EDITING
cost for 500 words-
Editing for intent
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Editing for grammar and spelling
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Editing for flow
1/5th Second . . .
- Until your readers decide to abandon you rather than read more.
- 85% more website visitors bounce from landing pages with sloppy spelling and grammar than from error-free pages.
- 59% of UK web visitors surveyed said bad grammar or obvious spelling errors would stop them from buying from a website. The majority claimed they “wouldn’t trust” the company to provide a good quality service.
Bad writing is costing American businesses close to $400 billion every year.
—Josh Bernoff, The Daily Beast, updated Apr. 13, 2017
WHAT DO YOU NEED?
Editing for Your Purpose Services
Editing
8 cents/word
Intriguing. Satisfying. Accurate.
If your readers snooze, you lose. Editing for Your Purpose will let you know whether you’ve grabbed your readers from the get-go and if you’ve kept them engaged to the end.
Even if your grammar, spelling, word choice, flow, tone and manner are perfect, what matters most is whether or not you are reaching the audience you intend to reach and educating, inspiring, or motivating them in the way you desire.
Most of us know what we intend to write, which is why we may “see” it correctly in our mind’s eye and miss our own errors when we proofread our own work. That’s why a fresh set of eyes is needed. Even editors need editors for their own writing.
Fact Checking
$30/hour
Credibility is crucial.
Fact checking can include
- Confirming data, such as verifying quoted source data for results of studies and surveys
- Making sure names are correctly spelled and dates, times, and ages correct
- Touching base with quoted sources to confirm the contact and identification information and that they said what they’re being quoted on
- Researching information if needed for support
Coaching, & . . .
$55/hour
Getting you on track.
- Where does your great idea fit in with what you want to accomplish?
- Do you know who will most want to read what you’re writing, and why?
- Are you an expert who’s much better at talking or doing than writing?
Our first step in coaching is to define your goal. Once your goal is clear, we map out a plan for you to achieve it, providing the encouragement, resources and accountability you need to succeed.
FAQs
To use Merriam Webster‘s most relevant definitions, editing is . . . “to prepare (something, such as literary material) for publication or public presentation” and “to alter, adapt, or refine especially to bring about conformity to a standard or to suit a particular purpose.”
In the latter case, conformity might be to The Chicago Manual of Style, or to the Associated Press Stylebook, or to a client-specific style guide.
In lieu of any of those, Editing for Your Purpose will edit based on correct style and grammar, clarity, flow, and we are attuned to our client’s needs. The purpose will vary based on the project and client.
- In the case of website copy, for example, the goal might be to entice subscriptions, purchases or clicks.
- For a non-fiction, editing will focus on whether the writing effectively captures and maintains interest and successfully makes its desired points.
- Fiction is intended to entertain. Editing will evaluate the opening hook, scenes, character development, story structure, plot, pacing, narration, and a satisfying ending.
Editing isn’t rewriting. The purpose of editing is to point out what changes need to be made or considered. While obvious corrections such as spelling errors and capitalization are caught in the editing process, the writer, not the editor, owns the responsibility for what will and will not change. More than that is considered ghostwriting.
Ghostwriting is writing on contract for a client who will list someone other than the ghostwriter as the author.
- The client contacts Editing for Your Purpose to see if their needs and our services are a match.
- An agreement is drawn up, outlining client needs, pricing, timeline, etc.
- Once the agreement is signed, Editing for Your Purpose will complete up to 3 rounds of editing.
- During the process, the client decides what changes to accept or reject.
While grammar and spellcheckers have come a long way, they are still usually not smart enough to know when a correctly spelled word is still not the correct one. For example, one of my first editing jobs I pointed out that “secrete” was probably supposed to be “secret.” I was correct.
No. While the completed content is publish-ready, formatting for publication is not part of Editing for Your Purpose’s services.
