Independent authors are often guilty of rushing to publish and often don't realise (or can't afford) the extensive and repetitive work of proofing, correcting and revising that goes into a work of the highest quality.
I was guilty of the same attitude with my first novel. After the book had been out for a few months I read it to my son and almost died of shame! I sent it to a respected editor and received enough notes to rival the Summa Theologica for sheer quantity.
Since early 2010 I have been offering my services as an editor to independent authors. It immediately became apparent that there was a big demand for affordable, but nevertheless meticulous, editing. I rapidly acquired bookings into the early part of 2011 and therefore decided to set up as a full time editor.
My intention is to offer a range of services that cater for a variety of needs and budgets. For those new to editing or wary of committing a lot of money to the top end services I offer two entry level "taster" edits: The First Page edit and The First Five pages. With these services you get to see what I can offer, but you will also see how I work on the page so that you can use this knowledge to improve your own self-editing.
The top end services - The Full Line Edit and the Literary Edit are priced according to word count but are still considerably cheaper than most editing services. I've been fortunate enough to work with some of our best independent authors this year and they've all been generous in their feedback, especially regarding value for money and collaboration. I think this latter is invaluable: authors need to maintain overall artistic control and so it is essential that we enter into a respectful dialogue at all stages of the process. At its best, editing becomes a mutual learning experience. The ultimate beneficiaries, however, are the readers. If independent writers are assisted to raise the standard of their publications their reputation will soar and we all benefit.
I'd like to encourage you to look through the services listed in the right margin and contact me with any queries, or just to say "hello".
I can be reached at: derekprior@yahoo.co.uk
All the best.
Derek
