So, I Read This Book Today . . .
Editing Fees and Guidelines
As my editing jobs have become more numerous, I have updated my Editing Fees and Guidelines. My editing and proofreading includes checking for grammar, sentence structure, misspellings, and pointing out plot inconsistencies, etc. At this time, my base charge is $0.008/word, with a minimum of $50, payable via PayPal. Editing jobs I am currently working on, received before May 1, 2014, will continue to be edited at the old rate.
If your manuscript is less than 5,000 words please let me know and we can work out pricing. I prefer to set up appointments for your manuscript, but please, send your manuscripts to me as early as possible. I can often work them in sooner than they are scheduled, but advance notice is much easier.
I use Microsoft Word 2013. I use the Track Changes application while I edit and leave the decision as to whether or not to accept those changes to you. I also tend to leave extensive notes outlining the reason for specific changes, noting uneven or awkward sentence or paragraph flow, or even if I noticed something that just doesn’t feel right.
Full editing is completed in one of two ways. The first choice is that I completely edit the book and provide you with a corrected copy, highlighting changes and corrections and making when appropriate extensive notes. Your second choice is full editing. I take the book in hand, do all corrections and changes and provide you with print ready copy. The charge for print ready copy is $0.010/word.
Please note: Books from authors who speak English as a second language, hence requiring a great deal more correction for grammar, or books with extensive re-write may be significantly more. You may send me your book for pricing if you feel there may be extensive work needed on the book. Pricing available upon request.
After I have edited a manuscript, I will send it back to you. Once you have made changes, you can always send it back to me for a second pass at no charge. Please note: If second-pass changes are truly extensive, I will reserve the right to bill a second payment for the second pass. I want to be fair to you, but I also want to be fair to myself. Just as writing is difficult, though rewarding, editing a book in a manner that will make you proud of your final product is a lot of work.
For available books on which I have worked, please see my “i-edited” shelf on Goodreads. You may contact any of the authors with whom I’ve worked for a reference. I am also very willing to provide you a sample of my work to see if we are a comfortable fit. I can be easily contacted through Goodreads or by e-mail at soireadthisbooktoday@centurylink.net
I look forward to working with you!
Artful Dodger (Maggie Kean Mis-Adventures, #1)
Artful Dodger – Nageeba Davis – 3 starsA Kindle “Freebie”
While other readers apparently really loved this book, I must confess to a somewhat less ebullient attitude toward the book. As with many other reviewers, I would greatly wish for a half-star in order to give the book 3 ½ stars, but as that is not the case, I must sadly drop a full star. Once I state my case, you will either agree or disagree. As always, everyone’s tastes are different.
What I liked about the book is the mystery itself. Well written and smart, the mystery itself, involving the murder of the main character’s neighbor and close friend, was plotted meticulously and was highly believable. The denouement itself was heart-rending, and, had the book been based solely upon the mystery itself, would have been a five-star read.
The crippling aspect of the book, to me, was the character development. For all that I desperately wanted to like the main character and the relationships in the book, I simply couldn’t. Don’t get me wrong – many aspects of Maggie were admirable. She is strong and funny in many ways. However, her anger and attitude were over-the-top for a woman with her background. OK, maybe women all have ‘daddy issues’. However, Maggie’s issues wind up forcing me to see her as a spoiled, self-centered mess with very few truly good characteristics other than an admittedly hard-fought love for her neighbor. Honestly, I would have loved for her neighbor to have hung around and someone else to have been killed – Elizabeth is one feisty, fascinating character I would have loved to have followed.
As for the love interest, Villari, he is well written to a point, but his immediate attraction to this character is somewhat unbelievable given the way the heroine is written. Maggie is angry and aggressive, and seems to glory in the fact that she is a total psychological mess who, while dreaming of being an accomplished artist, can’t be bothered to finish anything she starts. Add in her inability to show even a modicum of care for her own well being (the whole eating the green lunch meat thing because you can’t be bothered to occasionally drop by the market just turned my stomach) and the idea of a well-pulled-together male lead falling for her is beyond believable. As much as we all might long for the hunky hero to fall for the plain-Jane, this one was just a little too over-the-top unbelievable to me.
Overall, I wanted to love the book a lot more than I did. I originally started the book as a light read between much deeper, more powerful books that I am doing for the authors as R4R. It had great potential, but in the end Maggie herself drug the whole book down until I simply finished it to find out ‘who-dun’-it’. At least I wasn’t disappointed by that particular outcome.