Editorial Services
The Editorial Evaluation
This is an analysis of manuscripts that provides an overview of the strengths and weaknesses. Novelists will receive a full report via email or hardcopy (your preference) of characterization, storyline, pacing, line-by-line craft, voice and where the book fits in the market. Authors can then focus on their revisions on their own or return for further editorial work. Non fiction material will be examined in terms of concept (is it the biggest idea? the most saleable ?); structure and organization; writing style; competition; marketability.
Price depends on number of words.
Turn-around time: Approx. 2 weeks.
Chapter-by-Chapter Editorial Revision
This editorial revision document provides the author, first, with an overview of what he/she should be working towards, the ideal, for all aspects of the novel or non-fiction work. (See Editorial Evaluation). Then, I go through each chapter and find spots where the problems manifest as well as the author's strong points. In this way, I create an editorial revision document that you can use to rewrite the book. The strength of this document is that as each chapter goes by, hidden issues that might not have been clear on the first reading are revealed. For example, in fiction, psychological integrity of a main character might be faulty though this might not be revealed until a plot flaw is unraveled chapter by chapter. In non fiction, deconstructing structural glitches sometimes leads to creating large ideas out of small ones.
Price: $2500. $2000 paid along with receipt of manuscript; $500 when revision letter emailed to client.
Turn-around time: Approx. 3 weeks
Full Project Editorial Tutorial
This is the Master Class, the ultimate in hiring a private editor/writing coach. The tutorial is a page-by-page, paragraph-by-paragraph, draft-by-draft until we drop, hands-on revision. You and I set editorial goals and starting with page one, no matter how long it takes, we meet them. The process is accomplished through phone, skype, email, whatever other technical devices come down the pike. Price is by the project.
Writing Coach/Consultant
By the hour, day or project. Use me as you would a life coach if you are unsure how to start a project or have trouble staying on track. Bounce ideas off me or brain storm with me for an hour or two if something is rolling around in your head but not quite baked. Use this service if you feel stalled or are receiving nothing but rejections with no agent adding a spice of hope. $100 per hour. Certain projects require that 5 to 10 hours be committed up front.
Developmental Editing
We can build your book or deconstruct and then reconstruct your material layer by layer, starting with the concept and moving out from there. This is the heart of Fiction and Non Fiction Development.
Characters With Integrity
I have a special love for developing psychological integrity in fictional people. If you are receiving feedback from your peers or agents that the characters are not three dimensional, I help you study your people to develop a character bible and use this tool to breathe life into your players. This process inevitably pumps up the plot.
Ghostwriting
For professionals who are not writers, I can use your expertise to create the book. For authors who cannot meet their publishers' expectations I can work on editor's or agent's notes to complete final draft. For any book that needs to be "souped up", "jazzed up", "tweaked", or for anyone wanting assistance with memoirs or autobiographies, this is the service to choose.
Advanced Services
(priced per project)
Workshops & Seminars
These workshops and seminars are available for writers’ conventions, writing groups and classes.
The workshops are limited to fifteen people and the students will be asked to submit two pages
of material ten days before the class. The seminars should have no fewer than five students.
A Course in Self-Publishing
A quick history of how the industry legitimatized independent publishing; a review of various publishing/printing models available and their costs; discussion of value of hiring independent editorial, art, and marketing professionals rather than those offered by printer/publisher.
From Your Notebook to the Reader
Evaluating whether your material is a book, blog, article; assessing whether or not you have chosen the most saleable concept; Are the characters actively developing your plot? Is the material structured in the most accessible way? Do characters have psychological integrity? If memoir, what prism should you use to tell your story? All the questions we can ask before we start the outline.
Self-Publishing Secrets - with Ken Salzmann technical and marketing VP
Using our own publishing expertise, breaking down costs, net profit, what we’ve learned about ways to put together sales teams, mistakes we’ve made; developing ideas in house and going after the right authors; marketing on a small scale; social media without breaking the bank; resources
One On One Editorial Meetings
Each individual submits two pages of material 10 days before the workshop and gets 15 minutes of editorial time to give an "elevator pitch" (what is this book about in one sentence) and get editorial feedback on the major aspects of fiction or nonfiction projects.
The Second Draft
8 hours spread over a period of weeks, the class takes each student’s work, based on a synopsis, and suggests where it needs revision. Students have a chance to bring back revised synopsis for review.
Organic Writing - For Fiction Writers
As Jennifer Eagen wrote in the NYTBR "...Assail a character’s privacy from every possible angle, revealing to the reader that person’s impulses, wishes, personal history, habits of mind…" Think of this class as psychotherapy for your major characters. We establish their psychological integrity. We eschew the exercises used for beginning writers, instead building layered psychological and ancestral histories for your characters that automatically work their way into plot. It is true that characters come alive and for authors who take the time to know them early on, the people in your novel will tell you where the novel ends. All you will have to do is channel them.