Stirling Editing

Welcome to Stirling Editing’s page for fic­tion writ­ers! Here you’ll find in-​​depth infor­ma­tion about Stirling Editing’s spe­cial­ties and ser­vices. Please query us for more infor­ma­tion. We would love to hear from you.

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My name is Cheri Lasota and I am a free­lance edi­tor spe­cial­iz­ing in fiction.

As both a fic­tion writer and free­lance edi­tor, I under­stand first­hand the pit­falls of the writ­ing process. All writ­ers work dif­fer­ently and many need or desire a per­son­al­ized approach to com­mu­ni­ca­tion about their writing.

Even as an edi­tor, I like to uti­lize a wide range of dif­fer­ent read­ers and edi­tors to cri­tique my own work, sim­ply because every pair of eyes will catch some­thing that no one else noticed.

Stirling Editing takes a unique approach to the edit­ing process.  One of my asso­ciate edi­tors will do an ini­tial edit and I fol­low up with a final edit. We call this tan­dem edit­ing, and every man­u­script that comes to us receives this level of atten­tion and care. It takes a lit­tle longer in terms of time, but our writ­ers essen­tially receive two edi­tors for the price of one.

In addi­tion, Stirling Editing can aid the new writer in nav­i­gat­ing the tricky sub­mis­sions phase. We can pro­vide you with indus­try knowl­edge, point you toward count­less writ­ing resources and share our own writ­ing meth­ods if you need help in the early stages of writing.

We sin­cerely want to adapt our ser­vices to fit your indi­vid­ual needs, so please let us know how we can accom­mo­date you. Stirling Editing wants to give you a ser­vice that is lit­er­ally tai­lored your way.

—Cheri Lasota
Principal Editor

The Next Step in Getting Published

Congratulations! Your man­u­script is com­plete and ready for pub­li­ca­tion . . . Or is it? No mat­ter how much time you’ve spent pol­ish­ing your work, attend­ing work­shops, or read­ing about how to get pub­lished, there’s noth­ing quite as valu­able as a trained, pro­fes­sional set of eyes read­ing your man­u­script. Period.

It’s easy for authors to miss errors in their work for a num­ber of rea­sons. There’s either a rule on gram­mar or punc­tu­a­tion they just don’t know about, or they’ve become so famil­iar with their writ­ing that their eyes fly right over mis­takes, some big, some small, but all of them worth cor­rect­ing. Consistent errors and sloppy style are major turn offs for agents and edi­tors. It’s added work for them and it will slow down the pub­lish­ing process. You also have to remem­ber how many sub­mis­sions pub­lish­ers get in the mail: thou­sands and thou­sands and thou­sands per year. The com­pe­ti­tion you’re up against is stag­ger­ing. If there’s a man­u­script that’s bet­ter writ­ten than yours, chances are, the publisher’s pick­ing that one. Hiring an edi­tor will elim­i­nate some of that com­pe­ti­tion, guaranteed.

There are authors who are intim­i­dated by edi­tors, or afraid they’ll destroy their work. Don’t be afraid. A great edi­tor will rec­og­nize your writ­ing style and enhance it, bring­ing con­sis­tency, clar­ity, and cor­rect­ness to the edited work. It’s an editor’s job to help you get pub­lished, and a good one has as much pas­sion for the writ­ten word as you do. Find one with expe­ri­ence, dis­cuss a rate and a time­frame, and then let the magic begin.

There are a few lev­els of edit­ing your piece might need. It could involve devel­op­men­tal edit­ing of the story itself, or restruc­tur­ing at the sen­tence level, or a round or two of copyediting, in which the work is read let­ter for let­ter, and checked for everypos­si­ble mistake.

Editors shouldn’t take the wheel in inter­pret­ing the story. They’re the pas­sen­gers, alert­ing you to the rules of the road, and sug­gest­ing enhance­ments that will get you to your read­ers (and sales) faster than you could on your own. Many edi­tors are also deeply con­nected with the pub­lish­ing world at large, and they’ll be happy to point you towards a spe­cific pub­lisher or agent who might be look­ing for a man­u­script just like yours.

So, check us out. Give us a call. Send us an E-​​mail. We’re happy to dis­cuss your project and its poten­tial needs.