Cumulative Editing and Mentoring

Intensive and focused, cumulative editing is a Fiction Feedback service that many of our authors have taken advantage of, and seen the quality of their work blossom as a result.

What we like to call cumulative editing takes the form of providing developmental editing (editing report and comments on the manuscript) to the novel section by section. You submit an outline and your first 20,000 words or so for the first edit. When you receive it, you revise that first section of the work and re-submit it, together with the next section of the novel. Work would continue on earlier sections until you and your editor are happy that it’s as good as you can make it – usually it takes two or three edits. We’d also keep an eye on the outline or chapter summary you provide, checking adjustments are made throughout in the light of each new set of revisions.

This kind of editing also allows for an author to write two different versions of a section and get editorial input.

Our cumulative service is probably the most in-depth editing you can receive and is hugely beneficial, transforming novels.

What about cost? Of course, this in-depth editing demands a lot of time from the editor as well as the writer, and as a result the cost will probably work out at more than a single developmental edit. So it’s a significant investment of money, time and effort, and aimed at those determined to make a success of their novel.

As a rough guideline to price, we’d be likely to look at each section three times. The cost is almost always reduced every time in accordance with the amount of work for the editor, which should get less! So as an example, we start off with editing a section of 20,000 words at £300. When you return it, it’s probably charged at around £200 for the next edit, and when you return it again, £150. If this is the same throughout the novel and if your novel is 100,000 words, then you’re looking at a total of £2,750.

However, please be aware, there are variables. One section might prove awkward to nail and it might need to return for editing for a fourth time. Or you might need to add significantly more words to a section. Equally, of course, you might find two edits is all that’s required to one section and the word count might decrease rather than increase to another.

If this variability isn’t easy to budget for and you need a set price, we’ll do our best – this is easier if we’ve already seen the work, for instance if it’s come in for a critique. Whatever the cost for this service, you’ll be likely to pay in instalments. There will be an upfront deposit.

The prices cited don’t include any correspondence with the editor beyond an exchange on each submission. If you’d like to ask questions or discuss dilemmas at other stages, we can usually accommodate this, but as the editor needs to charge for their time the overall price will increase. This effectively becomes a mentoring service – cumulative editing with added correspondence outside the standard submissions and edit returns. The crème de la crème of editing, designed to get you to fulfil your novel’s potential.

Email us for more details.