We know that you are wondering how much it would cost to hire A Write Start to help you with your publishing dream. The honest answer is, it depends on how you want us to partner with you. Our general hourly fee is $40.00 and we require a three-hour minimum payment before we begin working on your project. Our coaching fee is $75.00 per hour.
1. A description of the problem/need (use stats, quotes, or anything else you can think of to paint a picture for the editor about your issue). This is your hook (the element will draw readers and keep them turning the page).
2. A description of your target market (specifically: male or female, age, any other demographics you can identify).
3. A brief presentation of the solution (just a paragraph or two).
If you are missing any key elements in your proposal, we’ll let you know.
We charge an hourly fee of $40.00 for book proposals. We can normally review about 10 pages (250 words per page) per hour, depending upon the condition of your proposal. The way you figure the page count is to take the total word count of your proposal and divide it by 250. Then divide the page total by 10 since that is the number of pages we can review in an hour and then you’ll know how many hours it will take us to complete your project. Then take the hourly rate times $40.00.
Here’s an example:
Book proposal = 12,000 words
12,000 words divided by 250 words = 48 pages
48 pages divided by 10 = 4.8 hours
4.8 hours X $40.00 = $192.00
We offer first time customers $5.00 off per hour on their first project. So if you are a first time customer, here’s how you would incorporate the discount using the same example:
Book proposal = 12,000 words
12,000 words divided by 250 words = 48 pages
48 pages divided by 10 = 4.8
4.8 hours X $35.00 = $168.00
If you’d like for us to critique your proposal, please use the Contact Us button above, giving us as much information as possible. For book proposals, we require full payment up front.
Manuscript Critiques
We would love to critique your fiction or non-fiction manuscript for you. When you submit one, please follow these guidelines:
We’ll be looking at the marketability, structure, flow, transitions, style, clarity, content, grammar, punctuation, and consistency in your manuscript and we’ll make notes in your manuscript as we go so you’ll know what to fix when we send it back to you. For fiction, we'll also be looking at your plot, scene structure, character development, and point of view usage. We can handle your manuscript critique on paper or electronically (using MS Word’s track changes and comments features). We know the value that some place on having a critique done on paper, but we encourage clients to submit manuscripts to us electronically so you can become accustomed to the electronic process, since that is what prospective publishers will require.
We charge an hourly fee of $40.00 to critique manuscripts. We can normally review about 15 pages (250 words per page) per hour, depending upon the condition of your manuscript. The way you figure the page count is to take the total word count of your manuscript and divide it by 250. Then divide the page total by 15 since that is the number of pages we can review in an hour and then you’ll know how many hours it will take us to complete your project. Then take the hourly rate times $40.00.
Here’s an example:
Manuscript = 45,000 words
45,000 words divided by 250 words = 180 pages
180 pages divided by 15 = 12 hours
12 hours X $40.00 = $480.00
We offer first time customers $5.00 off per hour on their first project. So if you are a first time customer, here’s how you would incorporate the discount using the same example:
Manuscript = 45,000 words
45,000 words divided by 250 words = 180 pages
180 pages divided by 15 = 12 hours
12 hours X $35.00 = $420.00
If you’d like for us to critique your manuscript, please use the Contact Us button above, giving us as much information as possible. We require a three-hour minimum payment before we begin working on your project.
Copy-editing Services
If you are planning to self-publish a book or if you are writing a book for the first time and are uncertain about your writing abilities, then our copy-editing services are for you. Just for the sake of clarity, a copy-edit is sometimes called a line edit in the publishing world.
If you submit your manuscript to us for editing purposes, please tell us if you believe it is in need of a copy-edit or a substantive edit (see next section). After we’ve had time to review your manuscript, we’ll be in touch to let you know our thoughts about which type of edit your manuscript needs.
When you submit a manuscript for copy-editing purposes, please follow these guidelines:
Depending upon the condition of your manuscript, we can normally copy-edit about 10 pages (250 words per page is the standard number of words on a page) per hour. The way you figure the page count is to take the total word count of your manuscript and divide it by 250. Then divide the page total by 10 since that is the number of pages we can copy-edit in an hour and then you’ll know how many hours it will take us to complete your project. Then take the hourly rate times $40.00.
Here’s an example:
Manuscript = 45,000 words
45,000 words divided by 250 words = 180 pages
180 pages divided by 10 = 18 hours
18 hours X $40.00 = $720.00
We offer first time customers $5.00 off per hour on their first project. So if you are a first time customer, here’s how you would incorporate the discount using the same example:
Manuscript = 45,000 words
45,000 words divided by 250 words = 180 pages
180 pages divided by 10 = 18 hours
18 hours X $35.00 = $630.00
If you’d like for us to do a copy-edit on your manuscript, please use the Contact Us button above, giving us as much information as possible. We require a three-hour minimum payment upfront.
If you are just getting starting with your writing, your manuscript may be in need of a substantive edit (also referred to as content editing). That’s okay. Everybody has to start somewhere, right?
When we do a substantive edit, we are looking for (and fix—within reason) the following problems:
Major re-rewriting may be performed during a substantive edit.
For fiction, we'll also be looking at your plot, scene structure, character development, and point of view usage.
If you submit your manuscript to us for editing purposes, please tell us if you believe it is in need of a copy-edit (see previous section) or a substantive edit. After we’ve had time to review your manuscript, we’ll be in touch to let you know our thoughts about which type of edit your manuscript needs.
When you submit a manuscript for substantive editing purposes, please follow these guidelines:
Depending upon the condition of your manuscript, we can normally do a substantive edit to about five pages (250 words per page is the standard number of words on a page) per hour. The way you figure the page count is to take the total word count of your manuscript and divide it by 250. Then divide the page total by five since that is the number of pages we do a substantive edit on in an hour and then you’ll know how many hours it will take us to complete your project. Then take the hourly rate times $40.00.
Here’s an example:
Manuscript = 45,000 words
45,000 words divided by 250 words = 180 pages
180 pages divided by 5 = 36 hours
36 hours X $40.00 = $1,440.00
We offer first time customers $5.00 off per hour on their first project. So if you are a first time customer, here’s how you would incorporate the discount using the same example:
Manuscript = 45,000 words
45,000 words divided by 250 words = 180 pages
180 pages divided by 5 = 36 hours
36 hours X $35.00 = $1,260.00
If you’d like for us to do a substantive edit on your manuscript, please use email Lee or Tama, giving us as much information as possible. We require a three-hour minimum payment upfront.
Email Lee: lee@awritestart.com
Email Tama: tama@awritestart.com