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The Memoir Editing Process

The memoir editing process begins with your phone call—after you have perused this site’s editing pages—including its Editing Fees page.

Do you like what you read? Do you sense there could be a good fit here? Then call us at 207-353-5454 or email us for a free 30-minute consultation.

Your Manuscript and Its Needs.

In this free telephone consultation, we will discuss the writing status of your memoir manuscript and why you feel working with an editor is what you need at this time.

  • Some people want editing that focuses on periods, commas, grammar, and correct spelling. We call this copy editing. We can do that for you. People choose this when they feel their manuscript is finished or when they have gone as far (or as deep) as they want to go. Copy editing is about making the mechanics of the text the best they can be.
  • Other people need to know if the story is appropriately developed and if the characters make sense, etc. We call this developmental editing. In the complimentary consultation, your editor will create a context for how s/he will work for you as your developmental editor. We’ll discuss:
    • Who will be your readers?
    • Why you believe they will want to read your book.
    • What sort of theme do you wish to impart? What inspired you to write?
    • How much rewriting are you willing to undertake.
    • How much do you want us to do?

As you see, developmental editing is best done over time when your editor grows to know you and your goals well. Once you become a regular client, your developmental editor will work with you to

  • develop the structure of your memoir,
  • set an appropriate pace to the story,
  • fine tune your characterization, setting and plotting and
  • bring your attention to many fine points that will enhance your narrative.
Lowther The Memoir Network

To order, click here or on the banner above.

Your Editor May be Your Coach, too.

You may find that your editor takes on the role of coach, creative consultant and technical adviser to help you to transform your manuscript.

The big-city publishing houses don’t publish books without professionals on staff contributing to making each book the best it can be—and neither should you. Working with us you will experience the same process. Let us be your “big city” editorial desk.

Questions?

Our work is done at $95 per hour. If this is within your budget, give us a ring at 207-353-5454, M-F, 9-5 ET or email us to set up an appointment to answer your questions and discuss your project. Suggest three dates and times that work for you and we will confirm one.

Take the next step & call us today!

Beyond your budget?

Try our great internet-based program: Write Your First Memoir Draft. Or go to our bookstore to choose among our many memoir-writing products.

In addition, check out our overview of services and programs page. You are sure to find something—often for free—that will help you to get your memoir unstuck and get it written—by next year at this time.

Lastly, our Memoir Writer’s Blog offers you over 500 posts. It’s a free on-line university training—yours for free.

Then, when you are ready, sign up for work with one of our editors. That’s where you’ll find the best top of the line help to get your memoir ready for publication. So. . .

Are you ready to work with a memoir editor?

We offer an introductory package—try us for a three-hour commitment at  $285. That’s it: three hours! If we’re a fit after you’ve explored the memoir editing process, you ask us for more time. If we’re not a fit, we go our separate ways.

The Memoir Network



When you submit your manuscript in whole or in part, please include any thoughts that you had failed to mention in the initial consultation.

  • “I’m worried that the dialog is stilted.”
  • “This chapter seems to lose energy and turn into a summary of my work history. How can I make it more dramatic?”
  • “I change point of view here to get the story from my uncle’s side. Is it disjointed?”
  • “Should I put the anecdote about the sewing machine in this section? It’s not chronological but it seems to fit.”

Questions?

Our work is done at $95 per hour. If this is within your budget, give us a ring at 207-353-5454, M-F, 9-5 ET or email us to set up an appointment to answer your questions and discuss your project. Suggest three dates and times that work for you and we will confirm one.

Take the next step & call us today!

Is the memoir editing process beyond your budget?

Try our great internet-based program: Write Your First Memoir Draft. Or go to our bookstore to choose among our many memoir-writing products.

In addition, check out our overview of services and programs page. You are sure to find something—often for free—that will help you to get your memoir unstuck and get it written—by next year at this time.

Lastly, our Memoir Writer’s Blog offers you over 500 posts. It’s a free on-line university training—yours for free.

Then when you are ready, sign up for work with one of our editors. That’s where you’ll find the best top of the line help to get your memoir ready for publication. So. . .

Are you ready to work with a memoir editor?

We offer an introductory package—try us for a three-hour commitment at  $285. That’s it: three hours! If we’re a fit after you’ve explored the memoir editing process, you ask us for more time. If we’re not a fit, we go our separate ways.

The Memoir Network


Part of the Memoir Editing Process Includes Clear Explanation & Discussion of Notes

Your editor will return your manuscript with notes and suggestions for you to review.

Thank you for all of your hard work and patience with me over the past two and half years of editing. I now have a polished, well-written manuscript. I have learned and grown so much in some unexpected ways. I feel comfortable presenting my work and my life to the world. Thank you — you’re the best!
— Denise Brown, Read her interview here.

After you receive the returned manuscript, you will have a consult with your editor about specific or general notes. (The consult was scheduled during your previous meeting.)

You may revise your manuscript section immediately and send it in again to your editor. This revision brings you to a new level of writing your manuscript. But, you may also decide to revise later. You and your editor will discuss this.

What an editor does

Suggestions for re-working may include changes in organization, style, tone, point of view, unity of voice, grammatical usage, or new approaches to shaping, creating effective transitions between sections, expanding or tightening up your manuscript.

Your editor may offer specific suggestions for rewriting a paragraph, and s/he may discuss broader issues of character development or setting.

When does the editing process end?

Setting the pace of the memoir project and determining when it’s “done” is up to you—with encouragement and support from your professional editor, whose function is always to push a little!

If your editor evaluates your manuscript as not ready for publication, you will hear about that. That’s because the editor’s role includes holding you to producing the best memoir you are capable of.

What you can expect

If you’ve been working on your own, you’ll be amazed at how this external accountability and encouragement will affect the quantity and quality of your output.

 

Questions?

Our work is done at $95 per hour. If this is within your budget, give us a ring at 207-353-5454, M-F, 9-5 ET or email us to set up an appointment to answer your questions and discuss your project. Suggest three dates and times that work for you and we will confirm one.

Take the next step & call us today!

Is the memoir editing process beyond your budget?

Try our great internet-based program: Write Your First Memoir Draft. Or go to our bookstore to choose among our many memoir-writing products.

In addition, check out our overview of services and programs page. You are sure to find something—often for free—that will help you to get your memoir unstuck and get it written—by next year at this time.

Lastly, our Memoir Writer’s Blog offers you over 500 posts. It’s a free on-line university training—yours for free.

Then when you are ready, sign up for work with one of our editors. That’s where you’ll find the best top of the line help to get your memoir ready for publication. So. . .

 

Are you ready to work with an editor?

We offer an introductory package—try us for a three-hour commitment at  $285. That’s it: three hours! If we’re a fit after you’ve explored the memoir editing process, you ask us for more time. If we’re not a fit, we go our separate ways.

The Memoir Network


The Editing Process Requires A “Fit”?

Whether you want copy editing or content editing, we’ll suggest our Trial Editing Plan: a 3-hour commitment that gives us a chance to get acquainted. Your editor gets to review your work and make very real suggestions, and you get to sample how s/he will collaborate with you to polish your story.

The editing process works like this:

  • You send an agreed upon sample portion of your manuscript and a payment (check, credit card, or PayPal) for $285.
  • Your editor reads and responds.
  • We have one or two telephone consultations on your manuscript during the trial.

How to think about the introductory trial:

  • People sometimes ask why the introductory or trial period is billed at the same rate as regular work. Think of this process as you might think of hiring an accountant to do your regular financials. It is a natural to think in terms of a trial relationship for one quarter. If you like the results, you enter into a permanent relationship with the firm to do the financials permanently. If you do not, the trial period is the end of the association. The accountant bills you at a regular rate and returns results for you to evaluate. The same is true for us.

After the trial

You alert the office that you wish to continue with your editor. The work continues to be billed at its per hour rate.

Questions about the memoir editing process?

Our work is done at $95 per hour. If this is within your budget, give us a ring at 207-353-5454, M-F, 9-5 ET or email us to set up an appointment to answer your questions and discuss your project. Suggest three dates and times that work for you and we will confirm one.

Take the next step & call us today!

Beyond your budget?

Try our great internet-based program: Write Your First Memoir Draft. Or go to our bookstore to choose among our many memoir-writing products.

In addition, check out our overview of services and programs page. You are sure to find something—often for free—that will help you to get your memoir unstuck and get it written—by next year at this time.

Lastly, our Memoir Writer’s Blog offers you over 500 posts. It’s a free on-line university training—yours for free.

Then when you are ready, sign up for work with one of our editors. That’s where you’ll find the best top of the line help to get your memoir ready for publication. So. . .

 

Are you ready to work with a memoir editor?

We offer an introductory package—try us for a three-hour commitment at  $285. That’s it: three hours! If we’re a fit after you’ve explored the memoir editing process, you ask us for more time. If we’re not a fit, we go our separate ways.

The Memoir Network