REAL WRITERS is run by professionals; this is one way we earn our daily bread. Compared with other similar services our charges represent excellent value – and they're a fraction of the fees charged by a solicitor or an accountant, and considerably less than a car mechanic or computer repair agency.Our basic fee of £30, for regular and one-off critiques, covers a full professional evaluation of up to 2500 words of prose, 100 lines of poetry, or 20 pages of script.
We offer two kinds of online support to writers: critiquing of work in progress, and editing finished work.
FOR CRITIQUES OF WORK IN PROGRESS, our basic fee is £30. This covers a full professional evaluation of up to 2500 words of prose, 100 lines of poetry, or 20 pages of script.
For detailed assessment of longer prose work, a full-length novel for instance, we will charge you at the hourly rate of £30, payable on invoice. From new clients we ask for a deposit of £30 before starting work on an extended project; this will be deducted from your first invoice.
If you wish, we will agree a cash limit with you before we begin, so you know right from the start how much you'll pay – but when you calculate your maximum bear in mind that reading time can vary between ten and fifteen hours for a novel of 80,000 words, and whatever the length of the work, producing the critique will take at least an hour on top of the reading time.
For longer submissions of poetry or script, the hourly rate also applies.
We also offer several special introductory package deals, available once only to each client:
Before seeking a critique of an entire novel, we strongly recommend that aspiring novelists take advantage of the Publishers' Package special deal. A synopsis and two or three chapters, up to 10,000 words, is what a publisher or agent wants to see in the first instance; if you choose the conventional route to publication, it's important to get this ‘shop window' sample right. Also, this extract allows our reader to identify ongoing problems, which you can address before sending us the whole work.
- Publishers' Package: a full critique of a synopsis and opening chapters of a novel, max 10,000 words, for just £60.
- Prose Writer's Package: a full critique of a short story or feature article, max 3000 words, for just £35.
- Poet's Package: a full critique of a single poem or a selection, max 120 lines, for just £35.
- Playwright's Package: a full critique of a 30-minute script, max 36 pages, for just £60.
When you submit work for one of our special package deals online, you will be asked for Visa or MasterCard details, and payment will be taken securely and automatically via PayPal.
When you submit longer work online for critiquing or editing, a deposit of £30 will be taken automatically. We will invoice you for the remainder of the fee via PayPal after the project is completed.
EDITING
It's become a cliché that very few writers, however experienced and meticulous, spot every error or inconsistency in their own work – but clichés become clichés because they're true. Most writers are happy to admit that they become so closely involved in the work that they are unable to detach themselves in order to look at it objectively.
You only need to read the Acknowledgements page of any bestselling novel to discover the high value successful authors place on the support of their editors.
That is why, in addition to critiques of work in progress, REAL WRITERS offers a range of editing services, to help you put the final polish on finished pieces of writing.
Development or structural editing means close reading of the finished draft of the work, paying special attention to continuity, structure, character development, plot consistency: every aspect of the work, in fact. At this stage the editor will identify any problems which the author needs to address, and make suggestions on how best to deal with them.
Copy editing is also known as line editing. This is the finel stage of editing before proofreading. A copy editor will go through the manuscript line by line, picking up typographical errors, inconsistent spelling, syntax and punctuation glitches, historical and geographical accuracy where appropriate, and details which may have altered from one chapter to another (the changing colour of Emma Bovary's eyes is often cited as an example of this). This is the fine detail which gives the work its final polish.
Both stages of editing are essential for both fiction and non-fiction work of book length.
Whether you plan to submit your work to conventional publishers, or make use of the self-published eBook option, professional editing is a necessary part of the process.
If a conventional publisher offers to take your work on, s/he will assign an editor to support you – but submitting a well-presented and properly edited manuscript will increase your chances of success. It could turn out to be the best investment you will ever make!
If you go down the self-published route, your book will be in competition with thousands of others. Most self-published authors sell only a handful of copies; a professional finish could make the difference between that handful and several thousand sales.
Our fees for development and copy editing are reasonable and competitive.
For development editing we charge £30 per hour.
For copy editing we charge £25 per hour.
You are welcome to place a maximum on the fee you're able to pay, but please bear in mind that editing is a more time-consuming process than reading and critiquing.
We regret that, like the vast majority of publishers, we are able to accept submissions online ONLY. We are no longer able to offer a postal service.
To submit your work for critiquing or editing online, please complete the form below, following the instructions carefully.