General Information

I applaud all your hard work spent writing a book. I know it can be nerve-wracking to have someone else critique your work, so while I will be honest, I strive to encourage you along the way, acting as a beacon guiding your editing journey.

And since words have the ability to transform lives, you too are a beacon, sharing your message with the world. I want to help ensure that nothing stands in the way of that message by reducing errors and strengthening your content.

Let’s build a partnership to make your book the best it can be in the time allotted.

Genres I edit

I offer both copyediting and substantive (developmental) editing.

Self-Help/How-To Books**

General Informational Books (excluding highly scientific texts)

Religious Guide Books

Memoirs and Biographies

**I specialize in self-help and how-to books. Having studied best practices for that genre, I know the common pitfalls and how to avoid them, and I can offer specific feedback on how to best appeal to your audience.

Resources for you

Visit my writer's resources center for articles and ebooklets focused on helping you.

My resource center offers resources in a variety of categories:

Working with an editor
Self-editing
Style sheets
Self-publishing tips
Fiction writing tips
Nonfiction writing tips
Grammar and punctuation help

Visit Writer's Resources»

Testimonials

Featured Review from Nicholas Boothman, a New York Times Bestselling Author:

5 stars! A great book is two hands clapping. One is the writer; the other the editor. I have worked with a lot of top editors over the years and while they all have talent the majority live in a world of their own timing – they are not reliable. So while there may well be two hands clapping they don’t clap at the same time which leads the writer into realms of frustration. Waiting, wondering and worrying. Not so with Katie Chambers. She is an excellent substantive editor and is prompt and reliable. A pleasure and a relief to work with. That being said the bottom line with any review is would you work with this person again? And the answer is a definite yes. And I will recommend her to my fellow authors and speakers. Thanks Katie.

5 Stars

A great book is two hands clapping. One is the writer; the other the editor. I have worked with a lot of top editors over the years and while they all have talent, the majority live in a world of their own timing – they are not reliable. So while there may well be two hands clapping they don’t clap at the same time which leads the writer into realms of frustration. Waiting, wondering and worrying.
Not so with Katie Chambers. She is an excellent substantive editor and is prompt and reliable. A pleasure and a relief to work with.
That being said the bottom line with any review is would you work with this person again? And the answer is a definite yes. And I will recommend her to my fellow authors and speakers. Thanks Katie.

Nicholas Boothman, New York Times Best-Selling Author Self-help book

5 Stars

Katie, there is nothing I could tell you to improve on. You were SO easy to work with I can’t imagine working with anyone else on my future projects. Your comments and editing were absolutely on point. You were even able add content when needed with my style of writing. All in all, 5 stars!

Cody Smith Self-help book

5 Stars

Katie was easy to work with. She honored our agreed upon deadlines and made adjustments as needed. Her comments and edits helped me clarify the content of the manuscript and ultimately made it a better book. Katie revised my biographical information and provided three different versions of various lengths. She wrote the book description which went through several review cycles before providing three different version of various lengths. l’ll gladly work with her again and am happy to recommend her services to others.

Pam Northrup Religious Book

5 stars

Katie Chambers did an excellent job editing my book, the Parris Island Planner.I would recommend her to anyone who wants a polished book ready for publication. She quoted a price with delivery date and stuck to our schedule. My book is so much better because of her talents.

Vera Nonfiction book

5 Stars

I received excellent support throughout this editing process. I was very pleased with how professional and precise my book was edited . The communication was great and ensured we were both on the same page from the beginning. Highly recommended!!

Sean Crane Memoir

5 Stars

This was our first time writing a book and we really had no idea what to expect. Katie was very patient helping us through this process. She has great skill, objective edits, and we highly recommend her. Our book is infinitely better after retaining her services and we will definitely be in touch for any future projects.
Thank you for everything Katie.

Colin Leis & Erika Holenski Self-help book

4.85 (Skills, Quality, Cooperation, Communication, Deadline=5; availability=4)

Katie is top-notch! She has an eye for detail, but also has the ability to zoom out and see edits on a big picture / content level. Efficient, professional, and full of insight! I’ll definitely be collaborating with Katie in the future.

Omer Redden Self-help book

5 Stars

Katie is great! The fact that this is my first book and I am doing all of this for the first time ever, Katie really helped make the process feel easy and smooth. She was thorough, offered wonderful insights, and gave kind affirmations along the way. Writing a book is not easy, and we all know that our first few drafts are not the most enjoyable thing to read through. She could see through any messy section and pull the heart of the message out. This is absolute talent.

Brittany Churchill Self-help book

5 Stars

I decided to self-publish a book after co-authoring two editions of a popular medical textbook through a large publishing company. I was looking for an editor and heard about Katie through a fellow author. I interviewed several but Katie stood out with her professionalism, responsiveness, and clear communication. I made the leap and hired her for substantive editing and copyediting. I’m a perfectionist and who went through several rounds of my manuscript before sending it off to Katie. You know you have a fantastic editor when they can take your best work and make it exponentially better. That’s exactly what Katie did as she sculpted my manuscript and refined it into a masterpiece.

Of course, I might be biased, so here’s a message from my proofreader shortly after getting started on the manuscript:

“Just wanted to let you know that I’ve started proofreading your manuscript, and I think it will be a fairly quick project for me. It’s very well-written, and I’m finding hardly any errors, so that makes my job a lot easier.”

I highly recommend Katie and I’ll be asking her to be my editor for my next book.

Jonathan Su Self-help book

4.6 Stars (skills, quality, deadline, cooperation = 5; communication, availability = 4)

Katie’s editing skills were top-notch! I am grateful she made my book much easier to read through.
She has options for quick turnaround times or more in depth editing and substantive editing.
I was happy I chose her 🙂

Susan Czubek How-to book

5 Stars

Katie greatly exceeded my expectations as an editor. Her sharp eye for small errors and her ability to give the book a 10,000-foot view with regard to the general organization of the material were critical for me in putting out the best book possible on my topic. I always felt like she was in my corner and was invested in our ability together to produce a quality book. I’ll certainly be reaching out to her again.

Cindy Telisak Religious book

5 Stars

Working with Katie was a totally positive experience. She met all deadlines and was readily available anytime I had a question. Her editing helped polish my writing, making passages more clear and concise when necessary. Most importantly, her editing helped make my book flow more consistently and be more fun to read. I definitely recommend Beacon Point! E. Oetinger author of Signs of Hope—Recognizing Messages From the Afterlife

Ellen Oetinger Religious Book

4.6 Stars (4 on Deadlines and Availability; 5 on Skills, Quality, Communication, and Cooperation)

Katie was direct and to the point from the get-go. I wrote a book on meditation and my aim was to keep my content simple and digestible without going into too many esoteric directions, and Katie hit the nail on the head with her suggestions. When I got my first pass back I was amazed at what I saw, my words sounded professional and like a book that I would read. She was also not afraid to offer her insight into the subject which helped me move the reader along, and she did extremely well navigating through my Sanskrit references. She also happily edited in British English which was useful. I would recommend Katie in a heartbeat and look forward to working with her on my next project!

Talwinder Sidhu Self-help book

4.8 stars (skills, quality, deadline, availability, cooperation = 5; communication = 4)

I was excited about the critiques. Katie made insightful recommendations/clarifications. I hope she is available for editing in the future. The deadlines were all met.

Lois Azmy Self-help book

5 Stars

Katie is a genius. She brought my book to life. She was wonderful about helping keep my thoughts organized and improved the flow of the content. Her comments were both thoughtful and insightful. She had an amazing sense of what I wanted my message in the book to be and helped me bring it to life. I couldn’t recommend her more highly. She was a pleasure to work with and always followed through on schedule.

Pam Theriot Self-help book

5 Stars

Katie was so easy to work with! She completed the work exactly as she described and made some excellent suggestions and observations. I would highly recommend her.

Janice Lamy Self-help book

5 Stars

Katie is a fantastic editor! She was easy to communicate with and always met the deadlines set in the contract. As a first time author, I was so nervous to hand my work over for someone else to critique, but Katie was kind in her critiques, but also honest. Her edits definitely unleveled my book and her comments and notes helped me to become a better writer. I highly recommend her and will be using her for my editing needs in the future.

Chaundell Monn Self-help book

5 Stars

I love working with Katie. She is a great editor and critic. She took the time to really improve my book and make it the best it could be. Will definitely use Katie on my future projects!!!

Maitha Self-help book

5 Stars

Katie easily absorbed My book’s main ides and then added ideas that I didn’t think about. That says a lot about how she works.

She didn’t just give me grammar and spelling advice. She did much more by suggesting paragraph movements and sentence structure as well as suggesting erudite ideas to enhance and add clarity to the book.

This was more of a consulting relationship than pure editing.

I will use her again!

Kevin Smith Self-help book

5 Stars

Katie was a thorough and EASY editor to work with! Her edits made a huge difference for my book (which is now ranking #1 in Modern Philosophy and College Student Life!) and she was able to work under my tight deadline. I especially love her method of editing where she sends the book in chunks. It’s EXTREMELY effective and really speeds up the process and makes it feel more collaborative. Thanks, Katie!

Danielle Diamond Self-help book

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Rates and Services

My rates include two-and-a-half passes. If you opt for each service separately, then it will be three-and-a-half passes.

Rates depend on the depth of editing needed. After I complete a free sample (1,300 words or less), I will determine your rate.

COPYEDITING

Rate: $0.015–$0.025 per word

Deals with word- and sentence-level issues. My copyediting service includes stylistic editing, what some call line editing.

Correct mechanical issues: spelling, capitalization, and punctuation
Correct all errors and infelicities in grammar, syntax, and usage
Rewrite any wordy or awkward sentences according to best writing practices
Check that endnotes and footnotes are correct and consistent
Conduct light fact-checking, names, places, dates (Complete fact-checking is the responsibility of the author.)
Create style sheet to ensure consistency

SUBSTANTIVE EDITING

Rate: $0.02–$0.04 per word
Deals with big-picture issues. Some refer to this as developmental editing.

I offer three approaches to substantive editing: hands-on, coaching, and blended. With hands-on, I make suggested changes directly to the text whereas with coaching, I mostly leave comments. Blended mixes the two.

Suggesting organizational changes: rearranging sentences, paragraphs and/or chapter order; adding additional headings and subheads to aid the reader; and adding in transitions
Suggesting content changes: deleting repetitive material, adding or querying content to fully explain ideas, and ensuring content meets your readers' needs

COPYEDITING & SUBSTANTIVE EDITING COMBINED

Rate: $0.025–$0.05 per word

This combines copyediting and substantive editing at a discounted rate. I offer this to help meet authors' budget and deadline needs.

Note 1: While I strive for high quality, combining them is a lot to focus on at once. I do multiple passes and have learned how to appropriately prioritize to ensure a good quality. But you will get an even better quality if you pay for each service separately.