fiction, screenwriters, publishing houses, non-profits, and anyone who relies on compelling words to tell their stories and make an impact.
WRITING COACH
Mentoring and consultation
Writing a book is no easy feat. Being a writer myself, I understand the nuances of this complex creative journey and can help you get your words on the page, meet deadlines, avoid common pitfalls, battle writer's block, and power through to the end.
As a writing coach, I will set up consulting sessions as per your needs, keep a check on your writing routine, send friendly reminders to meet your set deadlines, answer your queries, provide professional advice on structure and style, help you outline your work, and be a motivational guide that does not quit until your best work is put on the page and is ready for a thorough substantive edit.
MANUSCRIPT EVALUATION
Global review and critique
Get professional feedback on your drafts early on. In this service, I will analyse your manuscript and provide a constructive critique on the plot, characters, dialogue, style, narrative technique, and so on. This service won't include any kind of editing or rewriting.
This service is meant to polish your story, and sharpen the structure, giving it clarity and coherence at an early stage.
SUBSTANTIVE EDITING
Content and structural edit
This is a comprehensive assessment of the overall content and organisation of the work. I will revise the work for narrative flow, coherent sequence, accuracy and balance. The manuscript is often revised, cut, or expanded to meet length requirements at this stage. It is checked for repetition, ambiguity, irrelevance, digression, and otherwise superfluous material.
A certain amount of rewriting also happens at this stage. Prior permission is taken of the author and/or the publisher if major substantive work is required.
I will edit the work in two passes. Once you work on the suggestions provided at the first pass, I will do a second review of the work and send final feedback.
COPY-EDITING
Sentence-level edit
In this service, I will do a line-edit of the entire manuscript, checking for grammar, syntax, accuracy of facts, and consistency in style. Typographical errors, incorrect usage, punctuation, hyphenation, abbreviation, and capitalisation is addressed at this point.
Basic chapter sequencing and layout is also checked, while keeping clarity and pace in mind.
PROOFREADING
Final pre-publication error-check
This is the final stage of editing, before the manuscript goes into publication. It is important to note that your work needs to have gone through a full copy-edit and/or a substantive edit before it can be proofread.
Here, I will identify any red flags in the manuscript that may have been missed during the previous rounds of stylistic, structural, and story edit. I will check the copy for spelling, grammar, punctuation, formatting irregularities, design and appearance, linguistic errors, inconsistent style, accuracy in the material, and so on.
This final tidy-up is a very important phase in the editorial pipeline. It determines the suitability of the work for publishing and for its intended reading audience since many of the global and systemic changes can affect the final print or electronic version of the book drastically.
SAMPLE EDIT
Available upon request
You've done your part and have a manuscript ready for an editor's evaluation. Before making a decision, you may want to check if we're a good fit for each other.
In this case, a sample edit can show you how I work and how a line-by-line edit can strengthen your work and polish its structure, thereby increasing overall readability of the manuscript.
I will edit your 1,000-word sample, addressing word choice, narrative style, character voice, author voice, dialogue and expression, recurring grammatical and syntactical errors, pace and flow, and standard layout and formatting inconsistencies.
PROFESSIONAL EDITORIAL STANDARDS
HOUSE STYLE
We follow the Chicago Manual of Style, 17e, unless another style is agreed upon between the publisher, writer, or project manager.
We are well-versed with the linguistic nuances of US and UK English. If you have a preference for a specific editorial style, or have your own style sheet prepared, please discuss the same before initiation of any work.
CONFIDENTIALITY
Your work is in safe hands. We maintain strict standards of confidentiality for your unpublished work along with our communication, throughout the editorial process.
We adhere to legal and ethical best practices, bearing in mind the dimensions of the publishing process.
SCHEDULE
Once we determine the extent of editorial intervention for a particular project, we strictly adhere to set deadlines and expect the same practice from our clients.
Unforeseen changes in timeline may alter the scope of the project, thereby affecting the schedule or budget, which will be brought to your notice at the earliest opportunity.
COMMUNICATION
We're professional, clear, and methodical in our communication internally as well as with clients.
Explanation for editorial decisions is often provided in comments or in the editorial report whenever appropriate. Queries generated are based on our best editorial judgement.
AUTHORIAL VOICE
This is your work and all our efforts will go into maintaining your authentic narrative style and voice. We're in this together, and we know what it's like to walk in your shoes.
Keeping the work's purpose, audience, and medium in mind, we will carefully work with your words to prepare your book for the market.
HONESTY
We will be transparent and forthright in what we can offer you, our process, pricing, and goals.
If you request a service we do not offer, we will gladly connect you with our colleagues in the industry and provide our best professional advice for what is the best approach to take for your work. No false promises, no conflict of interest.