• Read this stickie before posting.

    • In order to reduce the number of new members requesting a Beta reader before they're really ready for one, we've instituted a 50 post requirement before you can start a thread seeking a Beta reader.
    • You can still volunteer to Beta for someone else; just please don't request someone to Beta for you until you're more familiar with the community and our members.

Need Beta/Editor NOW

Status
Not open for further replies.

Flamefire123

I use "genuine" too much.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 3, 2010
Messages
67
Reaction score
4
Location
Oregon
So despite my best efforts of using friends and people I actually know, I have a deadline fast approaching and a manuscript riddled with my awful grammar.

So this is what I need: A beta/editor with excellent grammar and the time to edit my novel (a rather heft piece at 117k) quickly. I need to get it to the RAW offices by December 5th, so I need this edited now.

You won't be editing the entire thing, hopefully my friend managed to edit more than I have now (which is just the first two chapters), but last I talked to them they only had up to chapter 7 (of 40) edited.

I know this is a lot of work with little time but I'm desperate. Thank you for your time.
 

thothguard51

A Gentleman of a refined age...
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 16, 2009
Messages
9,316
Reaction score
1,064
Age
72
Location
Out side the beltway...
Please take no offense, but doesn't RAW provide you with an editor?

A professional editor is going to cost you 3-5 cents a word, but yet, you want someone to do it for free and a deadline to boot??? Does this make sense?

Also, please be aware that professional editing is about more than spelling, grammar, and punctuation checking. There is a whole lot more and then there is the proofing once the book goes to the galleys.

Family and friends are never a good professional choice unless they are in the business and can be objective.

YOUR Publisher should be working with you on this... not strangers in a writing group that may or maynot know what they are doing...
 

Flamefire123

I use "genuine" too much.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 3, 2010
Messages
67
Reaction score
4
Location
Oregon
I'm not expecting a professional editor. I'm entering a contest and wish to turn in a better grammar job than Microsoft word. I'm bad at spotting grammar mistakes which is why I need a help. I know if/when I get published I'll get a serious edit but I'm trying to turn in the best my manuscript is now.
 

thothguard51

A Gentleman of a refined age...
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 16, 2009
Messages
9,316
Reaction score
1,064
Age
72
Location
Out side the beltway...
Good luck... Seriously...

I couldn't edit my own 100,000 word manuscript in less than a month and that is if I had nothing else pressing in my life...
 

Calla Lily

On hiatus
Staff member
Super Moderator
Moderator
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
39,307
Reaction score
17,489
Location
Non carborundum illegitimi
Website
www.aliceloweecey.net
flamefire, you're asking the highly improbable. I'm a professional copyeditor with 26 years' experience. Assuming the standard of 250 words/page, that's 468 pages. I charge between $6.50 and $8.50 per page, depending on the level of work needed (I always provide a 5-page sample for free, so see if my style meshes with the writer's, and to judge how much work is needed.)

That's a total of between $3,042.00 and $3978.00. Assuming I could get through 30 pages a day, that's still 15.6 days.

You're asking someone to do this level of work in about 10 days, to give you a couple days' buffer for any last minute changes you may want to make. For free. Over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
 

ChaosTitan

Around
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 8, 2005
Messages
15,463
Reaction score
2,886
Location
The not-so-distant future
Website
kellymeding.com
Beta and Editor are not interchangeable things, as your post title seems to suggest.

Plus, ditto everything callalily said.

Your best bet, especially if you hope to reach a professional level, is to teach yourself better grammar. Pick up a copy of Strunk & White's The Elements of Style and read it start to finish. Then read it again. Maybe even pick up a copy of Self-Editing for Fiction Writers. Improving your grammar now, rather than depending on others to fix it for you, will only help you in the long run.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.