After four years of college and eight total years of manuscript reviews, writing groups, cover letters, emails to editors, workshops, critiques, rants, and gaping late-night plot holes, I've struck out on my own as a freelance editor. Every adventure starts with a single sentence (if you can challenge me on that one, bring it on!) and I would love to help you bring yours to life. For reviews from
clients, more background information, and yet another blurb, please check out my Upwork profile:
https://www.upwork.com/fl/phoenixbunke
Services:
Developmental editing--You've finished your novel, and now you want to find out if it's any good--yes, your mother loves you, and yes, you do need to get somebody else's opinion too. During developmental, or content, editing, I take a look at the overall shape of your plot and your characters and give you an honest dissection of the good and the bad. You will get your manuscript back, sometimes with notes, and a lengthy editor's letter detailing what went right, what went wrong, and suggestions on how to improve. Beta reading--You love your characters so much that you sometimes dream about them. Now it's time to see if your audience feels the same way! Beta reading is similar to developmental editing, but it focuses on the reader experience rather than the technical details. I will read the manuscript, sometimes add comments, and send you a beta letter telling you who I liked, when I cried, what moments fell flat to me, what confused me, and what made my heart race. And I can also recommend other great betas if you want a second or third opinion. Line editing--You're pretty solid about your plot and characters, but you want to make sure each scene's action flows and each line of dialogue makes sense. This is when you need line editing, which is a comprehensive review of the smaller-picture pieces of your manuscript. I can make suggested changes to each sentence that you will be able to accept or reject; or, I can add line-by-line critiques via comments on MS Word. Either way, line editing can take a manuscript from great to amazing. Proofreading/copyediting--When you're just about ready to submit your manuscript to agents, publishers, CreateSpace or Smashwords, it's time for a final review of your apostrophes, em dashes, spelling, grammar, and usage. There are slight differences between these two types of editing, but I can do both. In most cases, I will review every word of your novel, fix errors and query you on uncertainties, and create a stylesheet to record usage details specific to your manuscript. Then I'll run spellcheck, and when it doesn't recognize your neologisms, I will gracefully ignore it. Outline development--Before you write 100,000 words, send it to an editor,and then have to change 50,000 of them, consider hiring me to discuss your next planned novel! Let's talk about ideas, review outlines for plot holes, and discover what your characters' true motivations are. Having an editor look over your preliminary work can save you time and money in the long publishing process.
