Editing

Erin Bow is an excellent editor: precise, thoughtful, accurate and supportive. Her advice is always lucid, and she in no way overwhelms an author’s voice. She’s just the sort of guide a writer — beginning or experienced — needs. Hire her. She’s a gift.

—Seánan Forbes, New York

Who I edit:

I want to help young adult and middle grade writers who are good enough to be published, and just need a solid edit to get their manuscripts to the top of the pile. I myself write science fiction and fantasy, but I read and edit contemporary stuff too.

What it costs:

I do two kinds of editing — structural and line-by-line. Structural editing is more important, and cheaper. I also help writers with their query letters, and you can read about that, here.

Structural editing: $475 per novel

Every writer needs an editor. I know I need mine: I just get too close to the story to see the big picture. This is what a structural edit is: a careful, through evaluation of the the big picture. In your editorial letter you can expect detailed notes about your characters, plot, pacing, and style. My goal is to help you build on your manuscript’s strong points, and spot its weak points so that you can change them into strengths. (Or possibly drag them out the back door to be shot, that happens too.) But my usual approach is not to fix your story for you — it’s your story. I want it to keep being your story — your best story.

Follow-up consultation is included.

Line editing: $2 per manuscript page

Line-editing is a line-by-line polish of your work. For line-editing I charge $2 per manuscript page. For a whole novel, this can add up — but you might want to consider it for the sample chapter you’re showing to agents. For a line-edit, I look at every paragraph, every sentence, every word. I can help you with music of the text, the voices of the characters, and the fact that you use “throw” five times in three paragraphs.

How it works:

Line by line edits are easy: you send it to me, I roll up my sleeves and make spiffy suggestions. Substantive edits are more complicated, and they work on these three principles.

First: I want us to click.

When you send your book out for publication, you’ll want the right editor. It’s just as important now, as you get your book into publishable shape. To ensure that fit, I’ll want to see a good-sized sample — 10 manuscript pages or so — before we even get started. There’s no cost for this, and I turn it around fast. If I feel like your writing and my editing can go dancing together, I’ll take a turn around the floor for you: I’ll send you a few thoughts about your opening pages. Think of it as a free sample. If you like it, you can hire me. If you don’t — well, no harm, no foul.

Second: I want us to have some back and forth

Okay, so now you’ve hired me. You should send me your whole manuscript, and any notes you have about your particular concerns. I’ll want to spend a couple of weeks with it, reading it, re-reading it, and thinking about it. After that, you can expect a detailed editorial letter.

Third: I want to leave my door open

The editorial letter is the bulk of my work, and once you get it, you should pay me. But I know you’re bound to have questions, things you want to talk about, ideas you want to bounce off me. Go ahead. Editing is a two-way street. I won’t have a meter running; there won’t be surprise charges. If I feel this is taking up too much of my time, I’ll let you know (guilt free!) and we can come to some kind of arrangement. If you want me to read a new draft, I can do that, at a reduced fee of $200.

What I’d really like to do is not edit but mentor, as they do in UK’s Gold Dust program, where I spend 10 hours a month going back and forth with you, for 10 months in a row. But so far I haven’t found anyone willing to spend the $250 a month fee.

What to expect from an editorial letter:

You can expect detailed notes on your characters, plot, pacing, tone, and style. I’ll note where I got bored and where I couldn’t put the manuscript down. I’ll give you practical general advice on, say, switching up the lengths of your sentences, or making your character’s voices distinct. I’ll tell you what I think it working — and why. And what’s not — and why not. In past edits, I’ve suggested things like eliminating subplots, swapping the order of chapters, and integrating flashbacks into the action. Once I suggested that two rivals might also be brothers — and watched in amazement as that novel came to life as if hit by lightning. But not all editing is that specific. The job of the editor is to spot problems — they cannot always identify solutions. That’s the writer’s job.

The most important thing to know about me as an editor is this: it’s not my book. It’s your book. My job is not to turn it into the book I wish you’d written — but rather to help you write the best book you can write. The book that’s closest to the one that’s been in your heart all along.

Frequently asked questions:

Q. Can you guarantee that I’ll get published.

A. No. Frankly, I can’t guarantee that I’ll get published (again). The business is fickle, and some brilliant books don’t sell. I also can’t refer you to my agent or my editor. They’re not mine to give away, and they’d be rightly prickly if they felt they were for sale. Besides which, it wouldn’t really help you. Editors and agents are not only looking for good books, they have individual tastes and needs that none of us can guess at. It all comes down to finding the right manuscript at the right moment, and that’s as much luck as anything.

Q. Can you help me find an agent?

Sort of. I can tell you how I did it — I wrote about that, here — and walk you through a parallel process. But the work of deciding which agent to approach is yours to do. If you want to bounce your query letter off me, that’s fine too. If you want me to work hard with you on your query letter and polish it to a diamond shine — yeah, sure, but I do charge for that: $75

Q. Will you look at a new draft?

Yes. I’m interested in long-term happy relationships. I’d be glad to read a whole new draft, at a reduced fee of $200. I’m also here as a sounding board and general idea bouncer around-er. It’s hard to put a price tag on that, so it’s free. If it starts to eat up a lot of time, we can make some kind of more formal arrangement.

Q. What are your qualifications?

Oh, those. You know I can write — but of course not all writers can edit.  It helps to read widely in the field, which I do.  I’ve also served on an editorial board, at the New Quarterly, for more than 12 years.  I’ve served as a library writer in residence and a writer in the schools. And of course I’ve edited for friends: nine novels, four of which are now published.  But to be frank, this freelance business is new to me, which is why my price is (so far) low. I have collected some testimonials, and I could pass them along.  

Fine print:

$475 is for a novel up to 75,000 words. There is a $2/1000 word charge for novels longer that that. For line editing, a page is a manuscript page, which is generally 250 words. I have a $25 minimum for line editing. Canadian clients: I am required by law to charge you HST.