Most editors require a deposit for a job and state a total price, often incorrect, at the beginning. We do neither.

Instead, we work in short periods of a few hours, often equal to about a chapter. When each piece is completed, we email an invoice for the completed work, the client pays the invoice (usually via paypal), then we deliver the work, usually by email, often within minutes of payment. The client is under no obligation to continue with the job and may cancel the remainder of the work if he or she is not satisfied with the quality or speed of work, though this has never been the case. We feel this is the most honest and flexible approach.

When clients read our edits from the first chapters or sections that they submitted to us, they learn many lessons about improving their writing and often apply these lessons to additional segments before sending them to us. The remainder of the editing then proceeds faster and thus costs less. We also provide clients with embedded comments and cheat sheets with clues for improving the remainder of their texts before they submit them to us, should they decide to do so.

Clients can work on parts of larger manuscripts while we work. Our turnaround for each segment of work is commonly one day or less. We usually work in MS Word with all changes tracked, so clients can review  changes and easily reject edits deemed unwelcome (changes can also be viewed in the free OpenOffice). We insert bubble comments to mark places where the original meaning was unclear or where we have suggestions for revisions.

We work closely with our clients to ensure that we meet their needs. Sometimes they choose to meet with us in Berkeley to ensure the most comprehensive understanding of their needs and the particularities of their texts. But most often we work entirely via the Internet and phone.

Every text is different. To get a sense of how fast we will be able to work through your text, and thus estimate the total time, we can do a test edit of a page or two. Because we work more quickly than many editors and because of the quality of our work, the vast majority of our clients feel that we have given them an excellent value when their projects are complete.

When submitting your text for editing, you can let us know about general style requirements—APA, MLA, Chicago, and so on—and any specific style requirements from the intended publisher or institution.

See our hourly rates and testimonials.