Absolutely not. I will never use generative AI of any kind (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot, etc.) in my work, and my contracts provide assurance of that.

I do employ some “intelligent” tools, such as macros that streamline the Find & Replace or formatting functions in MS Word, but these have existed for decades and don’t involve any generative or “smart” functions.

I am staunchly traditional when it comes to human creativity, and I request the same commitment from my clients. If you have used AI to plot your novel or add visual elements to your project, we likely won’t be the right fit.

Ideally, as soon as possible. Many editors book up months in advance, and it’s best to plot out your publishing timeline early on to avoid making rushed decisions.

If you’ve just sent off your manuscript to a developmental editor, then it’s probably time to start gathering sample edits from copyeditors. Then, you’ll have your editor of choice lined up before you dive into your first round of revisions.

Smaller projects like web copy or newsletters don’t need the same amount of lead time, so in those cases just reach out and ask!

This can vary widely. It will be influenced by the type of edit, the scope of work required, and whether the editor is working solely on your project, or splitting their time with another job.

Editing is precise work that requires a lot of focus, and most editors agree that 4–5 hours per day is their maximum cognitive limit. (The rest of the workday is usually devoted to business tasks like emails, invoices, marketing, etc.)

In the most general of estimates, you can expect the following for an 80,000-word manuscript:

• Developmental edit, 4-8 weeks

• Manuscript evaluation, 4–6 weeks

• Line edit, 3-5 weeks

• Copyedit, 2-4 weeks

• Proofread, 1-3 weeks

As mentioned above, editing must be done slowly and carefully to ensure accuracy and a quality result.

On average, a novel takes 40 hours to copyedit (and something like a complex fantasy could be nearly double that!). If someone offers to edit your novel for $200, they are effectively working for $5/hour, never mind the non-billable tasks of freelancing and managing business costs (such as style guide subscriptions and professional association member fees).

Some recent grads have wonderful skills and will work for very little money at first to gain experience—I did that myself. But it’s not sustainable, and more often than not, too-good-to-be-true pricing is usually a red flag.

No! It’s entirely dependent upon your needs and goals for the project, your strengths as a writer, and your budget.

If you want to pursue traditional publishing but your story isn’t quite working, then a manuscript evaluation will probably be helpful.

If you’re an indie author with a wide network of critique partners and effective beta readers, then maybe your story is strong but you need a good copyedit.

And, of course, with business-related or web content projects, the levels of editing become intermingled, so we will tailor our approach to suit.

Either way, I’m happy to help you evaluate which service will best fit your needs and budget.

There are lots of good arguments both for and against “niching down,” and I tend to fall somewhere in the middle.

I’ll always be honest with clients about whether I feel I’m the right editor for a particular job, and my suitability may fluctuate based on which editing service you require.

For instance, I won’t do a developmental edit on your space opera, because I don’t know the conventions of the genre well enough to do it justice. But if you need a copyedit or a proofread, I’m happy to help!

There are some texts that fall outside my scope of practice. I don’t have the training to assist with poetry, screenplays, legal or medical texts, government documents, or any technical writing.

For personal reasons, there are some tropes I choose to avoid, and I kindly request that clients provide trigger warnings when they send me a sample of their work.