In addition to what is already listed on my Submissions and Rates page, here are additional policies that may or may not apply to a given client.

Academic Paper Policy

I may accept papers intended for academic evaluation, but only with independent confirmation from your instructor, who will also receive a summary of the assistance I give you. This includes papers intended for audited classes. I am happy to consult on academic papers to help out, but do not expect me to write it for you, even in line edits; and for the most part, your institution’s in-house writing center will be more accurate — and far cheaper — than any copy editing I can provide.

If I suspect a paper may be intended for a class of any kind but that status has not been disclosed to me, I will not accept it under any circumstances. There are many ways I can (and have) checked for enrollment status. If you misrepresent yourself in this regard, and I discover this after any payment has been transferred, no refund will be given; in addition, I will inform all relevant institutions, including any past institutions you have attended, of this incident and suggest they open an investigation into academic misconduct.

Late Delivery Policy

If the manuscript is late due to any reason other than my health, that of my family, or another truly unavoidable emergency, it will be discounted by 5% of the total agreed-upon fee, with another 5% of the total deducted for every 5 additional days it is late.

Manuscript Serials Policy

If you are submitting a webnovel, serial fiction, a short story series, or an essay series, you may consider it to be a single work regardless of how much has been completed, so long as you follow the other submission guidelines. A new summary will not need to be required with each batch unless you have clearly come to the end of a single narrative.

Refund Policy

If any refund is required, it is subject to a $5 convenience fee as well as transfer fees (the latter not collected by myself). If any further deductions for time spent are required, an itemized bill will be provided.

Sexual Content Policy

Any scenes containing explicit references to sexual activity will be excluded from the edit, but the editorial fee will still be based on the total wordcount of the manuscript provided to me. It is highly recommended to delete such scenes from the copy you send me. This policy extends to any descriptions of sexual organs presented in a sexual light, including arousal, as opposed to being mentioned in a police investigation or a description of alien biology, etc.

Why the Pitch and Summary?

The requirement of an elevator pitch and either a 200- or 400-word summary can seem daunting, but I promise I’m not setting out to torture you.

Any competent freelance editor will wind up getting more submitted manuscripts than he or she can handle, many of them unfinished and rife with problems that are easy to fix but might not be obvious to the author — especially first-time authors. Most of them implement a simple submission fee, which might also be called a reading fee. It’s often a speedbump charge meant to make you stop and think “Am I really ready?” though some editors will charge up to and even over $100 just for the privilege of telling you no. That doesn’t do anything but drain your wallet.

Instead, my process is designed to not just provide a speed bump, but also give you a set of benefits before I even see your manuscript. By working on your elevator pitch, you drill down to the core of how you will market your story. Through writing a very short summary, you force yourself to take a close look at your manuscript that will show you obvious problems that you’d otherwise have to pay an editor to tell you about and then have to go and write a new draft anyway, only to pay for yet another editing pass down the line.

I want you to get something out of this. I want you to be able to quickly pitch your book at any opportunity, both to readers and to editors. I want you to be able to tell if your story meanders, has a plot point out of place, needs a better payoff, or is missing an important piece of setup. This method is difficult, but it’s the best option I’ve ever found that will help you, the author, fix common editorial problems on your own, without ever spending a dime. Sure, I could upcharge you, but if I was into gouging my clients I’d have gone to law school.