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Can We Talk?


I’ve just returned home from 2 weeks in Washington State, mainly visiting within the little towns of the Skagit Valley and Nooksack Mountain areas. What gorgeous agricultural countryside, what majestic forests and rugged peaks. I’m abundantly recharged, creatively and bodily, and ready to connect with you, dear readers and writers.

So, how about a consultation?

Do editors ever give consultations? Sure, some do. It’s akin to developmental editing, but much less intensive. A consult may include commentary and suggestions provided as a brief overview, or it may consist of specific suggestions or solutions restricted to a determined set of questions put forth by the querying author. Line edits might even be included in a follow-up application.

“Okay. When might I want to hire a consulting editor, first,” you ask, “before diving in with a copyeditor?”


Google Images/Hanninen: Silhouetted Profiles with Speech Bubbles, Talking over Editing Ideas.

I can think of 2 great reasons to arrange a consultation first:

One compelling reason is to gauge the extent of work you may still need to do yourself on a manuscript or article before the piece is really ready to be handled by a copyeditor. Generally, a copyeditor does not carry out developmental editing, unless she is trained in that type of editing, too, feels comfortable with combining or compartmentalizing the 2 different processes, and the author has contracted for it in advance of proceeding to the copyediting stage.

There’s potential to save yourself a lot of money on copyediting, if you have been alerted beforehand to areas including conceptual development that may need your revision and corrections prior to outside editing. This sort of consultation is not the same as a copyeditor’s estimate, which focuses mainly on the copyeditor’s time it will take to read and mark copy based on the types of errors that can be noted in a sample portion of supplied material. (You may feel confident about taking care of the substantive editing yourself, at this point, but if not, you might need to hire a developmental editor before proceeding. A consultation can help you figure that out, too.)

Another benefit of choosing to have a consultation, before contracting for any editing process, may be positive reinforcement — when you already have a solid grasp on your own copyediting abilities, but you are uncertain about whether your ideas are being fully realized and expressed in the format or perspective you’ve chosen for your manuscript, an informed discussion with a knowledgeable editor can be just the sounding-board you need.

In other words, sometimes, we writers want a little reassurance that we’re on the right track; consulting with a professional in the field can allay some of our indecisions and reinforce or redirect our intentions.

The type of consultation you request from an editor will vary based on the length and type of materials, of course, and also on your specific needs. Be sure to discuss options with your prospective editor, including the ability to set minimum and maximum time spent on the materials you provide. Decide upfront, together, what the contracted consultation will and will not include.

While developmental editing, substantive/line-editing, and basic copyediting are the main functions of most editors, consultations can be an enjoyable part of author/editor relationships. Some consults may stretch and blur into more elaborate jobs, but usually they are short-term, advantageous interactions that are well worth the minimal to moderate cost.

For example, a consultation can be limited to 30 minutes, or expanded to 2 hours or more (an average of $12.50-$75) for a single session focusing on a section of material. Conversely, the entirety of a long manuscript might be approached as an ongoing serial project that will terminate after the editor-and-author communications reach a set budgetary amount, such as $500 total.

Do I take on consultation sessions? Yes, I do! If you’d like to talk to me about being your consulting editor, you may contact me at Hanninen Freelance editing to discuss your project. I look forward to hearing from you.

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