Production · from $0.018 per word · 3 to 6 weeks for an 80,000-word manuscript
Developmental, line, copy, and final proofread. Four levels, one promise: an edited manuscript an acquiring editor would respect.
Most authors don't need one edit. They need three. Developmental for the shape of the book, line for the rhythm of the prose, copy for the rules. We do whichever you need, in whatever order makes sense for where the manuscript actually is.
Four editing levels, named editors, transparent per-word pricing, and a $250 sample edit so you know what you’re buying before you buy it. Most authors come in thinking they need one level of editing and leave doing two — usually developmental followed by copy. That’s normal. We tell you in writing which levels your manuscript needs, in what order, and how long each will take.
Send the edit through one round and call it done. You always get the editor’s first pass, your response window, and a second cleanup pass. Anyone quoting you per-word with “one pass” is selling you half an edit and counting on you not to know.
Behind the scenes
Five shots from the studio — the kind of work that ends up on your project.
The work, in three tabs
A 5,000-word sample edit plus a written assessment ($250) telling you which editing level you actually need. Refundable against the full editing fee if you proceed.
Send us the first chapter, we edit 5,000 words of it. You see real editing, not a sales pitch, before you commit.
Memoirist's editor. Worked on the development of seven memoirs that hit the NYT or Wall Street Journal lists between 2018 and 2025. Specialty is interviewing reluctant authors out of the third chapter and into the seventeenth.
What book editing services actually does
Same paragraph, before our work and after. The kind of difference twelve focused hours makes on a page.
Sample deliverables
How it works
Week 0
Send us the first chapter, we edit 5,000 words of it. You see real editing, not a sales pitch, before you commit.
Week 1
The editor on your project is named. They have a bibliography. If their previous books aren't a fit, we re-match.
Weeks 2–4
The bulk of the work happens here. Developmental edits run 2–3 weeks for an 80k manuscript; line edits, 1–2; copy, 1; proofread, 4 days.
Weeks 4–5
You accept, reject, or query each change. Most authors take 5–7 days. We don't bill for waiting.
Week 6
Editor reviews your responses, resolves any open queries, delivers the final file plus the style sheet.
Pricing
No 'contact us for pricing.' If a tier here looks close to your project, the final quote on the discovery call will be within 15% either way.
Grammar, punctuation, consistency. For manuscripts that already work structurally.
Sentence-level rhythm and voice work, on top of copy editing. Most common pre-publication edit.
Structure, character, pacing, argument. For manuscripts that need a re-shape, not just a polish.
The lead, in full
They join the discovery call. They sign off every deliverable. They are not a sales rep.
Senior Memoir Editor, 11 yrs
Memoirist's editor. Worked on the development of seven memoirs that hit the NYT or Wall Street Journal lists between 2018 and 2025. Specialty is interviewing reluctant authors out of the third chapter and into the seventeenth.
Case study
Studio
When we say no
We turn down work every week. Less stressful for everyone.
Book editing services — FAQ
Send us the manuscript and we'll tell you in the editorial assessment. As a rough guide: if the structure or argument feels off, developmental. If the structure is solid but sentences feel uneven, line. If everything works but you want a typo-free, rule-consistent file, copy. If you've already had a copy edit, proofread.
Line editing is about how sentences feel — rhythm, redundancy, voice consistency, transitions, paragraph break placement. Copy editing is about rules — grammar, punctuation, capitalization, hyphenation, fact-spot-check, style sheet. A line edit is roughly 4–6 hours per 10,000 words; a copy edit is 2–3.
No. Your manuscript does not get pasted into ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or any model that retains training data on submissions. We do use Grammarly (configured to not store text) on the copy-edit pass. The developmental and line edits are entirely human work.
Yes. Fact-checking is an additional pass priced at $0.025/word on top of editing. We use the standard rule: every claim that could be wrong gets checked against at least two independent sources, ideally three.
Reject it. The tracked-changes workflow exists exactly for this. The editor will sometimes push back if the rejection introduces an error (say, a continuity break), but the final call is yours. The book has your name on it.
We edit manuscripts. The same edited manuscript is then used for ebook and print formatting — both formats use the same source text. The only place format matters is in proofread, where we proof both the ebook and the print proof separately because each catches different things.
Tight deadlines: 7 working days for a copy edit on up to 80k words, 14 days for a line edit. We charge a 35% rush premium. We will not take a developmental rush — it's not honest work in under three weeks.
Always. Mutual NDA before we read past the sample. Our editors are individually bound by a confidentiality clause too. Your manuscript is your IP and stays that way.
Pairs with
Most projects use two to four services. We bundle on the discovery call.
Ready when you are
A 30-minute discovery call with a senior editor — no sales script, no pressure. We'll tell you whether we're the right fit for your project, what it would cost, and how long it would take.