DEVELOPMENTAL EDITING
Congratulations—you’ve completed a draft of your manuscript! Getting this far is a massive accomplishment and deserves to be celebrated. Please treat yourself to something that feels especially enjoyable—fresh flowers, a new notebook, a fancy coffee.
What comes next?
Likely you will want someone else’s eyes on your draft. When you’ve spent months or years with a project it becomes hard to ‘see’ it yourself; I am available to read your draft and offer fresh feedback and a new perspective.
I have helped over 100 writers edit their work privately as well as through programs such as the Banff Centre for the Arts, the Sage Hill Writing Experience, and the Humber School for Writers. Some of my students have gone on to publish award winning books; many have had the pleasure of finally polishing messy drafts they’ve struggled with for years.
I offer manuscript evaluations and developmental edits for fiction, memoir, and poetry. You will receive a substantive letter of 5 – 10 pages detailing the strengths of your manuscript along with areas for further exploration or development. This might include suggestions around narrative arc, character progression, dialogue, theme or pacing, among other issues.
I will also annotate your manuscript directly, offering suggestions embedded in the text at the line level. Finally, we’ll have a follow up phone call to address any questions you might have about next steps.
Fees for developmental edits begin at $2500 for poetry and $4500 for fiction or memoir, and depend on word count and how much editing is required. Payment plans are available. Please reach out to book a free exploratory phone call!