Pricing

1. Why do you perform three rounds of edits when other editors perform only one?

As our comprehensive editing encompasses developmental and continuity editing, we are not simply correcting your grammar. For example, when you receive your edited manuscript after the first round of edits, you may see suggestions or questions pertaining to inconsistencies in structural elements, plotlines, chronology, or character development and behavior. These require more than accepting a tracked change to correct.

We give you the opportunity to implement our suggestions, which often creates new or significantly altered content for us to review. As such, those reworked sections essentially require first-pass editing during the second round of edits, so they may call for more attention than the rest of the previously edited manuscript.

This method ensures that we have comprehensively edited the entire text by the third round, and all that remains is the final proofread to polish the minor blemishes that should not detract from your tale.

2. Why does it cost the same to do a 10,000-word manuscript as a 75,000-word manuscript?

Because the same range of time is blocked out for both projects. Each round of editing is scheduled to take approximately four weeks to complete (sometimes longer for manuscripts larger than 75,000 words). Some manuscripts require more time and effort than others, but we cannot possibly know that until we begin editing them. So, we prefer to allocate enough time to give every manuscript the comprehensive care it uniquely requires.

3. What if my manuscript’s word count is between 3,000 and 10,000 words?

Please contact us to discuss pricing by scheduling a Discovery Call.

4. Why do some editors charge less than you do to edit my work?

Many editors charge a per-word price to go through your manuscript once, sometimes performing only one specific type of editing—developmental editing, continuity editing, copy editing, or proofreading.

We go through it three times, covering all four types of editing, often for less than a developmental editor’s per-word average.

We also format your work to go to press in two formats and include two ISBNs and three marketing graphics, at no additional charge.

As of 2026, the average per-word rates for various types of editing are approximately as follows (may vary by source):

Developmental editing: $0.036 per word

Continuity editing: $0.036 per word

Copy editing: $0.027 per word

Proofreading: $0.020 per word

Formatting (fiction): $0.013 per word

Add them together—for a single round of comprehensive editing and formatting—and our per-word rate should be much higher.

5. Why do you charge more per word for manuscripts with over 75,000 words?

To clarify, we only charge a higher per-word rate for the words in excess of 75,000; that higher rate does not apply to the first 75,000 words.

This is because larger manuscripts require considerably more effort when conducting developmental and continuity editing.

6. Can I pay upfront in full, instead of in installments before every round?

Why, yes, thank you!

7. Do you do trial editing to see if we’re a good fit for each other?

We do! For a fee, we will edit a portion of the manuscript using the same methodology we would if you’d handed us the entire thing. Within a week, we’ll return your sample with Tracked Changes and margin comments so you can see if our style matches yours.

If you hire us to complete the work on that same manuscript, we’ll subtract that trial fee from the final installment of your full editing package.

8. Why do you charge for trial edits?

Because we usually perform trial edits on around 75-80 pages of your manuscript, which takes considerable time and effort.

It’s difficult to get a good sense of an editor’s style in only a few introductory pages before the story really gets going, so we like to broaden the sample to better show you how we’d handle your work.