These services are charged
by word count, one cent ($.01) per three (3) words. A 50,000 word manuscript
evaluation or copy edit would total $150.00. There is a $30 minimum charge.
Additional charges may apply if the manuscript requires extensive evaluation
or editing.
Initial charges will
be calculated on the description of your project sent by email. This initial
quote may need to be revised when the sumission is received. One-half
of the total cost is due at the time service is ordered with the
balance due when service is completed.
Allow two weeks for
shorter evaluations, four to six weeks for full manuscripts and copy edits.
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These services comprise:
Proofreading/copy editing
Manuscript evaluation/critique
We will evaluate or edit as
much or as little as you need -- from a one-page synopsis to a full manuscript.
These apply to your
story.
Submissions are evaluated according
to commonly identifed submission guidelines from various publishing houses.
Readability is evaluated according to the guidelines found in How To
Write, Speak and Think More Effectively, by Rudolph Flesch.
Obviously, there is a certain
amount of subjectivity in evaluating a story. This can enhance the objective
standard evaluation, particularly when an evaluator's opinion has been
shaped by writing and editing experience and extensive reading.
Your submission will be evaluated
for:
Overall strengths and weaknesses
Plot, story arc
Characterization, character
arc
Goal, motivation, conflict
Emotional engagement
Setting, location
Dialogue
Description
Pacing/li>
Readability
f you are confident of your
grammar and spelling, but less secure in your storytelling, consider this
package.
What you get:
A written report with extensive evaluation of your story in the areas identified
above.
These apply to your
writing.
Submissions are edited for
spelling and grammar using Garbl's Style Manual, Dictionary.com. and other
online grammar resources.
Your submission will be checked
for proper capitalization and punctuation. Grammatical errors will be identified
and corrections suggested. Common errors include subject-verb disagreement,
overuse
of adjectives and adverbs, dangling participles, and passive voice, their/there/they're
errors, and others. If you're confident of your storytelling ability,
but unsure about grammar and spelling, this package is for you.
What you get.
You will receive via email attachment a copy of your submission with errors
highlighted and suggested corrections.
Sample edit:
Copy edit of "Watchdog" for author T--- J---- Prepared by Connie Ward, Word Slinger Boutique Author
Services
Darkness shrouded Aberdeen
Heights in West Vincentown. In the daytime, it was an older ,
(1) post-war, working-class neighborhood of brick ranch houses --
now, in the new millenium, showing assorted add-ons, a variety of fences
and outbuildings, and mature trees and shrubs. At night, though,
dwellings disappeared in shadow. Most of the orangy street lights were
obscured by enormous live oaks and tall pines. Here and there, porch
lights or security lights burned, but for the most part, darkness reigned.
At 2 o'clock
a.m., (2) a small import pickup turned off Highway 90 onto
the neighborhood's main thoroughfare, Thomason Street, and slowed dramatically.
Seated
in the passenger's seat, a glance around the neighborhood gave Rebecca
a feeling of minor discomfort. (3) She glanced at the man behind
the wheel. She could barely make out his handsome profile by the light
of the dashboard.
How dear he was! And how good! How
he cared about people, and the world, and what went on in it.
And how she loved him.
But of course, it was too soon to
acknowledge that, even to herself.
Her eyes went back
(4)Thomason Street. Down the road at a distance, a halo of light
from a 24-hour convenience store spilled softly onto the pavement.
Along both sides of the thoroughfare, visible faintly in the ambient light,
large brown garbage cans lined the right of way, standing next to every
driveway entrance and awaiting the pre-dawn arrival of the county garbage
collection truck.
The small import
(5) pickup rolled silently down the street and then braked, halting
in the road. Suddenly, teh (6)headlights blanked
out and the truck turned into a break in a roadside hedge, onto a sandy
driveway.
(1) Remove space before
comma, add space after comma.
(2) Use "two a.m." "o'clock"
not needed. Generally, spell the numbers one through nine, use numerals
for 10 and above. Refer to a style manual for exceptions.
(3) Dangling modifier. Grammatically
the opening dependent clause, "Seated in the passenger's seat," modifies
what follows the comma after "seat" which is "a glance," when it actually
modifies "Rebecca." Also, "Seated" and "a feeling of" are implied so can
be cut. Suggest:
In the passenger's seat, Rebecca glanced around the
neighborhood with minor discomfort.
(4) Word missing, probably "to."
(5) Suggest removing "small, import."
Reader has already been given these terms five paragraphs earlier.
(6) Suggest deleting "Suddenly".
Suddenness is almost alway implied and thus the word is rarely needed.
Start sentence with "The" correctly spelled.
How to submit.
Send an email request to Word
Slinger Boutique with the words "Evaluation Request" or "Edit Request"
in the subject line. Email should describe your project (for example, short
story, full length novel, query letter and synopsis), the estimated word
count, the services you wish to order, and any questions you may have.
There is no charge for this preliminary email consultation.
If you decide to purchase the
service, send initial payment via PayPal, notify us by email and attach
your submission in .doc, .txt or .rtf format. You will receive an acknowledgement
of order and a receipt for your payment.
When the completed evaluation
or edit is delivered to you, acknowledge receipt by email and send remainder
of payment.
