CONTENT EDITING

If you already have a completed manuscript (or one in development), our editors can work with you to allow your story and your message shine through and prepare the book for agents and publishers..

Why You Need an Editor

Everyone does, even the pros. An editor does much more than fix errors; they shape the narrative and content, improve style and fluidity, and (perhaps most useful of all) they’ll make the tough choices for cutting and condensing text, which is something authors find particularly difficult or confusing.

Content editing (sometimes known as line editing) is a comprehensive service that improves style, flow, word choice, and sentence structure, and sometimes makes changes to organization and structure, while taking care to preserve your unique voice and style.

It’s the professional polish you need to get your manuscript publication-ready.

What Does It Cost and How Long Does It Take?

Content editing costs 6 cents per word ($3000 for a 50,000-word book). It usually takes between 2-3 weeks (sometimes longer for lengthy manuscripts).

Do I Also Need to Pay for Copy Editing?

We include copy editing in our content/line editing rate. Some editors separate, and charge separately, for these services.

What to Look for in an Editor

Selecting an editor is challenging for several reasons. There is a vast number of editors and editing companies advertising their services online; most of them are of questionable competence and a few are outright scams. Ideally, you’ll work with an editor who has experience in your particular genre, who has worked at a Big Four publishing house, who understands the nuances of story structure and the craft of narrative writing (not only for fiction but for nonfiction, memoir, and business books too), and who excels at “getting under the hood” of a text to assess what is working and what needs to be fixed. To put it candidly, many editors can fix grammatical errors, put the comma in the right place, or heap praise on your work, but fewer intimately understand strong writing and how to give your book that professional, polished touch. At Oceanside, our editors have experience working for a traditional press and provide elite-level service. It’s not the least expensive, but it is among the best.

How Can Editing Help Improve Your Book?

Editors are skilled at finding the blind spots that even the best writers overlook, at every level of the writing, from the high level (plot, organization of chapters, theme in fiction or the thesis (main argument) in nonfiction) to the most detailed level (whether an idiom or word is used correctly, whether a certain phrasing sounds awkward, places where the author has repeated the same statement). Our content editing service (also called line editing) means making actual changes to the text, smoothing out the rough spots and bringing your natural voice to the fore. We also make comments in the margin, to highlight points that require clarification, explain the reasoning behind certain edits, or offer praise for a well constructed idea or eloquent sentence).

All changes are made with the ‘track changes’ feature so you can see what the editor has altered. You also have the option of negating any change you don’t agree with. After all, it is your book, and you are the boss.

Can I See a Sample of Your Work?

Of course. We can also provide a sample edit of 1000 words for just $30 – the best way of demonstrating how we can help and if we’re a good fit.