Let’s focus your words

to brighten the lives of your readers.

You’ve spent long hours writing and rewriting your book, honing its content and structure to make sure it will deeply impact and inspire your readers. Now your audience awaits. You’re ready to get out there, but you want to make sure your message is seen—not just for the words you wrote but the intent you have in your heart. You need someone backstage to make your vision shine. 

My editing services are tailored for authors sharing transformative experiences, whether you have an incredible life story to tell or you’re a subject matter expert with wisdom to share with a wider audience. If you’re on a mission of personal growth, I want to help. Let’s focus your words to brighten the lives of your readers.

My role as your editor is to put the spotlight on your insight, expertise, and lessons learned, by focusing your message’s clarity and composition through gentle, suggested revisions that preserve your voice.

I offer two editing services: copy editing and a combined line and copy edit. If you’re unsure of which editing service your book needs, I’ll be happy to provide a sample edit, along with my recommendations for how to proceed. Through all of my services, I strive to create a safe and comfortable collaborative space. I want to hear your comments, questions, and suggestions.

Editing Services

  • Copy Edit

    My copy editing service is a focused look at your book’s grammar, spelling, detail continuity, and style consistency. This edit should be done only after you are happy with the structure and development of the book’s content.

    The focus of my copy edit is to perfect the mechanics of your content without sacrificing your personal voice.

    If you’re also looking for me to polish your voice, word choice, and sentence structure, check out my line and copy edit combo service.

  • Line and Copy Edit

    The line and copy edit combo service includes everything from my copy editing service plus a full line edit.

    In a line edit, I take a careful look at not just the correctness of the sentence but its structural impact. I take great care to understand your voice and vision so I can focus your message’s delivery through word choice, flow, and tone.

    This combination is my favourite editing service. By doing both a line and a copy edit—a creative pass and a corrective pass—I get to use both sides of my brain and exercise my full scope of wordsmithery. It’s a full-service editing pass, broad enough to encapsulate all areas of your work and deep enough to produce a clean manuscript ready for readers.

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Reference Guides

I use the Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition, as my style guide for decisions on serial commas, hyphens, citations, and other major grammar points. This style guide is the gold standard for commercial publishing. If you are publishing to a different market and require a different style guide (such as AP, Oxford, or APA), please let me know.

For authors with Canadian audiences, I use the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, Second Edition. For authors with American audiences, I use the Merriam-Webster dictionary, online edition. Again, if you require a different dictionary or spelling convention, please let me know.

Service Deliverables

I perform all edits in Microsoft Word using its Track Changes feature, so you can see everything I’ve changed in the manuscript. In addition to an edited manuscript, every project also receives a style sheet. The style sheet is a document map of my most frequently referenced CMOS grammar and style rules, along with a complete index of your book’s unique terms, names, and settings.

Before sending over your edited manuscript and style sheet, I’ll meet with you by phone or video conference to talk over the types of changes you’ll see, how to navigate the changes, and what’s next.

  • “Linda had the unenviable task of polishing rough material written and developed over the course of years into one coherent voice.”

    Charlie Gilkey

  • “Linda, I love how you always trim out the sh*t and get to the heart of what my higher self wants to say. Thank you for your remarkable ability to make my writing shine.”

    Maripat Abbot

  • I am always impressed at how quickly Linda gets my writing "voice," as well as the concepts we are trying to convey in our work with high potential leaders.

    Kelli McCauley

FAQs

  • No, I do not. The reason I don’t offer line editing without copyediting is that I want to verify that the grammar is consistent and properly executed across the entire manuscript, not just the sentences and clauses I’ve touched through the line edit. This ensures that your manuscript is the best it can be for your readers.

  • My rates are structured based on the editorial service, word count, project scope, and time involved. No two books have the same needs, so I ensure that each project rate is specific to each unique book. To learn more about my service rates, please get in touch! I offer free sample edits, through which I’ll assess your manuscript’s current state and send you a custom quote.

  • No, I no longer offer blog writing or blog editing services. I’m very proud of my past work with business blogging through Content Mastery Guide, however I am only taking on book projects at this time. I’d be happy to refer you to another skilled blog editor or ghostwriter.

  • Yes! I specialize in collaborating with those ready to tell their transformational life story as a memoir or those who want to turn their expert ideas into accessible, life-changing books. Please schedule a call so we can discuss your vision and my ghostwriting process to come up with a unique plan and price for your book project.

  • Yes, I would be happy to take a look at your fiction novel and see if we’re a good fit to work together. I am very selective about the fiction titles I edit, as I want to ensure that I have the right genre and industry knowledge for your project. Please tell me about your book so we can discuss how I can serve your novel.