It's Time to Edit

Feeling boxed in by your current work-in-progress?

Don't despair! We are here to help!

Scarlett Editing was massively busy all winter and we're finally clearing up room to accept new clients.

Like most writers, you were likely working on your book all winter. Now that spring is here, it's time for you to turn over your work to a qualified editor so that you can go plant your garden and enjoy the beautiful weather!

We provide:

Developmental Editing
Copy Editing
Proofreading
Book Report
Book Doctor
Ghost Writing

We work in all genres with all levels of authors!

Contact us for a quote today!  sephgiron@gmail.com





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Happy New Year from Scarlett Editorial Services

Happy New Year from Scarlett Editorial Services!

We are here to serve you seven days a week.

If you have a question or concern about editing, drop us a line!

Now Accepting Clients!
Currently, we are booking clients for January and February. Reserve your spot early so that you don't miss out.

We never take on more clients than we can service properly so don't delay when booking your spot.

If you have a deadline, let us know.

If you don't know what kind of service you need, send us an email describing what you need and we'll help you out.  This is an easy breakdown of some of the types of editing we offer: Editorial Services

When asking for a quote, please give us a word count, genre, and if you have to meet any specific deadline.

We offer discounts when you use a combination of services such as developmental editing and copy editing. Members of the Horror Writers Association always enjoy deep discounts!

It is recommended that you hire a proofreader who isn't your developmental editor or copy editor in order to have as many eyes as possible to catch any mistakes.

Hire an Editor
There are many articles about self-publishing these days with people trying to figure out the best shortcuts and advantages. Some offer great advice, some offer not so great advice. The best advice is to hire at least one professional editor. After all, a traditional publisher would hire four or five editors to work on your book before it's released into the world. Yes, they do! There's the acquisitions editor who bought your book, a line editor, a copy editor, and a proofreader at the very least. That's not including input from the publisher, the marketing team, or even the cover artist who might have something unofficial to offer. And that's just one round. Many authors working with a publishing house go back and forth with various editors in different stages of the process several times until each word is perfect. And even then, mistakes happen, as we've all seen.

As a self-publisher, you need to provide the same professional attention to your own book. Never skimp on editing. You are competing with companies who sink thousands of dollars into a product; you need to do the same. If you can't afford to pay an editor, get a job and save up until you can.

I just read an article about someone offering to edit entire books for five bucks because she thinks it's fun and books need to be edited. Do not take this offer.What professional offers any service at all for five bucks? I'm not even talking about Fiverr, that's something different. People who offer to edit your book for free or five bucks or even fifty bucks will likely not give it the professional workout that you need. Sure a book worm can offer great advice, this is your audience and you should at least listen. However, there are things that happen under the hood that bookworms or your mom or your beta readers won't know or understand as they are not professional editors.

Real editors have to pay rent like everyone else and charge accordingly. Real editors edit for a living and therefore charge professional rates. Google the rates, real rates for real editors. Editors, like us at Scarlett Editing, who have actually taken courses, have a degree, and have years in the trenches as professional, working, good quality editors will charge rates that a lot of writers don't want to pay. However, who likes to pay for the dentist or the cleaning lady or a lawyer? An editor is the same. A professional providing a valuable service that takes years of training to achieve shouldn't give it away for five bucks or fifty.

You will see people offering editorial and proofreading services on Fiverr. On closer inspection, many of them aren't "giving it away" at all. They have figured out how to charge a living wage on Fiverr once you look at the process. Scarlett Editing is also on Fiverr (as Sephera Giron) and our rates on there are the same as when you order directly from us on here except there will never be a sale or combination of services discounts on Fiverr.

Eleven Years in the Business
We have worked with self-published authors for over eleven years and hundreds of books. We have not only watched the evolution of self-publishing but have been working in the trenches for years. We were here before it was "cool" to self-publish. We know what to look for and how to help you create a book that will be professional.

We care about your book, your hard work, and will do our best to make it shine!

Happy New Year from Scarlett Editorial Services!

Please think of us when you are looking for an editor for your next book!

sephgiron @ gmail. com

Time for Editing

Summer will be here soon which means long, lazy vacations or maybe it means rushing around with the kids. At any rate, the last thing you're going to feel like doing is editing your manuscript.

If you've been working on a book or a story all winter, you're likely sick of it by now. Why not turn your work over to the professionals at Scarlett Editorial Services?

While you're off having a life, we'll be here bringing your work to life.

Summer is a fantastic time to make notes and start working on your next book. So feel free to jump ahead into the next project while we wrap up what's left to do on your previous one.

For rates, please go.here .

If you have any questions, please feel free to email us.

Members of the Horror Writers Association always enjoy a discount. Be certain to tell me that you're a current member.

Get Ready for Summer and Publish Your Book!

Spring is nearly here in Toronto. In fact, we barely had a winter.

Sure we had the coldest day in one-hundred years.  A few cold days surrounded by weirdly warm weather of gorgeous sunshine and little need for heavy coats was nothing compared to the past few years of ice storms and Snowmageddon.

We also had a "big blizzard" but really, in the big picture, winter was rather mild this year.

Spring is time for blossoming and new beginnings!

Have you finished your first draft? Your last draft?  Are you ready for developmental editing?

I've cleared my desk from all of the clients who have sought my services over the winter months.  My last prepaid editing project will be completed by Sunday night.

That means I have room and time for new (and old) clients on a first come, first served basis.

I also can reserve specific dates for you if you send a deposit. Just pop me an email and we can discuss!

Getting your editing out of the way now means you might be able to publish your book in time for summer!

Check out my price list and pop me an email so we can discuss your book and how I can help you make it shine!

Clean Up Your Act!

How many times have you hired a cleaning person?

How many times have you hired a cleaning service?

Do you have a weekly cleaning service in place at your home?

Do you have a live-in housekeeper? A cook? A nanny? A dog walker? Someone to mow your lawn? Shovel your snow? Weed your garden?

Do you hire staff when you have a party?

A lot of people hire other people to clean up their messes. It’s always been this way.

Here's A Story

Way back in the seventies, in what was considered cutting-edge times, The Brady Bunch, a fictional TV family, had a housekeeper even though Carole was a stay-at-home mom and Mike was only an architect.

But Alice was there mopping and dusting and cooking while Carole ran around to PTA meetings.

It’s still the same today for many types of (lucky!) people.

Why?

Because no one wants to clean up a mess.

Cleaning wastes time.

It’s boring to clean. It takes time away from earning money or playing with the kids. Most people hate cleaning. And so they will find a way to have other people clean at least a few things for them, depending on their budgets.

A Clean Sweep

I have a friend who was laid off from a great job about a year ago. She set to work cleaning other people’s houses in the neighbourhood for extra cash. A year later, she has a multi-woman team, and is making a great living cleaning other people’s houses, and funny enough, pretty much in her own neighbourhood.

It just goes to show you how many people hate to clean! Or at the very least, don’t have time to scrub toilets and bat away cobwebs. They hate cleaning so much they will pay others to do it for them.

There is a rare breed, and I’ve met a few of them over the years, my friend being one of them, who love to clean. They are in their glory cleaning other people’s stuff. So yes, some people love to clean and they will clean for almost anyone, for a price.

The funny thing about house-keeping is that anyone can do it, even little kids, and yet people will pay big bucks for other people to come in and mop the floors or pick up after a party or shovel the snow.

However, we all admit, nothing in the world feels better than walking into a shiny, clean, fresh-smelling home after a long commute.

Cleaning Is an Art

People who clean houses for a living have it down to an art. They work quickly and efficiently, knowing the short-cuts and how to combat specific challenges.

Freelance cleaning people can make $10 to $100 an hour, depending on how fabulous they are at their jobs, the type of house they are cleaning, and the financial means of their client. Some cleaners receive great tips and perks in addition to their fees.

Clean Up That Manuscript

Editing is much like cleaning. 

An editor’s job is to help the writer reach his full potential without losing his voice or intent. An editor’s role is to remove the clutter of developmental or grammatical errors, trim the fat, tighten up the manuscript, which essentially is cleaning up a writer’s work. When an editor has finished the job, the writer is free to keep or discard the editor’s changes and advice.

Most editors have post-secondary degrees and other training. Years in the trenches as a writer and editor brings experience with the process though not necessarily the skill. Some editors specialize only in specific tasks such as developmental editing or copy-editing. Some editors are well suited to offer all levels of editing. 

Freelance Editors

Considering the cost of education and the millions that publishing houses generate, one would think that a freelance editor makes $100s an hour. But, sadly that’s not true for the average freelancer. The current average of set fees posted on the internet against real editing time, not including emails, phone calls, and meetings, would likely fall between $5 to $60 an hour. It depends on the size of the project, level of editing, the level of the author’s writing ability, and the fee.

When it comes to editing, you often get what you pay for. Editing done dirt cheap will likely be competent but things will likely fall through the cracks, as the editor is working quickly. A really high priced editor may or may not deliver the best darned editing ever invented. A fee in the middle from an editor who has been working for a few years will likely guarantee a good job.

And it’s the same with the cleaning services you use in your home. You likely don’t hire the cheapest cleaning lady on the block but you don’t want to shell out big bucks either. So you go with the middle priced candidate and get a decent job, sometimes excellent.

Start the New Year with a Clean Slate

The next time you decide that you don’t want to pay for editing or proofreading, think about how much you shell out on other people cleaning up after you, your kids, and your dog. Isn't that manuscript you poured your blood, sweat, and tears into worth a cleaning as well?

Big Discount Editing Special Ends June 30, 2015 at Midnight!

Let's celebrate all things summer and all things wonderful!

What are we celebrating?
School's Out! More time for writing or maybe there's no time for writing depending on your situation. But Scarlett Editing is here to do your editing and proofreading for you! Oh yes, we can also write for you. We can ghost write your book. We can write your web content, your blogs, your SEO articles. Pop us an email to find out more!

Pride Week in Toronto! Celebrate who you are and love your fellow humans!

Summer Is Here! It was a long cold winter in Toronto. Although the weather is still iffy, there's no doubt summer is here.

Ten Years of Editing!  Sèphera has been editing books for over ten years!

From today until midnight on June 30, 2015 Scarlett Editing is offering a deep discount on all editing, proofreading, and content writing services.

How does the discount work?
If you reserve your spot for editing this summer or fall with a deposit of $100 by midnight of June 30, you can enjoy a discount of 25% on your final price no matter when you actually have your book or story edited.

Send $100 by Paypal to sephgiron@rogers.com with the estimated date that you would like your work edited between now and December 2015.

You don't need to know the exact date you will be submitting your work, just that you will want editing between now and December 31st, 2015.


EXAMPLE: Let's say you know you'll be ready by September 16 to send in your book.

The $100 paid by June 30 reserves your priority spot and your deep discount of 25% off the final price. You don't have to know exactly how long your work is until you send it in for editing. Just let us know if it's a story, an article, a book, a novella, and so on.

When you send in your manuscript on or before September 16, you are required to send in half the payment based on the word count.

Let's say you think your book is 50,000 words.

Your fee for line editing would be $1000.00

So if half the payment is $500 and you've already sent in $100, you only have to pay $400 as a prepayment.

When the work is returned to you, the balance is due. The calculation is as such:

$1000 fee
    100 reservation fee for spot
    400 prepayment

$500 is prepaid or submitted with the manuscript.

$1000 x 25% off = $750 final price

The balance that would be due upon receipt of your edited work would be $750 -500= $250

The final price you would owe immediately once your work is returned to you would be $250 payable.

In this example a 50,000 word book had a deep discount of $250 off the final price! Pretty nice summer special, eh?

Do you have to know the exact date you want editing?
Scarlett Editing knows that you likely don't know for sure when you'll be finished writing your book. But if you can give a general idea of the week you'd like your service, it will help all of us schedule. However, we understand that it can be difficult to gauge.

If you're taking advantage of the 25% off deep discount you need to have your $100 deposit paid before midnight on June 30, 2015 and your manuscript submitted to Scarlett Editing before midnight on December 31, 2015. However, we also know that situations arise that prevent writing so we ARE flexible.


Does it have to be a certain genre or certain length?
Scarlett Editing works in ALL genres.

Scarlett Editing will work with fiction and non-fiction.

Your book or story can be any length and any genre to take advantage of the 25% off special. However, the minimum rate to edit any work is $10 even if the work is a short limerick.

Your book can be for adults or children or YA. You can be an adult, child, or teen! We work with and in all age groups.

You can be a beginning writer, self-published writer, seasoned pro or any other kind of writer. It doesn't matter to us!

Your $100 deposit to take advantage of this one-time deep discount of 25% off is non-refundable.

If you have any questions, please ask  sephgiron @ gmail.com

Please put Editing or Proofreading in the title line of your correspondence.

Spread the word about this once-in-a-lifetime deal!

Have a great summer!

Celebrate!

Five Reasons You Should Self-Publish

There will always be arguments from all sides about the value of self-publishing. There are traditionally published authors who complain that self-published authors are sloppy and lazy. There are self-published authors who complain that traditionally published authors are snotty and elitist. Everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion when it comes to the pros and cons of publishing.

At the end of the day, your writing career is yours alone. You are in charge of your own career. You can steer it in whatever direction you desire. And these days, you can be in full and complete control of every step of your writing career if you so choose.

Many authors choose to self-publish because they don't want to wait months or years for agents, editors, and publishing houses to get back to them. Others are impatient. Others want control.

There are dozens of reasons you should self-publish your book just as there are dozens of reasons you should NOT publish your own book. However, here are five reasons that some people use when they choose to self-publish.

1. You are in control of your own content. 
No one is going to tell you to remove chapter sixteen because it sucks. No one is going to tell you that the story doesn't have a proper ending. No one is going to squash down your idea of telling your story from three points of views in one paragraph. No one is going to tell you that your choice of genre is dead. You can tell your story in whatever manner you desire in as many words and chapters as you want.

2. You are in control of your own cover.
Gone are the days when authors freak out over cover art that doesn't reflect their books. You can hire and fire as many cover artists as you desire in your quest for the perfect vision for your opus. You can even save money and design your own cover. Many of the self-publishing platforms provide templates to do just this. Your book cover art, author blurbs, and book description are under your complete control. You no longer have to suffer with cover art that you hate.

3. You don't have to wait years for your book to be published.
The minute you type "The End" you can upload that baby and have a published book within a day or two, depending on which platform you use. You don't even have to invest any additional money for the print version if you use a platform such as CreateSpace.

4. You earn a way bigger royalty.
You will discover that if you self-publish you can earn huge royalties. If you publish e-books, you have virtually no overhead except for hiring your developmental editor, your copy editor, your proof-reader, and your cover artist. After those expenses, every penny you earn goes back to YOU! No publishing house is scooping the majority of your royalty money. No agent is scooping up 15 - 20% of your earnings. Nope, you get to keep every single shiny penny for yourself! Forever. Unlike traditional print publishing houses, your e-books and p.o.d. books will never go out of print until you unpublish them.

5. You are in control of your own career.
If you burst awake in the night with an idea for a sequel to your book, you can spend a few weeks writing it, send it off to your favourite freelance editor for a month of vigorous editing while your favourite cover designer works on your new cover, and boom, your sequel is ready within weeks. If you wanted to write a sequel with a traditional publishing house, you would have to pitch it, wait for the sales team to crunch your numbers, your editor would decide if it's financially viable, and then you would have to wait for a contract IF you passed all the financial hurdles. After the contract, you can get started on your sequel which likely won't see print for another year or two. When you self-publish, you can get your work out to your fans at your own pace without wasting time for others to dictate your fate.


Self-publishing isn't for everyone but it can be way for authors with entrepreneurial spirit and a bit of money in the bank to get their work out into the world. If you approach your writing career like a business, you will likely have some measure of success. As long as you write the best book that you can, and get it professionally edited and proof-read, you have as good of a shot as anyone else for a long and possibly even financially successful career as a writer.

If you need a developmental editor, copy editor, line editor, or proof-reader, please contact us today at Scarlett Editing.  sephgiron @ gmail.com

School Daze

It's back to school time for many people. For others, there is great rejoicing as with the kids away, there is finally time to get to work on your new novel!

Writing a novel, a book, even a story, is great fun but also a lot of hard work.

Many people don't realize how much work is involved in taking a piece of work from your mind and turning it into a published piece that others will buy.

Your best friend can be your editor.

Most books that go through traditional publishing routes will see one to five editors along the way. This is a lot of people who will look at your work, disect it, and "make it good;" good enough to expect others to pay hard-earned money to buy it.

Self-published authors need to think carefully about their own route to the bookstore shelf. The savvy  self-published author will hire a team to "make it good" and it can be daunting to decide who to hire for these many and varied tasks.

A self-published author at the minimum should have the expertise of a professional working editor for at least one draft. This should be someone who isn't related to you and who has experience in editing. Sure, your friends can share if the story is funny or scary or makes sense. An editor will help you understand how and why a scene may or may not work. An editor will help you keep your tenses consistent, and keep "head-hopping" to a minumum. An editor can point out where the tension gets lost or if there are lot of "facts" that simply aren't necessary.

Scarlett Editing offers many services for the self-published author.

We can prepare a book report, which is an overview of your work.

We can do line-editing which is the most detailed and expensive service that we offer.

We can do a variety of edtiorial services that fall in-between.

Scarlett Editing focusses primarily on editiorial services but we are happy to provide leads from our professional network for other services.

You may also need to hire book designer, a cover artist, and publicist and there are a great many talented people who are ready to help you with those services as well at a variety of companies aimed towards the self-published author.

An editor is not a publisher.

An editor is not a publicist.

An editor is not a formatter.

An editor is not a lawyer and can't give you legal advice.

An editor is not a cover artist.

An editor is not an agent.

An editor can not guarantee that your book will ever sell at all but we're going to try our best to give it the best possible chance to fly off the bookshelf.

You can contact Scarlett Editing with any questions: sephgiron@gmail.com

Interview with Editor Sephera Giron

To many authors, the editor is a scary, mysterious beast who holds your fate in his or her hands.

In many ways this is true.

But the editor is your friend as well. Once your work is ready to publish, the editor wants to help you, the author, polish your work to shine the best it can for your readers.

Sèphera Girón talks to The Editor's Desk about different levels of editing and their importance to a project. She also sheds light on why every author, from beginner to the most jaded, needs to work with an editor.

Click here to read an interview with Sèphera Girón What to Expect from a Book Editor

The Editor's Desk provides a wider variety of services than Scarlett Editorial Services including business copy, web copy, screenplay developmental editing services, and one-on-one coaching.

While Scarlett Editorial Services focuses on creative projects, you will find yourself in good hands with The Editor's Desk for your business and corporate needs.

For creative work, Scarlett Editorial Services is happy to schedule your manuscript slot when you contact us at sephgiron @rogers.com. Booking your spot in advance will ensure that your book will be edited when you're ready to proceed. It also will ensure you have a spot when you want it as we are very busy and sometimes may not be able to get to your work exactly when you contact us.

Scarlett Editorial Services has edited over 1000 books, stories, articles, web sites, and poetry.

Don't miss out on receiving high quality, professional service. Book your spot today!

sephgiron@rogers.com

It never hurts to have another set of eyes looking over your work, no matter what you're writing!