Copy Editing

Service Overview

A copy edit looks at the grammar, style, word choice, and other “gritty details” of the prose. This edit should be done only after you are happy with the structure and development of the book’s content. The focus of our copy edits is to perfect the mechanics of your content without sacrificing your unique authorial voice. If you need an editor to go through your manuscript and tweak the voices of the narrator and characters, we recommend checking out our Florist package, which includes a line edit and copy edit.

We edit all novels in Chicago Manual of Style, the most commonly used style guide in publishing houses. Decisions on serial commas, hyphens, citations, and other major grammar points will be based on the most recent edition of CMOS. We use Microsoft Track Changes in our copyedits, so you can see everything we’ve changed in your manuscript. If you have any questions on a grammatical decision your editor made, we’ll be more than happy to cite the rule in the manual for you. (In fact, we usually cite the CMOS rules anyway because we want to teach you about grammar during our edits!)

Words from Our Author, Michelle

Amber and the Rooted in Writing team have made a world of difference in the quality of my books. I love that they get in touch directly to ask questions before the editing process even begins. Time travel is not easy to keep straight, and their questions made it clear they’re really thinking about what’s going on in the background, not just trying to churn my book through an assembly line. The interactions feel personal, like my books mean something to them aside from just a paycheck.

I appreciate that I’m not steamrolled on decisions. Changes are suggested, not required, and if I disagree, there is no offense taken. They take the time to make choices and suggestions that stick to my style and make sure I am keeping up with current writing trends. The attention to detail is amazing—they pick up on problems my first editors, critique partners, and beta readers miss.

Overall I have been incredibly happy with Rooted in Writing’s handling of my first three books, and there is no one else I will trust with my final book when it is ready for editing.

Michelle McBeth

The Sphere Saga

Service Notes

1. SCI-FI & FANTASY AUTHORS: Our copy edits also do a world-building continuity check to make sure your second-world physics and magic systems are logical within themselves and don’t contradict themselves in descriptive detail or execution. Our findings are recorded in the copy edit’s style sheet along with the mundane grammar and style notes.

2. WORKING IN A PACKAGE: We never have the same editor work on both the copyedit and the proofread. A new round of edits calls for new eyes and a fresh perspective.

Sample Edit

We offer complimentary sample edits on one thousand words of your manuscript. Please send us your complete manuscript and we’ll select the thousand-word excerpt that will demonstrate the scope and style of editing you can expect for your manuscript. The first thousand words of a novel typically isn’t representative of the book’s overall writing style: it tends to be slower paced with lower stakes and more exposition.

If you would like a longer sample edit, we can do a sample edit on three thousand words for $25. This paid sample edit is credited to your project if you decide to go with us for the copy edit.

Deliverables

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Manuscript Edits

Using Microsoft Track Changes, we prune and polish your novel to cultivate its best self, leaving detailed comments throughout the novel suggesting revisions and explaining the changes we made. Since we use Microsoft Track Changes, you’re in control of accepting or rejecting whatever revisions we implement. As editors, it’s our job to uplift and polish your manuscript, but if there’s something you don’t like, you can always reject the change—we will always honor your artistic vision. When we’ve finished your project, you’ll get the whole manuscript with the final draft already assembled in one clean file.

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Style Sheet PDF

This style sheet explains the CMOS (Chicago Manual of Style) rules most often enforced for grammar and style, a list of the subjective style calls in the manuscript that follow the author’s tone, and a glossary of terms and names unique to the book. If your book is in a series, this resource is used as the continuity guide for style, plot, and characters. If you’ve done a line edit with us as well, we combine the style sheets to one comprehensive document for easier referencing.

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Second Global Pass on Manuscript

After you go through the manuscript’s edits and review our changes, you’ll note your desired tweaks and stets and send the manuscript back to us for a second and final review. We’ll review your stetted changes, check rewrites for grammar, and export a final clean document for you to use in publishing.

Rates & Dates

Final edits will be returned after 4-6 weeks, depending on the word count and the manuscript’s condition. Rates range from $0.025 to $0.035 per word (for industry comp, check out the EFA’s rate chart). Please contact us for your custom project quote.

Services

Manuscript Assessment

Developmental Editing

Line Editing

Copy Editing

Typesetting

Proofreading

Packages

The Arborist

The Florist

The Gardener

The Botanist

Rooted in Writing

For Editors

At the Root Critique

The Garden Shed: An Editor's Toolbox

Editor Education

Join Our Team

Resources

Story Soil: The Blog

The Craft Book Library

Upcoming Courses & Webinars

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