If you’re convinced you need a more intensive editorial critique, I suggest my Deep Dive, which involves a more in-depth analysis of your ideas, prose style, and the overall structure of your text, trouble-shooting everything from the arc of your storyline or argument to your pacing to the mechanical aspects of your writing (grammar, usage, etc.). Drilling deeper than I do in the Quick Fix, I line-edit your text, red-flagging problems, making suggested changes, and adding extensive explanations and thought-provoking queries in the margin using Word’s “Review” mode. My heavily annotated, line-edited version of your text will be accompanied by a three-to-five page editorial memo, synopsizing the editorial “takeaways” of my edit. Note: The materials you submit must not exceed 50 pages.
But there’s more: the Deep Dive is book-ended by a 30-minute preliminary discussion of your text and a 30-minute “post-game analysis” by phone or videoconference, addressing any questions inspired by my critique and preparing you to make the best possible use of my edits in your revision of your text. (Some clients prefer to skip the preliminary conference, adding that unused half hour to our discussion of my analysis, a useful option in cases where clients have extensive questions, want to brainstorm variations on my proposed solutions to problems I’ve identified, or are curious to range beyond my editorial review to discuss their long-term goals as writers.)
Again, my hourly rate is $50, but the additional time spent analyzing and annotating your text and writing a thorough critique of your concept, structure, and writing means that a Deep Dive can take up to twice as long. Clients choosing this option should be prepared to spend $800-$1,000. Half of my fee is due on signing my contract; the remainder is due on delivery of my analysis. (If I expect to run over my minimum estimated fee, I’ll notify you in advance and we’ll discuss options at that point.)
Here’s an example of one of my line edits.