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Email me for questions and availability.

NOTE: My office hours are noon to 5pm, Eastern Standard Time, Monday through Friday.

I will answer emails during this time. I prefer NOT to do business over the phone -- conducting all business through email provides references for both of us to work from, and documentation, and helps prevent misunderstandings.

In Northeast Ohio?

Look for my listing on THUMBTACK

  Editor, Proofreader, Screenwriter, Playwright

NOTE: I charge an HOURLY rate, not by the word or page.

I average between 7 and 15 double-spaced, 1" margin, 12pt font pages per hour, depending on how much work your manuscript needs. This should give you an estimate of how long each round of edits your manuscript will need -- and it is ALWAYS up to you if we do a 2nd or 3rd or 4th round of edits.

If I have not worked with you before, starting June 1, 2011, I will require half my estimate for the first round of edits paid in advance. Sorry -- blame the people who came before you, who took 3, 4 months to pay, or "forgot" to pay at all. I have bills to pay, just like you.

I edit people who want their stories told and aren't ashamed of writing fun, popular genres. I edit people who want to make you laugh and cry and shiver and cheer -- and make you think.

I'm going to concentrate on your mechanics, because it doesn't matter how "beautiful" your sentences are if people can't understand them. I'm going to edit so your pages flow smoothly and the readers don't have to stop every three sentences and re-read it and think about it before they can go on. That's a waste of time, and people don't want to have to work when they read. So I'm going to put grammar, spelling, punctuation, structure, logic and the "Huh?" Factor at the top of the list. 

If I think you need to do so much work you can't afford to work with me, I'll TELL you, and offer solutions.

If it's fiction, I'll work with you to make sure your heroine isn't Too Stupid to Live, and your hero has something more than testosterone between his ears. I'll yell at you if your characters are acting on a blank stage. I'll nag you until the sequence of events make sense, and your characters don't  get out to take a walk before they park the car.

If you have non-fiction, I'll ask questions to get more information, and make suggestions for a clearer presentation of your point.

You have to come to me with a manuscript -- not a pile of notes that you think "will make a great story," or a rough outline of what you think you want to do in the story.

I will NOT write your book for you -- that's ghost writing, not editing. 

YOU are responsible for the final product. YOU need to be the last set of eyes to read your manuscript before you turn it over to a publisher. YOU need to demand the publisher sends you galleys, so you can screen it one last time for mistakes before publication. 

I recommend that you get family and friends who have never looked at your book before read through it, to catch anything that you and I didn't.  

I'm helping YOU make your book fit YOUR vision. So that means you have to work even harder than I do.

And remember, we're ALL HUMAN, so I'll make mistakes. Be kind, okay? I'll sure try to be kind to you!

Proofreading

Transcribing/scanning documents from typed pages to .doc files

Mechanics (grammar, spelling, punctuation, sequencing, continuity)

Analysis (the dreaded red pen, and every instance of the "Huh?" Factor)

Screenplay and stage play editing/analysis and critique

Turning YOUR short story or novel into a screenplay or stage play

Credentials:

10 years in the editorial department at a community newspaper

Over 40 short stories and poems in fandom

Over 40 novels and novellas published with small presses (and counting. In 2011 I will release 6 books and 5 novellas)

Editor/publisher of a fanzine and a short fiction magazine

5+ years working for a business publisher, changing transcripts into book chapters

8 years proofreading for a national advertising agency

Editing for various small press publishers

BA in theater and English

MA in film/writing

Member of the Christian Pen editors/proofreaders group