Kristen is more than an editor, though she is certainly that. You can rely on her keen eye and her ear for language, her commitment to the mot juste. An accomplished writer herself, she knows how to be a trustworthy companion to poets and storytellers, entering imaginatively into the work, respecting and supporting its integrity. Kristen’s skill and whole-hearted engagement with my novel, gave me the confidence to become my own publisher for the first time. I highly recommend her editorial work to independent writers and to those with traditional publishers.

--Elizabeth Cunningham, author of Over the Edge of the World and The Maeve Chronicles

Kristen has a precise way of stepping inside your story and without charging your tone or personal style, helps you make it the best it can be. Kristen is an excellent resource to have as part of your team.

—Remi Zorne, author of Scrapers

I have been an editor for 20 years & have worked on published books like this, this, this & this (among many more). I offer a variety of services:

Developmental Editing

This is the heaviest level of editing. It includes concrete suggestions for strengthening the manuscript if & where needed, such as noting sections that might be moved elsewhere, or specific information that might be added, moved, or removed, along with suggestions for possible new material (ie, “consider deepening character x’s reaction at this moment. Can you show us how he feels in his choice of words, or his physical movements?”). It also includes revision & editing at the sentence level, with some light copyediting included (ie, although I am not editing specifically with an eye to grammar & punctuation, I will flag and fix those types of errors if I find them).

-$60/hour at a review rate of 6 pgs./hour

Copyediting

This is a thorough review for consistency & correctness of grammar, spelling, punctuation & syntax, as well as consistency/clarity in details such as spelling of character names, character descriptions & lowercase/uppercase formatting. It also includes light developmental editing; I point out places where narrative flow or cohesion might be strengthened, or places where character development or motivation might be fleshed out, although I do not offer specific suggestions for how best to do so (ie, “consider moving this paragraph to the next page” or “maybe a bit more of a reaction here from this character to this news?”).

-$50/hour at a review rate of 10 pgs./hour

Manuscript Evaluation

This is a  “big-picture” review of a manuscript draft. Although I do not provide line-by-line comments within the manuscript, I do provide a ­2­- to 3-page written report detailing the manuscript’s strengths as well as areas for improvement, with concrete suggestions (i.e., how to clarify a character’s motivations; options for filling in missing plot points). This is more of a macro-level overview, giving you a sense of how the manuscript might be received by readers & how you might want to approach next steps.

-$50/hour at a review rate of 20 pgs./hour

Proofreading

This is a careful read-through of a manuscript, purely focused on catching & fixing typos & errors (such as misspelled words, missing punctuation, missing words & inconsistencies in formatting & in spelling of proper names & unique terms).

-$40/hour at a review rate of 12 pgs/hour

Editorial Specialties

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