My work includes a detailed editorial letter with big-picture thoughts about the piece’s argument and its delivery, the way it is framed and structured. I point out ways that I believe the ideas can be clarified and the analysis developed. In conjunction with this letter, I make inline comments within the manuscript with targeted comments and concrete suggestions about how you might carry out the conceptual and structural revisions I suggest.

Consistent in the practices outlined above, I also recognize that every project is different. I find it helpful to have a conversation by phone or zoom at no charge before I begin engaging deeply with a text. This gives me a fuller sense of how the writer sees the project, its stage, and its needs. If we decide to work together, I begin with an initial read-through of the manuscript and any supplementary texts, such as reader reports, after which I send a brief email with additional thoughts about how I plan to approach the work we’ve discussed.

If you are working on a book, I prefer to read the full manuscript at the outset, since having a sense of the project as a whole productively informs my feedback on each chapter. However, an author sometimes needs or prefers to send chapters as they are completed. When I read a book incrementally, chapter by chapter, I sometimes have thoughts about a previous chapter, which I simply add to the new editorial letter.

I return a book within three months and a chapter- or article-length piece within 3-4 weeks, generally spending between 8 and 12 hours on it. I know there is some space in this range, but I've found that even chapters within the same book can ask for different kinds of involvement. Hopefully, my feedback on the first chapter will provide a clearer sense of the overall scope of the work. If you are applying institutional funds toward developmental editing, I ask that we begin the process of registering me as a vendor or independent contractor with your institution once we form an agreement, since this process can take time.

Nothing is more common in academia than a need to extend a writing deadline! If you need to miss an agreed-upon submission date, I will read your manuscript as soon as there is an opening in my schedule. It’s generally possible to form a plan that works with both my schedule and an author’s deadlines. In my experience, publishers are usually willing to grant an extension if this means receiving a more realized, compelling, and polished manuscript in the end.