What should I expect from a line edit?
A line edit focuses on the music of your story: the prose. Jenny will be your accompanist throughout this part of the editing process, following your musical direction to address and improve issues found in the novel’s narrative flow, scene-level pacing, dialogue, exposition, word choice, imagery, tension, and mood.
She’ll start with a cold read of your full manuscript to ensure each subsequent edit is strengthening, not changing, the impact of your voice and your story.
After the cold read, she'll perform a full line edit using Microsoft Word’s Track Changes, including in-line changes for your review and detailed comments explaining changes, suggesting revisions, and enthusing about that word choice that made her reread the sentence twelve times because it was so beautiful it made her cry a little bit.
Note: A line edit differs from a copy edit, which addresses mechanical issues such as spelling and grammar.
Service Overview
Deliverables: In-line edits, marginal comments, style sheet, editorial letter
Investment: $0.032 per word
Time: 4-6 Weeks (depending on word count)
Sample Edit: We offer a complimentary sample edit of up to 1,000 words for line editing. Please send two consecutive chapters from the middle of the manuscript, and we'll select the excerpt that will best demonstrate the impact of a full line edit.
Step One
30-minute Consultation
Here’s where we sit down and do what writers love most: talk about your book! We want to hear what your book is about, any concerns or pain points you have, and where you see it going.
Step Two
Manuscript Review and Editing
We'll read the entire manuscript and get to work on in-line changes and marginal comments.
After your edit is delivered, you'll be free to accept or reject any revisions using Microsoft Word's Track Changes. As the author, you always have the final say.
Step Three
Issue Deliverables
Your complete manuscript with in-line changes and marginal comments.
You'll also receive a tailored style sheet for your manuscript with notes about unique spelling, syntax, continuity, and more. This style sheet helps us track details and stay true to your unique voice during the edit, documents your stylistic choices so your copy editor knows they're intentional, and provides you with a bird's eye view of your manuscript from a line editing lens.
Finally, you'll receive an editorial letter with comprehensive notes, actionable solutions and advice, resources tailored to your needs, and next steps to start your revision.
Step Four
30-minute Post Consultation
After you’ve had time to review your deliverables, we'll regroup and discuss any questions you might have about the edit. We'll also offer advice for next steps based on your desired publishing path.