FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

On this page you'll find answers to questions that clients often ask. If you need further information, please get in touch.

HOW MUCH DO YOUR SERVICES COST?

The following table outlines the standard fees for each service.

Service	Cost per 1,000 words (£)	Cost per 1,000 words ( US$)
Book critique	£4	$6.50
Proofreading	£6	$10
Copy-editing	£9.50	$15.50
Intelligent copy-editing	£11	$18
Development editing	£15	$25
Rewriting	from £20	from $33
Ghostwriting	from £100	from $163

Note: These fees are based on average projects. For projects that require substantially more work than usual, costs may be higher.

HOW DOES THE EDITING PROCESS WORK? 1. You send an email outlining your requirements and attaching an extract of your book (at least 3,000 words).

2. You receive a quote, detailing cost and timescale (and a free 500-word sample edit, if applicable).

3. To commission a service, you return the Client Agreement sent with the quote.

4. We send over an invoice and payment details. If the fee is £300 or less, or you're based outside the UK, you pay the full fee upfront. Otherwise, you pay half the fee in advance.

5. Once payment clears, the editor gets to work.

6. When the project is completed, we send over the files (and the final invoice, if applicable) and continue to be available if you have questions.

WILL YOU TAKE ON ANY PROJECT? The Book Specialist takes on editorial jobs unless:

1. The book contains a sizeable amount of erotic and/or offensive content.

2. The quality of the writing is such that it would not be effective or sensible to perform the service. For example, we will not carry out a development edit on a book if every page would be littered with comments, and we won't perform a copy edit on text that we struggle to understand.

For the highest-level services – rewriting and ghostwriting – we take on plenty of projects, but we don't guarantee to do so. The following factors determine whether we accept a project:

• · Availability: Sometimes Charlie is unable to take on a project because her schedule is full. In such cases we can usually recommend a colleague who can help.
• · Suitability of service: If we don't believe that ghostwriting is the right option for a client, we won't encourage the client to commission the service.
• CAN I REQUEST A CERTAIN EDITOR?We allocate work based on many factors, such as availability and experience. We do our best to meet clients' requests, but we can't guarantee a particular editor for a job. All editors have been trained by Charlie, so all perform the same quality of edit.
  

CAN YOU HELP ME FIND A PUBLISHER/AGENT FOR MY BOOK? We're writers and editors, not agents. We may recommend an agent or publisher if we think approaching them is worthwhile, but it remains the client's responsibility to submit the book.

DO YOU WORK WITH CLIENTS OUTSIDE THE UK?

Yes, we have clients all over the world. Our editors edit in both UK and US English, and we can develop a book for any market. But do bear in mind that we specialise in UK publishing, so we don't provide specific guidance on the publishing industries in other countries.

DO YOU HAVE TERMS AND CONDITIONS?

Yes – you can access them from the very bottom of this page. All clients need to accept The Book Specialist Terms and Conditions before work commences.