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Questions
and Answers about Editing
I
don't know if my book needs editing. How do I find out?
Why
do I need to have my book edited?
What about the spelling and grammar
checking functions of my word processor?
What's the difference between proofing
and editing?
How
does the editing process work?
What kind of experience do you have?
What do
you charge?
I don't know if my book needs editing. How do I
find out?
We'll be happy to look at your manuscript at no cost to you, and give you an idea of what, if
anything, your book needs. Our editors can tell you whether you need
proofing; whether your grammar and sentence structure are okay, or whether you
need a full edit or rewrite that will resolve these issues. There's no
obligation; you can use our report and find your own editor, or you can use one
of ours. It's up to you. Just send us the
manuscript, and we'll get back to you within two or three business days.
Why do I need to have my book edited?
We don't accept every book that comes in over the transom, and there's a good
reason for this policy. There are companies that will publish anything,
but that's because they make their money through the initial setup fees, and it
doesn't matter (to them) whether or not the book ever sells a single copy.
Booksellers and libraries are well aware of who these publishers are, and they
know not to buy from them. Llumina, on the other hand, cares about its
reputation and won't put anything under its imprint that will detract from it.
That's one reason why we insist that all our books be thoroughly edited.
The other is that we wouldn't feel comfortable selling a book we knew to be
poorly written.
What about the spelling and grammar
checking functions of my word processor?
As any English teacher
will tell you, they
just don't work that well. Unless you're already an expert in grammar,
these functions are often useless, failng to tell you what the actual mistake is
or telling
you to correct things that are already correct. Spellcheck will not
find errors in the use of homonyms such as coarse/course, sail/sale etc. For
these reasons, we use highly skilled professional editors who have been tested
before hiring.
What's the difference between proofing,
editing, and rewriting?
Proofreading corrects
errors in spelling, grammar and punctuation, along with inconsistencies in
format, capitalization, etc. Editing
does all that, and also looks at the bigger picture of style, clarity, and
questionable grammatical and structural choices at the level of the sentence. Rewriting
does everything proofreading and editing do but also includes untangling
sentences that are unintelligible, rearranging sentences in proper order and
other organizational work. If the book
were a house that needed work, proofing would entail putting things away and
tidying up; editing would include moving furniture into more advantageous
positions. Rewriting would involve finding the dead ends in the structure
and rebuilding it so that it all hangs together harmoniously.
How does the
editing process work?
When we edit a book, we work with the
writer on all issues except simple grammatical changes and proofing
errors. We make suggestions as to structure and organization, and keep
track of all changes we make concerning word choice or sentence structure so
that the writer can decide whether to accept our changes or not. It's your
book, not ours, and we keep that in mind every step of the way.
What kind of experience do you have?
All editing work at Llumina is personally supervised by our publisher,
Deborah Greenspan,who has a Masters Degree in Communication. You can visit her other web site at www.mediacreations.tv
to get a look at her background and writing credentials.
What do
you charge?
Our rates are very reasonable, ranging from
1
cent per word for proofreading to 3 cents or more per word for rewriting.
More
FAQs Rates.
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