Services

Turnaround time

Short Works:

Stirling Editing’s turn­around time for edit­ing projects is nego­tiable. If you are pressed for time, let us know, and we will give you a fair esti­mate of how long it will take to com­plete the edit.
The turn­around time will be writ­ten into our con­tract so you can be assured you will receive your work when you need it.

Novel-​​Length Works:

The approx­i­mate turn­around time for a 250-​​page man­u­script is one month.

For shorter works, we can work out a time frame that is applic­a­ble for both our needs.

Fee Rates:

Word Tutorial
$25 an hour

What is a Word Tutorial?
This is an in-​​person tutor­ing ses­sion on any aspect of Microsoft Word 2003–2007 (PC users only) you would like to learn more about. If you are new to Word but need to get a man­u­script prop­erly for­mat­ted for sub­mis­sions, this might be the right option for you. This tuto­r­ial is fully cus­tomiz­able to suit your par­tic­u­lar needs, but you’ll def­i­nitely learn great tricks for stream­lin­ing your writ­ing, edit­ing, and for­mat­ting processes.

Proofreading
$30 an hour

What is proof­read­ing?
Proofreading can also be called a light copy edit and involves cor­rect­ing spelling, punc­tu­a­tion, and gram­mat­i­cal errors; ensur­ing the type­script adheres to the publisher’s house style; and stan­dard­iz­ing the for­mat of the manuscript.

Copy edit­ing
$35 an hour

What is copy edit­ing?
The copy editor’s job may be sum­ma­rized in the 5 Cs: to make the copy clear, cor­rect, con­cise, com­pre­hen­si­ble, and con­sis­tent. Copy edit­ing involves cor­rect­ing spelling, punc­tu­a­tion, gram­mat­i­cal and seman­tic errors; ensur­ing the type­script adheres to the publisher’s house style; adding stan­dard­ized head­ers, foot­ers, head­lines and so on.

–Abridged from Wikipedia​.org

Substantive Editing
$36 an hour

What is sub­stan­tive edit­ing?
Fiction: edit­ing for clar­ity, flow, and ten­sion in regard to plot, expo­si­tion, char­ac­ter devel­op­ment, dia­logue, etc.

Nonfiction: edit­ing for struc­tural orga­ni­za­tion, flow, and clar­ity as well as sen­tence struc­ture and word choice.

Developmental Editing
$38 an hour

What is devel­op­men­tal edit­ing?
Fiction only: No copy edit­ing is involved. The pur­pose of the read-​​through is to iden­tify any major prob­lems in char­ac­ter, plot, or struc­ture. Read-​​throughs are gen­er­ally per­formed for those need­ing a mod­er­ate to heavy edit of a project and take place before the copy edit­ing phase.

Book Coaching
$40 an hour

What is book coaching?

Pure advice with either a story devel­op­ment or mar­ket­ing focus-​​or both! This option is for the budget-​​conscious writer who could use expert advice with a small price tag. It is also a good fit for the writer who has been sub­mit­ting to mag­a­zines or pub­lish­ers but get­ting noth­ing but rejec­tions. Touching base with an edi­tor can help you hone your sub­mis­sion pack­age to make sure you aren’t falling prey to com­mon pit­falls and mis­takes that keep writ­ers in the slush pile.

* To learn more about com­mon indus­try rates, click on the Editorial Freelancers Association’s rates list below.

http://​www​.the​-efa​.org/​r​e​s​/​r​a​t​e​s​.​php

Editing spe­cial­ties

* Style man­ual used: Chicago Manual of Style

FICTION

Query Letters (of any kind)
Synopses (of any kind)
Fantasy
Historical
Romance
Action/​Adventure
Screenplays

NONFICTION:

* Will con­sider edit­ing non­fic­tion projects on a case-​​by case basis. Query us with a descrip­tion of your project.

If your type of writ­ing isn’t listed, have no fear; Stirling Editing is open to edit­ing many types of writ­ing styles and gen­res. The above list is sim­ply a cat­a­logue of our areas of expertise.

NOTE: Before giv­ing your writ­ing to any edi­tor, it is best to do a com­plete edit of your own work using what­ever skills you may have as an edi­tor in your own right. This will help you get a clearer pic­ture of what type of edit­ing you need most. In addi­tion, you may be able to iden­tify spe­cific prob­lem areas you would like an edi­tor to focus on and talk over with you.