EnglishGeek Editing

While everyone and their grammar teacher claims to be an editor these days, the thoroughness and usefulness of our edits sets us apart. Our copyedit, for example, covers so much more than the language issues that edits are typically limited to. We also offer a simple and lucrative referral program to save you money on future edits.

We specialize in fiction, both literary and popular, as well as nonfiction, including academic writing, memoirs, self-help, and historical works. For fiction, we have experience in mystery (specializing in cozies), horror, fantasy, young adult, romance, thriller, and science fiction.

We edit to the standards of The Chicago Manual of Style and use US spelling. Because language is ever-evolving, we refer to the Merriam-Webster Unabridged online dictionary, which is based on Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged. While US spelling has become the international standard for many published works, we can edit to Canadian spelling if preferred.

Try us out for free. We'll give you a short sample copyedit at no charge, and we encourage you to do the same with other editors and compare results. Our edit will be thorough, specific, and helpful. Please note that we do not provide a free sample developmental edit, as it is difficult to suggest meaningful big-picture edits based on a short excerpt.

In our experience, it's rare to find writing that can't benefit from a copyedit. Our goal is to help you get your work ready for publication, and we can only do that by addressing any issues we find. Proofreading will ensure a sentence is grammatically correct, properly punctuated, and accurately spelled, but it can't tell you if that sentence is poorly phrased, out of place, ambiguous, redundant, completely unclear, or if someone is saying or doing something that seems out of character. Copyediting will address all these issues and more, making it the best way to create a manuscript you can have confidence in.

Because every manuscript is unique, the cost to edit yours will depend on your writing skill, the genre, the length and complexity of the story, and what level of editing you request. To determine a cost, we review your manuscript so we can assess how much work it needs. Depending on your budget, we may offer you different services at different price points to best meet your needs.

Yes, as long as the referral meets the requirements below. Our philosophy is that the most meaningful recommendations come from people who have used a service and love it. We prefer these honest referrals from authors to slick ad campaigns. Simply put, we'd rather give money to you than to big advertising companies.

The person you refer to us must be a new client who purchases at least $200 worth of our editing services and identifies you as the person who referred them. The $200 doesn't have to come from a single order—multiple smaller orders over time are fine. You get a $200 credit off a future editing order for each person you refer who meets these requirements. The credit will be issued when payment received from the client equals or exceeds $200. There's no limit to the number of referral credits you can get. Referral credits never expire and are fully transferable.

We ask all new clients how they heard about us. In addition, you're always welcome to send us an email with the person's name. This information is for internal use only; we won't spam them or initiate contact with them in any way.

No. Even if you accept our changes and incorporate text we suggest, all rights to your work remains yours and yours alone.

Most of our clients prefer to use PayPal. You don't need a PayPal account to send money. PayPal allows you to use any major credit card or your bank account, and we never have access to your personal payment information. We accept cash, but we don't recommend sending cash through the mail and can't be responsible if it doesn't make it to us. If you're in Canada, you can also pay with Interac e-transfer, where you email money to us from your bank account. And if you're into crypto, we accept Bitcoin.

Once we agree on a price and time frame, we'll send you an invoice for 50% of the fee up front. We'll invoice for the remaining 50% once the edit is complete and your manuscript is ready to be returned to you. As a courtesy for repeat customers, no deposit is necessary. The full payment can be deferred until the edit is complete.

The exact time frame will depend on how many manuscripts are ahead of yours in the queue and when our next available slot is. Most edits are allotted a two-to-four-week window. We'll quote you on a turnaround time before we request the first payment.

Possibly. Email us the first 8-10 pages of your manuscript, along with your deadline, and we'll let you know whether or not we can do it.

Please make sure your work is double-spaced in a 12-point font with standard margins. There should be one space after periods, not two. Do not insert blank lines between paragraphs. Documents should be saved in Microsoft Word's .doc or .docx formats.

Ask us. We're available by email for post-editing consultations at no charge.

To ask us questions, submit your work for editing, or request a free sample edit, click below to send us an email.