Text eMender's Services

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Ever hear the old adage never proof your own work? It’s true! There’s even scientific data to prove why we are compromised in identifying our written errors. It’s not because we are dumb. It’s because our brains are working furiously to ensure that the conclusions we intend are made.

Unfortunately, nothing transforms a smartly constructed sentence to dreck faster than a typo or missing punctuation, not to mention the potential hit it might take on your credibility. Text eMender can help keep your audience’s attention on the information and your expertise vs. on the distraction of text errors.

While it shows up first in the list of my offerings, proofreading is generally the last stage before publication and serves a specific, yet very important role—to ensure all the writing and rewriting went well. The big changes have been addressed (or see I Edit), and this pass is purely to read your project, find errors, mark errors and return your project pristine.

As with proofing, editing your own work is ill advised. The same mechanics that undermine self-proofing apply to self-editing with the additional phenomenon of what I call “every word is gold” syndrome. It’s a phrase I coined to describe an over-attachment to the effort it took to get words from our brain to the page, distorting our ability to see that our message is hidden by the glitter of wordiness.

Like a gardener clearing overgrowth and weeds to reveal the beauty of not only each flower, but the garden as a whole, I drill down into the project to clear the run-ons, inconsistencies, and confusing verbiage to help reveal the wonder of your word garden.

At the copyediting & line editing* stages, words are changed, sentence structure corrected and inconsistencies flagged.

You are probably wondering what “revising” is? Where editing makes your work "look" better, revising makes your work "sound" better; a service of particular use to the writer I've affectionally classified as the “artist at heart.” 

So if you are a teacher, speaker or influencer who has a way with words, but not necessarily writing, or you love to write, but the technical matters of grammar and punctuation busts both your flow and publishing pursuits.

My revision services are essentially one step away from “ghost writing.” I take your raw material and convert it to concise and comprehensible prose, while maintaining your voice and style. With this service, you are gifting your audience with your intended message, without forcing them to find it amid random punctuation, typos and poor sentence structure.

All work is reviewed for the following elements (rates vary depending on project size):

Short Works

Articles/Blog posts/Websites—$20 for word counts up to 750 (average blog post); query pricing for higher words counts.

Includes:

• grammatical errors
• spelling errors
• punctuation errors
• word choice
• check that included links work properly
• check that book and article titles are spelled and formatted correctly (blogs and articles only)
• format consistency
• follows AP style, unless otherwise indicated

* Does not include fact-checking or basic research.

Manuscripts

Fiction—.025 cents/word 

Includes:

• grammatical errors
• spelling errors
• punctuation errors
• word choice
• format consistency
• adherence to Chicago Manual of Style (American English) or Oxford Style Guide (UK English)

Nonfiction—.025 cents/word 

Includes:

• grammatical errors
• spelling errors
• punctuation errors
• word choice
• format syncing
• adherence to Chicago Manual of Style (American English) or Oxford Style Guide (UK English)

Scripts

Movie/Television Scripts: 

Your script has gone through the rigors of doctoring and now needs only to be reviewed by fresh and learned eyes to ensure serious consideration by a film festival or contest panel. Don’t let typos and subject-verb disagreements kill your silver screen aspirations. 

Proofreading—$1.00 per page

Includes:

• grammatical errors
• spelling errors
• word choice

*Formatting is not included in this service.

All work is reviewed the following elements:

Short Works

Articles/Blog posts/Websites—$25 for word counts up to 750 (average blog post); query pricing for higher word counts.

Includes:

• revising sentences for clarity and concision
• fact-flagging (fact-checking on a diet, means any inconsistencies will be flagged for author’s attention)
• consistency of tone, formatting, spelling, style, etc.
• proper concept and idea development
• everything included in proofreading services

Manuscripts

Fiction—.035 to .045 cents/word (depending on level of review)

Includes:

• consistency of tone, descriptions, voice (word choice) and style
• refinement of characterization and dialogue
• hooks and prompts (beginning and end of chapters)
• ill-advised writing habits (starting sentences with same word, use of distracting fillers—like, just, really, etc.—unless it is integral to character or story)
• overused dialogue tags
• everything included in proofreading services

Nonfiction—.035 to .045 cents/word (depending on level of review)

Includes:

• fact-flagging (fact-checking light, meaning items will be checked, but if inconsistencies are found, it will be flagged for author’s attention)
• double-checking of table of contents, footnotes, bibliographies, etc.
• consistency of tone, action and descriptions
• timeline accuracy
• chapter and page numbers accuracy
• proper concepts and idea development
• everything included in proofreading services

Scripts

Movie/Television Scripts: 

Ever notice the characters on the screen never flub lines or accidently invert the first letters of two words? I will make sure that that only happens on purpose as a part of the joke or the character, and ensure plot lines and scene structure are clear and coherent.

Editing—$2.00 per page 

Includes:

• consistency of tone, characters, descriptions, plot, and style
• pacing
• plot holes
• everything included in proofreading services

*Formatting is not included in our services.

All work is reviewed for the following:

Short Works

Articles/Blog posts/Websites—$30 for word counts up to 750 (average blog post); query pricing for higher word counts.

Includes:

• revising, reworking, rewriting as it pertains to its usability to your business or message
• everything included in editing services
• everything included in proofreading services

Manuscripts

Fiction—.045 cents/word

Includes:

• flagging confused characterization, story, etc., and offering clarification
• revising, reworking and rewriting as it pertains to its usability to the reader
• everything included in copy- and line-editing
• everything included in proofreading services

Nonfiction—.045 cents/word

Includes:

• flagging confused concepts and ideas and offering clarification
• revising, reworking and rewriting as it pertains to its usability to your business or message
• everything included in copy- and line-editing
• everything included in proofreading services