Frequently Asked Questions |
My name is Rachel Lulich. I discovered my love of books in the third grade and my love of editing in college. I began freelancing in 2014, and founded Broken Top Editing shortly thereafter. I work with both individual authors and publishing companies, specializing in developmental and line edits for inspirational romance and middle grade fiction. Contact me for more information. What is your editing philosophy?
The point of editing is to maximize a story's impact by eliminating distractions, thus enabling readers to suspend disbelief and enter into the world of the book. As a freelance editor, my goal is to empower authors in their revisions. I strive to assist writers with their stories, not take over and change them into someone else's. What are the different types of edits? Traditionally, there are three stages of editing: Developmental, line, and copy editing. The developmental edit is the first step and focuses on the big picture, helping with things like structure, pacing, plot holes, character inconsistencies, confusing passages, and voice. Developmental edits are also called content or substantive edits. Line edits fall between the developmental and copy edits, overlapping them in many ways. Primarily, the line edit deals with your writing at the sentence, paragraph, and scene level. Additionally, it is the last chance to catch developmental issues. The copy edit is the last step before proofreading and publication, and addresses grammatical and other sentence-level issues. What kind of editor are you? I am a developmental editor. I do not provide line or copy editing services for book-length manuscripts, but I know people who do, and I'm always happy to make referrals. Why should I hire a freelance editor? Before you try to shop your book around, or before you press the button to self-publish, you want to make sure your work is as good as you can make it. For some authors, this means working with a freelance editor, who can give you the expert outsider feedback you need to create a polished final product. How does it work? I use the track changes and comments features in Microsoft Word. That way, you can see the exact location of problems and strong points in the text. I give detailed feedback, identifying what the issues are and explaining why they are issues. I also give suggestions of possible ways to address the problems to help jump-start your creativity for revisions. Finally, I provide a summary of my notes in an editorial letter, pointing out the main strengths and weaknesses of the manuscript. How much do you charge? Contact me for rates. |