We help you tell and sell your story.
Congratulations! You've finished your book manuscript.
Now what?
Today's publishing world has opened up a host of new opportunities for authors. But before you can pursue any of them, you need to get your manuscript into the best possible shape: grammatically perfect and as marketable as possible. This is where Thompson Writing & Editing comes in. Our Book Editing Package puts our professionals to work with you to improve your manuscript and help you achieve your goals for the book. Hadn't thought about your goals? We also help you with that.
Step 1: The Level 2 Edit
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When you hire Thompson Writing & Editing and send us your manuscript, we'll begin by reading through the entire thing first to see where it's going, listing and summarizing each chapter. Then we dig in and go through it a second time, making notes where we think changes are needed or something needs to be verified, noting any errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation, word use, etc. that we catch, making remarks on things we think could improve your book's marketability, and constructing Continuity Worksheets for you on book details like characters, locations, timeline, etc. so we can locate any inconsistencies. On our third pass through, we make sure we haven't missed anything and tighten up the notes. Then we write a summary of any recurring issues and suggestions and return all that to you for your revisions.
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All this takes a few months for us to complete. During that time, we put you to work on your book's marketing plan using our Book Marketing Plan Worksheet. This may also uncover some revisions you need to make that will impact your book's marketability. With what you've discovered in that and our feedback on the manuscript itself, you can begin your revisions. We give you a few months to complete those and return the manuscript to us...we've tried it without giving authors a deadline, and are still waiting for some of those revisions, years later!
Step 2: The Level 1 Edit
When you return your revised manuscript to us, we'll go through it with a fine-toothed comb and identify any lapses of logic or errors in the basic mechanics of writing like spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc. We'll also check for common formatting issues that publishers often ask authors to change, such as spacing between sentences, paragraph indentation, and page breaks.
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While we're working on this, we put you to work on finding the right publisher to meet your needs. When you receive the file back from us, about six weeks later, you just need to go through it and accept or reject each of our corrections before it's ready to forward to your selected publisher or literary agent.
Getting Started: The Sample Edit
But how do you know if you'll like our style of editing and the suggestions we make? Simple: you send us a 1,000-word excerpt from your manuscript, and we'll do a sample edit on it for free. Tell us the word count of the full manuscript, and we'll send you a quote and a contract for editing the whole thing.
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If you like what you see and think our price is fair, simply sign the contract, send us the retainer fee and your completed manuscript file, and we'll get to work. If not, no harm done. Hiring an editor is an important part of making your book successful, and you should work with the one who's the best fit for you.

We won't lie to you: we're not cheap. But you'll get your money's worth. Our results speak for themselves. Many of our authors have won awards for their books, received great critical acclaim and had solid sales figures. You've invested a lot of time and a lot of yourself into getting your book written. Doesn't it deserve the best opportunity for success you can give it?