How It Works

Step One

Discovery Call

When you’re ready to move forward with edits, you’ll meet with Amber over Zoom to discuss your book, publishing plan, and editing needs. She’ll look over your manuscript ahead of the call to give advice on where to start and how your desired services will affect the story’s market viability.

You should email us to ask about our soonest availability for your project. Sometimes we can accommodate an immediate start date, but we usually are booked a few months out.

Here is our typical scheduling availability:

• • • • Line edits, copy edits, proofreads: booking 2-3 months in advance
      • Manuscript assessments: booking 3-4 months in advance
      • Developmental edits: booking 4-6 months in advance
      • Typesetting, branding, website design: booking 2-4 weeks in advance

Step Two

Sample Edit

After our call, we’ll perform a sample edit for your book if we’re starting with a line edit, copy edit, or proofread. If we’re doing a developmental edit or manuscript assessment, we can’t do a sample edit. It’s too difficult to offer effective advice for a scene without deeply understanding the plot and character arcs for the whole novel. After all, you wouldn’t trim a branch of an oak without first understanding the overall shape and balance of the tree. However, we will look at past real editorial reports for those services during our call so you can get an idea of what these services look like and how we handle different kinds of editorial suggestions.

Amber will be the managing editor who oversees your project from start to finish, and she’ll pair your manuscript with an editor on our team who best fits not only your book’s intended market but the style of edit your story would benefit from most. The editor who performed your sample edit will be the editor on your project for that service. If you’re doing multiple services with us in a package, you will get a fresh set of eyes through each round of editing.

All of the contractors in the Rooted in Writing team have been personally vetted and tested by Amber. Our team prides itself on its exceptional quality and has extensive experience working with large traditional publishers, small presses, and indie authors.

Step Three

Proposal & Onboarding

You’ll receive a proposal from us after the call that will include your project’s dates, service scopes, sample edit file, quote, payment plan, and editor selections. Once you’ve accepted the proposal, you’ll be taken to your project contract and invoice to pay your booking deposit. You’ll then be sent your login credentials for your client portal, which is where you can pay invoices, fill out project-related forms, schedule calls, and receive your final edits.

We’ll send you a form one week before the project start date where you can securely upload your manuscript file to your client portal. If you’re doing a manuscript assessment or developmental edit, you’ll also be asked to fill out a pre-project questionnaire at this time.

Step Four

We Get to Work!

While we work on your manuscript, don’t worry about having to twiddle your thumbs. Each editing service includes a tailored in-service author service that you’ll work on with Amber while the team edits the manuscript. These services will vary depending on your publishing route, whether you’re an established or debut author, and where we’re at in the editing process. Check out the services page to find out more information.

Step Five

Deliverables

You’ll receive your edited manuscript and associated resources through your author portal. Each of our services includes an optional yet encouraged Zoom consultation where we go over the materials sent to you and answer any questions you may have on the deliverables or your next steps. You’ll have 30 days to schedule this call once you receive your edited files. We recommend you take a week to first look over everything and gather your thoughts before scheduling this call.