Do you have a manuscript in progress that requires substantive structural work? Perhaps you are still trying to articulate the core argument of your project. (“What is it I really want to say?” you may ask yourself!) If so, then I can help you shape the manuscript you envision. It isn’t easy to identify a book’s core argument and scaffold all its steps. It’s challenging to clearly thread complex concepts consistently throughout a piece of work, especially when you are so close to it. And sometimes it is hard for an academic writer to remember their reader: who are you writing for? These are among the aspects of writing that I can help you with through developmental editing, with the aim to achieve a well-structured, clearly articulated, and highly readable text.

Let’s say you have completed a solid draft of your manuscript. It’s argument is pretty clear, the structure is sound, and you like the shape of it. Perhaps you’ve even worked through a developmental edit with me or someone else. But still, the manuscript needs polishing at the level of paragraph and sentence. Your transitions might need some work. You want to make sure your writing is grammatical, clear, and inviting to your readers. Perhaps you want to inject more energy into your prose. We can address these kinds of questions with line editing.

Line editing consists of a detailed reading of your manuscript and a collaborative process of revision using track changes. The aim is to make your ideas clear and your text a pleasure to read.

Line editing includes basic copyediting, but I do not offer copyediting as a separate service.

Have you completed your dissertation, fulfilled the requirements of your dissertation committee and university faculty, and now find yourself free to recast your project for a much wider audience? What an exciting prospect! I have read many manuscripts crafted from dissertations as part of my service on the award committee of the American Institute of Indian Studies Book Prize. I look forward to taking what I have learned and applying it to your work.

I offer flat fee dissertation-to-book consultation. I will read your dissertation carefully and offer in writing a set of substantive suggestions for reshaping your dissertation into a book or, if preferred, a set of discrete articles.

Cost: $700 flat fee for dissertations under 300 pages. For longer dissertations, please contact me to discuss.

If you want someone to help keep you to your promise to write ‘x’ number of pages per week, this is for you. The aim of accountability coaching is, well, to offer some accountability to help you achieve the writing goals you have set for yourself.  Beyond counting pages, though, you may find that as you share with me your writing over several weeks or longer, you will be engaged in a writing relationship that will enrich the process and boost your energy for writing. 

How it works

Accountability coaching consists of weekly check-ins intended to keep you working steadily. Together we will set up deadlines and track your progress, and weekly I will respond directly to your writing. On a day we agree upon in advance, you will report on the writing you have done that week and send me some or all of it. It doesn’t matter how rough or incomplete it is. A line is a line, a page is a page. The point is to keep writing, not to write something perfectly beautiful and brilliant every week. I will read some portion of what you have written, and you will tell me what kind of feedback would help you the most. I, in turn, will offer you feedback on the writing, along with words of encouragement to keep you moving ahead. A bit of friendly pressure, too: if you do not send me something in a given week, I will ask for an update and discuss strategies for keeping to your schedule. 

This level of coaching works really well for clients who have already received a developmental edit and know what to do. But now the goal is to work steadily on a set of revisions and complete the project.

It also works well for clients who are just getting started on a new project, but find themselves procrastinating and just not getting to the work

 Most of this coaching will be done by email, with an occasional check-in on zoom if you desire.

What it costs

In order for the accountability part of this to work, I require clients to pay for at least four sessions of coaching up front. Ideally these would be weekly sessions, but we can work around vacation schedules, or set it up for every other week, etc. Each week’s fee is $55.00, so I require a minimum subscription of $220.00 up front. You are responsible for paying for the sessions we schedule, whether or not you produce anything that week.

If you have trouble getting words on the page, or find that your writing doesn’t do justice to your ideas, or struggle with writer’s block, this is for you. Maybe you have the beginnings of a book manuscript in process but want some input into direction, structure, or style before you proceed. Process coaching is a hand’s-on coaching approach where we discuss your writing processes and products, and work on whatever it is that you need. The aim of process coaching is twofold: (1) to help you make progress with your writing projects and (2) to give you the strategies you need to become a more confident and disciplined writer who no longer needs coaching.

How it works

Process coaching consists of 45 minute zoom meetings at an interval that works for you. For a very specific issue, one or two sessions might be all you want. Others may want one session a month while they work on a large project. Each client will likely have a different need. But, say you are dealing with writer’s block: we will discuss your writing process and come up with strategies and exercises to work through the block. Perhaps you wish to discuss stylistic matters, readability, organization, transitions, or how to frame your argument: you will send me a short piece of writing or a manuscript outline in advance, and we will work through it together on zoom.

What is costs

 Each session is $110.00.

 This cost covers the time I will spend in advance reading your work and planning our meeting, plus the 45 minutes with you on zoom.

Some clients have asked me to index their books. I am absolutely willing to construct the occasional index.

A well-crafted index is more than a list of names and topics; it conveys the intellectual blueprint of your book. I like to imagine a reader picking up your book at a bookstore or conference exhibition, flipping to the back of the book, and finding the index interesting and comprehensive enough for them to think, “Wow, this looks great!” We will communicate throughout the process to make sure that the categories I identify fit and evoke your own vision of your project.

My rate: $8.00/indexable page