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?

Holiday Sale for Editing Services Ends Soon!

Enjoy Discounted Editing Services for a Limited Time

DON'T MISS OUT!

Sale ends soon!

Enjoy discounted editing services for six months of 2016 by putting down a small deposit today!

Maybe you have a writer friend who is struggling to pay bills and is working really hard on a story, a book, a poem, or an essay.

Help ease his or her struggle by buying editorial services for him or her.

A deposit of only $100 today will lock in discounted editing rates up to June 2016 no matter how many books, stories, or essays the author wishes to have edited by Scarlett Editorial Services.  You don't have to declare what you want edited if you don't know yet. Just know that you have peace of mind to receive a 10% discount when you're ready to order any service at any time for any amount of work before June 2016.

This offer expires on December 31, 2015!

Every penny counts when you're a writer. You only get one chance to give a first impression. 

Retaining professional editing services is a must, especially for self-published authors in these modern times. Competition is fierce so help yourself rise above the others with professional editing.

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.

Questions? Just pop us an email at  sephgiron@ gmail.com

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!

Fall Writing Exercise

 For those of us who are lucky enough to experience seasons, fall often tops the favourites list. Although the weather can get turbulent, there are pockets of the perfect day.

It's not brutally hot. It's not cold. You can walk down the street dressed nicely, perhaps with a sweater or jacket, without getting soggy from some kind of torrential wetness, whether it's from rain, sweat, snow, or hail.

Fall can often provide a brief glimpse into perfect weather. Nothing's melting and making a mess. You aren't afraid you're going to break your hip. There's no worry about dying from being too hot or too cold (most of the time). Leaves blow around but are pretty while they do it and aren't that much of a nuisance. Squirrels are funny to watch as they scamper around in a frenzy collecting their nuts. Kids are back in school. You might be back at school. Even for those of us not in school, Labour Day routinely marks the end of fun in the sun times no matter what the climate is doing. The good weather days grow less frequent, and the days grow shorter.

As we hurtle towards Thanksgiving and Halloween, we grasp at the last glimpses of the sun as we enjoy our lunchtime walks, smell the change in crispier air with our layers of clothing increasing, and prepare ourselves for the impending months of darkness, inconvenience, and for many, cabin fever.

Why Do You Write?
You may have become a writer because of cold dark winters with nothing else to do. For those of us of a certain age, we remember the times when the three channels on the TV didn't come in because of a blizzard, and the power went out, and there was nothing to do but read or write by flashlight, candlelight, or fireplace. These days there are many ways to continue to stay connected to entertainment and the outside world, so there is no real "forced" reason to explore different manners of self-expression as we can be engaged 24/7 in other people's imaginations should we so choose.

Engage Your Imagination

This fall as the nights grow long, foggy, and cool, take some time to unplug and explore your writing. Get in touch with your senses, your imagination, and your creation of atmosphere. Try penning a spooky poem or short story with no second-guessing or self-censorship. Give yourself a set amount of time like thirty minutes. That's the only time you have to do this exercise.

Go to parks and graveyards. Sit by the lake or a pond. Watch the sun rise or set, depending on your schedule. Listen to and watch the migrating birds creating their flight patterns for their journeys. See bats and owls fly by in the moonlight. Take pictures of the changing landscape around you as the leaves turn colour and blow away. Take out your pen and notebook.

Breathe in the fall air. Let your imagination run wild. See what kind of poems and stories you can create as you take a few minutes to just play with your creativity. Don't worry about what you're doing. Just let the words flow onto the page and see where they go. Once you're finished your session you're finished. You wrote what you wrote and that's what you wrote.

Keeping little exercises such as this in a journal can help you chart your progress. Noodling thoughts in this manner can sometimes lead to bigger story developments later on when you return to reflect on past entries.

Keep Seasonal Affective Disorder at Bay
Giving yourself little tasks can work well if you're suffering writer's block, depression, or just need a nudge to write. Sometimes we can get too focused in the writing we're working on so giving our imaginations permission to "play" for a half an hour or so can free up creativity.

Fun with Dictionaries
If you need a kick-start, there are other tricks. Close your eyes and open the dictionary. Put your finger on a word. Open your eyes and write down the word. Do this for five words.

Now do the same with your name dictionary for one or two names. Now you have a character or place name.

Write these words in your journal so you that you have them with you when you find your writing spot. Use the words in your exercise. Free associate and see what happens.

Summer Journals and Self-Publishing

Write a Book, Publish a Book

This summer, why not keep a journal or diary of all your adventures?

This is especially wonderful if you have small children or are taking a unique vacation or working at a new and unusual job.

It doesn't take long to record your memories into a date book, on Instagram, or even by voice recording on your phone.

Then in the cold months of winter, you can relive all of those magical times.

Perhaps you did something truly amazing that you'd like to share with all of your friends.

Maybe there was a fabulous family reunion you can share with the family.

These days, it's easy-as-pie to compile your adventures into an eBook or even a print book.

Create wonderful souvenirs for the summer of 2015 that you can look back on for years to come!

If you need help with compiling, editing, proofreading, or any other aspect of your creative endeavours, give us a shout and we'll see if we can help!

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