Get that Manuscript Ready for the Holidays!

While many authors are taking the NaNoWriMo challenge, others are getting their manuscripts ready for publication!

Are you trying to get your book self-published for the holidays?

Are you trying to get that manuscript polished up to submit to an agent or editor before they go on holidays in a few weeks?

We are here to help you!

Scarlett Editing is now ready for new and old clients!

We have edited over 1,000 books!

We work with all types of authors: emerging, professional, hobby, self-published, traditionally published

We work in ALL genres.

We offer a variety of editing services.

Developmental Editing

Line Editing

Copy-editing

Proofreading

Discounts for a combination of services.

Email for your custom quote today!

sephgiron@gmail.com

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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May the Fourth Editing Sale!

It's Star Wars Day!
We are huge Star Wars fans here at Scarlett Editing so what better way to celebrate all things Star Wars than to hold an editorial services sale!

All levels of editing are included in this sale!

After all, Star Wars was written on paper long before it was ever filmed.

All movies begin with a screenplay!

There are novelizations of Star Wars as well. Hundreds of them!

Perhaps you are working on a Star Wars novel or a fan fiction story! We'd love to edit it for you!

All Genres! All Writers!
We have edited over 1000 books and hundreds of short stories and articles. We provide book doctor and ghost writing services as well

We have experience in fiction and non-fiction, poetry, YA, and children's books. There is no genre or story we won't edit.

All genres qualify for this sale. Your story doesn't have to be science fiction or space opera.

Flash Sale!  
25% off all services for the rest of 2016 when you place $100 deposit today.

For the rest of 2016, you may enjoy 25% off ALL SERVICES you order no matter what kind. 

That's right, you can come to us as many times as you desire for the rest of 2016 and enjoy 25% off any and all services that you use!

The manuscript doesn't have to be ready to send today but the deposit needs to be received by MIDNIGHT May 4, 2016

Please feel free to ask any questions about how the sale works. 

Use this button right now to reserve your special price of 25% off all editorial services for the rest of 2016!

May the Force Be with You!

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!

Holiday Discount for All Editing Services

Scarlett Editing wants to help you finish up your book in time for 2016 publication!

We will be accepting a limited number of clients before the new year at a big discount of 10% off.

Did you just finish NaNoWriMo and now need to hammer that book into shape?

Once you've tackled a few drafts on your own, you will be ready for a professional to go through your work.

Have you been writing your memoirs?

Did you finally get around to writing that romance novel you've been dreaming about for years?

How's your children's book going?

Most writers begin with a developmental edit. This is a very thorough service that will pinpoint all the areas in your book that may need more information or even a bit of re-arranging. You can read more about DE services elsewhere in this blog.

The DE is returned to the writer and then corrections are made. This can take the author weeks or even months. There is no right or wrong way to edit. There is never a hurry. The goal is the best book possible, not the fastest. No one cares how long it took you to write a book or how many rewrites you went through to make it perfect. All your reader cares about is holding a professionally edited book that won't be confusing and annoying.

Once the DE work is completed, most writers order a Copy-Edit service. This is the service that most people think of when they say they need editing. This service tackles spelling, grammar, and all that technical stuff.

After the author has gone through very thorough DE and CE services, some will order a Proofreading service. It is often advisable to use someone who didn't work on the DE and CE to perform proofreading. This service is what happens just before you click the "publish" button if you're self-publishing or it's the final draft before you send to that big New York publishing house. 

The manuscript should be absolutely perfect in your mind when you send the final proof to Scarlett Editing. Of course your editor will find a few things, that's her job. However, this isn't the time for rewrites or discovering recurring grammatical issues. All that should be under control. Proofreading catches that last minute typo or things like that renamed chapter isn't reflected in the TOC.

Writers write and let the editors edit!

Book your slot today with a deposit of $100.

You can take advantage of this 10% off sale by sending a deposit of $100 to Paypal or by EFT to  sephgiron@rogers.com by December 31, 2015.

If you send $100 deposit, that will ensure you receive the 10% off rate when your work is ready to be edited as long as you send in your manuscript before June 30, 2016. 

NO REFUNDS.

Once your manuscript is ready to be sent, estimate the cost of the service by the word count. When you send your manuscript, you can send the rest of the deposit if it is more than $100.

Example:

For instance, you send $100 on December 10, 2015 because you're working on a romance novel and know you will want DE or CE or even proofreading at some point. You don't know what you want, you have no idea how long your book will be but you know you'll need a professional editing service at some point so you send $100.

On January 15, 2016 you finish your novel and you're ready to send it in. You've decided that you want DE work. The novel comes in at 50,000 words.

The cost of a DE for a book of this size is:  $1000. 

The SALE PRICE for your DE since you reserved your spot in December is now only $900.

This means that the first half of your payment plan is $450 that you would send when you send the manuscript.

However, you put a $100 deposit down back on December 10 towards this work so you only have to send $350 when you send in your manuscript.

The DE will take anywhere from one week to one month. When the corrected manuscript is returned, the final balance of the payment is due which would be $450.

No surprises. No added on fees. No taxes. No bloated hourly rates. The fee is the fee.

If you want to proceed with more services, you will receive a discount of some kind, depending on what you want and the length of the material.

HELP A STARVING ARTIST!

If your significant other is a writer, why not surprise him or her with the gift of an editing service?

Even if you don't know what kind of service your writer may want or need, you can send $100 deposit in his or her name by December 31, 2015 to reserve a spot for editing. 

Scarlett Editing can send a special "gift certificate" email that can be printed out to include in a card or other present.

When the writer is ready for editing, he or she can contact Scarlett Editing and we'll work through what service the author wishes to use! Then the writer can tell you what the next two or three payments will cost over the next few months and they can be sent either by you or the writer, depending on your arrangement with each other.

EASY!

Any questions, just email and ask!  sephgiron @ rogers.com

The response to the previous sale was pretty intense so do note: first come, first served! 

This offer might be withdrawn at any time before December 31, 2015 if the limited spots are filled.

There are limited spots available for this sale so that each manuscript will receive full and careful attention.

Quality is always the priority at Scarlett Editing!

HWA members receive a discount in addition to this discount!

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

Proofreading: A Fact of Life

Sometimes when we're in a hurry, simple things can be overlooked. We forget our keys, we leave our coffee cup on the counter, the kids forget their lunch, and we overlook grammatical errors in our communication materials.

A Fresh New Look
A simple proofread by a fresh set of trained eyes can often catch those last minute typos that weary editors and copy editors may miss in their own corrections.

A proofread can catch missing sentences and paragraphs that may be out of order from other manipulations the text may have gone through in the revision and formatting process.

Proofreading may be that last chance to notice that Jimmy's name is spelled Jimmie for half the book.

Why Can't the Editor Proofread?
Editors do proofread their own work. When they send the work back to the author, they believe they have found everything they can find at that time. An editor who has gone through the developmental and copy editing process with the author may become as blinded to the story as the author when it comes to catching random typos and grammatical errors.

A developmental editor helps the author shape the story and create engaging characters. Grammatical corrections aren't performed as the work is still mutating.

The copy editor and/or line editor, (depending on how many editors with whom you work), will go over the manuscript with a fine tooth comb. If you want a quick turnaround, you can expect a few things may be missed. Even when a editor has time to do several passes there are ways that errors can occur once the manuscript leaves his or her hands.

How Can There Be More Mistakes?
When the author receives a corrected manuscript from an editor, there will likely still be revisions that the author needs to perform. Even very simple revisions can result in more errors, depending on the skill of the author.

If the author is self-publishing, he will have to put the story into the correct format if it isn't that way this far into the process. Sometimes when work is reformatted, words can be dropped or punctuation can be changed. The author should check the work himself for errors and correct them before sending the work on to the final proofreader.

The best person to proofread a book is someone new to the story. Most proofreaders don't actually read the book for the story, so they don't get bogged down in details. Some read the book like a book but most treat the book like a text book. They are looking for mechanical and technical errors.

Some proofreaders even read work from the end to the beginning to really search for errors.

A proofread is the very last service to be performed after a work is deemed complete and ready to publish/send/upload.

Keeping Your Reader Engaged
Your number one job as a writer is to tell a great story or share information.

Your next job is to be certain you are using the best presentation possible.

Readers fall out of stories or get bored with information if there are too many typos or formatting issues. Don't irritate your readers with missing words, wrong spelling, and irregular formatting.

There is fierce competition out there for your attention created by millions; from other talented artists to corporations with deep pockets. Think about how you're going to compete for that attention whether it's with your book, your website, your brochure, or your essay.

Everyone has a story to tell. Be certain that your reader can understand it. Show your respect for your reader by presenting a clean and easy-to-read document. Editors and proofreaders can shine up your product to its full potential and give you the confidence to share it with your audience.

Contact Us!
If you'd like your story, book, website, email, or any other document proofread, please see our rates and email us.  sephgiron @ gmail.c om

Expiration Date Launch and Spring Editing!

On Thursday April 9, author and editor Sèphera Girón will be signing autographs in Toronto at the Sellers & Newell Bookstore for the Expiration Date Anthology. If you've had questions for Sèphera about her editorial services, feel free to ask her at the launch.

Sèphera will also be attending Ad Astra April 10 - 12 and will be on several panels as well as attending the mass autograph session from 2 - 4.

It was a very long and cold winter in Toronto. In fact, it's snowing right now on Easter Sunday!

The great thing about long, cold winters is that a lot of books and stories get written.

After you've written your book or story, you will need an editor.

Scarlett Editing has over ten years experience with hundreds of clients. Services range from a general reading of your work with general comments to very specific editorial services.

If you're not sure what kind of editing you need, don't be shy. Pop us an email and describe your work. We'll let you know what you need.

Our rates are very competitive and reflects our years of professional work and satisfied customers.

When you purchase two or more services, you will receive a discount.

We encourage you to book your spot in advance if you have a specific deadline, otherwise we work on a first come, first serve basis.

We take great care and detail in our work. Turnaround time varies per project but we work as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Scarlett Editorial Services looks forward to hearing from you!

Contact us today for rates and availability.

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

Starving Artist Editing Discount:Limited Time Offer

You've spent weeks, months, perhaps even years writing your book. You've typed "the end" and now wonder what's next?

Showing your work to your friends and family is an excellent way to get feedback from your average reader.

However, most friends and family aren't professional publishers and editors. They will not be able to spot grammar errors, or they may find that something doesn't "feel" right but they can't help you correct it.

Editors can help you. Whether it's a quick "book report" overview of your work, or thorough word-by-word line-editing, shining up your work to its absolute best shows your readers you respect your work and that you respect the time they put into reading your work.

Some writers write full time. Some writers have day jobs. Some writers have spouses who pay the bills.

The reality is that professional editing by an experienced editor is not cheap. Editing is a real job and can make a huge difference to the quality of a manuscript. Whether it's finding plot holes, removing repetitive information, finding spots where names change, or hacking out those unnecessary commas, an editor can make your work excel.

From now until midnight July 8, 2014, Scarlett Editorial services is offering a 15% discount on all editing services. 

To take advantage of this offer, you must make a deposit by July 8, ensuring your spot for editing.

You don't have to have your work ready by July 8.

All you have to do is reserve your spot for future editing by making a small deposit today that will go towards your fees and you will be locked into the 15% discount rate.

For instance, you are working on a 100,000 word manuscript and you know you'll want line editing for it when it's complete. Secure a 15% discount by reserving your spot with a deposit today. The deposit goes towards your final fee.    

Even if your book isn't ready for editing until December, you will still receive the 15% discount as long as you've paid your deposit by Paypal by midnight of July 8, 2014.


100000 x .02 = $2000 x 15% discount = $1700 


You would enjoy a $300 savings on this project if you take advantage of our offer by July 8, 2014.

Timelines for editing vary by project and service. Expect a book to take from one week to four weeks to be edited.


We look forward to working with you. Now go outside and enjoy the summer while we take care of your work for you!