THE EDITING PROCESS
How does it all happen?
1. First contact. You fill out the FREE QUOTE form, selecting basic proofreading, a full line edit (copyediting) or a technical critique. You enter the document word count, and the level of urgency of the task. Finally, you attach your file as a Word document, and send the form.
2. Editing Rates calculation. We acknowledge the safe receipt of your file, check the word count, and then sample pages throughout the document to estimate the average number of corrections or comments required. We designate the task as light, medium or heavy editing and calculate the appropriate proofreading fee for the level of editing you have requested.
3. We check present workload. We quickly decide if we can accept the editing project. If we already have a backlog, or we are certain we can't complete the task by your deadine, we will decline the work.
There are two other circumstances in which we will decline your work:
a) if we deem the material illegal or offensive and feel we could not comfortably work with you, and
b) in the unlikely event that the writing is of such poor quality that it is irredeemable by editing. We do not re-write material. We accept projects on the presumption that we are preparing work for possible publication. If we thought the work could never be published, we would not take your money.
4. Editing Quote. We send the editing quote you have requested, and advise if we are able to accept the project. If we have a backlog, we will advise how long it might be until we are able to accept your work. You are welcome to put your project in a queue, if you have no deadline to meet.
If we have no backlog, but you require a deadline we could not hope to meet under normal working conditions, we will advise you of that. If we feel we could meet your deadline by working day and night, we might advise that we are prepared to accept the work on payment of a 25% loading. This would be an extraordinary circumstance. Our preference is to work without pressure or danger of disappointing our clients.
If you have requested basic proofreading services, when it is clear to us that your document requires a much higher level of copyediting, we will advise you of this. If you still choose a basic edit, we are happy to comply with your wishes, but you will be aware that there will still be major flaws we would prefer to have fixed.
5. You accept or decline. Just as we have no obligation to accept the work you have sent for inspection, you too are free to reject our quote. It truly IS a no-obligation, free quote. You will not be harassed or peppered with 'special offers'. We would, of course, appreciate a brief email, so we aren't wondering what is happening!
4. Invoice. If all is well, we immediately email you a PayPal invoice. You do not have to be signed up with PayPal to use this service - you can simply enter your credit card details on their secure server. It's a very good, safe system. Nevertheless, if you are uncertain about using PayPal, email us and we can arrange for a bank transfer into our account or a cheque by snail mail.
6. You pay. When you pay the amount on the invoice, PayPal notifies us instantly, and we can begin work on your manuscript ASAP. We will email you a friendly 'hello' to tell you when we've made a start.
7. We critique. We do a spectacular editing job, of course. We maintain contact with you throughout the project. If we are uncertain about your facts, intention, or meaning (especially in academic essays), we will seek clarification immediately.
8. We complete. We will make every effort to complete the task within the timeframe we stated. We like to keep faith with our clients.
9. Notification. We would appreciate an email to acknowledge that you have received the finished product and that you could open and read it. (We have had an instance where a client could not open a corrupted file, and we had to re-send from our back-up. Oh yes, we always back up files!) We are happy to answer any questions that arise from our critique or editorial changes, and find that most clients maintain contact long after the work has been completed. We would be delighted to have your feedback - even negative feedback.
10. We say goodbye till next time!
