Hannah Woomer Editing

Editorial Services

Developmental Editing.  Developmental editing, also known as substantive editing, tackles the whole picture, seeing what works and what doesn’t with more involved edits than an evaluation. A full developmental edit also includes an editorial cover letter to highlight the big developmental elements. This service assesses which chapters need to be cut and which ones need to be expanded. It provides suggestions to improve the writing quality, voice, story flow, and dialogue. Do you smoothly transition between scenes and provide all the necessary information? More substantive edits can also be made by adding, deleting, or reorganizing content. This stage helps you restructure and ensure your main themes and plot lines are clear.

Rate: $20-$35 per 1,000 words

Line Editing.  Line editing, also known as stylistic editing, focuses on the words themselves and how they are written within a paragraph or a sentence. It highlights clarity, style, tone, and voice, ensuring what is said communicates well to the reader. The overall plot and structure should stand on its own, so line editing narrows in on the writing style within small sections, tightening and refining the language. Language usage is instrumental. Does it influence the reader properly and convey the right emotion or atmosphere? Do your sentences say what is intended in a precise manner? 

Rate: $20-$30 per 1,000 words

Copyediting.  Copyediting dives into the finer details of a manuscript. It looks at spelling, grammar, and punctuation, yes. But it also covers clarity, flow, diction, and accuracy. The story itself should be complete by this point, so this service is one of the final stages of editing. A crucial component of copyediting is internal consistency. Does everything match? Consistency encompasses general style, characters, places, and timeline. A style sheet is created to document these items. If any detail can be contradicted later, it is cross-referenced across the manuscript. Any major contradictions will be questioned and confirmed by you.

Rate: $15-$23 per 1,000 words

Proofreading.  Proofreading is the final stage before publishing, scrutinizing the bare bones of editing: spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Manuscript content is not reviewed. Traditionally, the manuscript should be formatted for printing by this point, so this service looks solely for any remaining mechanical edits that everyone else missed. Checking formatting issues or ensuring conformity with a style guide is available upon request. Proofreading also inspects layout consistency, including page numbers, headers, chapter titles, and line or page breaks.

Rate: $12-$15 per 1,000 words

Indexing.  When you’re thinking of buying a nonfiction book, you probably check the index to see what the book is about before deciding whether to buy it. Librarians and most browsing customers use the index to help make purchase decisions, and researchers use the index to help choose books to read (and later cite). Your book’s index is, therefore, an important component that should be crafted by a professional. An index may be compared to a map: It tells the reader where to go in the book for particular information. I like to think of indexing as looking at a book from another angle, or even several angles. What is this paragraph or page about? How does it relate to other names or topics in the book? How could a reader reach this information from different entry words? When I index your book, I will read it with fresh eyes, analyse its contents, and choose search terms that your readers are most likely to use. I will break down larger topics to help your readers find what they want and provide cross references to related topics. I follow the Best Practices for Indexing of the American Society for Indexing.

Rate: per project basis