You’ve got a completed manuscript. You’ve done some basic edits and you’re happy with the overall shape of the project.
Now you need a fresh pair of eyes – preferably not belonging to a dear friend or relative (thanks, Mom, but not everything I write is “amazing!”).
The Stylistic (or Line) Edit focuses on projects that have
What a Stylistic Edit Does & Does Not Do
- Focus on story level questions such as
- General Flow
- Scenes
- Transitions
- Clarity
- Sentence Structure
- Readability
- Semantics
- Prose
- General Flow
- Not a Content Edit
- Not a Proofread. It is likely that another pass will be needed to eliminate remaining:
- Typos
- Misspellings
- Punctuation errors
- Repetitive words/phrases
- Continuity issues
The Process
- Send me your project and a summary. The summary should address the following questions:
- A brief outline of the project (3 pages MAX).
- What other feedback and/or edits (if any) have you received?
- A book wiki if you have one and/or style guide if you or your publisher uses one
- We will coordinate about scheduling and pricing.
- I use Editorial Freelancers Association standards for my pricing as a guide – I can be flexible with payment options as I understand most writers aren’t millionaires.
- I will fully read and edit your project. This will include suggestions to reword sentences, rearrange paragraphs, note areas of potential reader confusion, mark things for deletion such as repetitive words/phrases/passages.
- I will send you several documents, listed below.
- You will have a chance to address concerns, ask follow-up questions, and discuss revisions options, either via email or scheduled call/video chat.
What You Receive from Me
- A thorough read and review of your current project
- A style guide, which includes standardized spellings, especially for names and non-English words.
- A fully edited version of your project. All changes will be clearly marked. It will be up to you to accept or rejected suggested revisions.
M. K. Martin 