General Information

Name: 4.7 Stars (Skills, Quality, Availability, Cooperation=5; Deadlines and Communication=4)
Item: Self-help book
Rating: 5
Author: Ashlee

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

4.7 Stars (Skills, Quality, Availability, Cooperation=5; Deadlines and Communication=4)

I feel Katie did an excellent job overall! This was my first book, so I had a lot of editing that needed to be done. I wrote the book several times over an extended time, so there was a lot of repetition and too much detail that I feel she did a great job sorting through. In the beginning we didn’t communicate clearly about time expectations. However, once we cleared that issue up she was awesome at doing all she could to ensure meeting deadlines, which I really appreciated. On the first edit, she missed a couple things like switching tenses, and proper capitalization/editing of headlines, however she brought the tense issue to my attention and went back to fix it for me. She did several edits, correcting tenses and headlines on her second edit. I am satisfied with her work and would hire her again and recommend her to others. Thank you Katie for all your hard work! 🙂

Ashlee 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 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

My experience was amazing although it was my first experience with my first book editing and with my busy schedule. But Katie did an amazing work. Headache free, smooth collaboration and meeting the deadline with exceptional quality.

Crystal Self-help book

4 Stars

Katie was great to work with. I learned a lot thought this process and she was very helpful as I was unfamiliar with this industry. Edits were extremely helpful in getting my thoughts out on the page in a concise manner.

Stephen Self-help 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

It was a pleasure to work with Katie – she is detailed, efficient and professional. I liked her so much that I hired her to do additional work for me, I highly recommend her.

Ken Cheadle Self-help book

5 Stars

I was a joy to work with Katie on my first full book experience. I feel she really cared and connected with the goal of making my story cohesive and compelling as well as grammatically correct. Her suggestions were good and needed edits. She had a natural ability to create better flow over the whole book in the spots where I had mixed up ideas or gotten out of order. I highly recommend her for substantive and copy editing. She met every deadline and turnaround on my project of 50K words was quick. Communication via email was quick and painless. I would use her services again.

Katy Patrick Religious book and memoir

5 Stars

Working with Katie was a fantastic experience for me, as I was writing my first book and had a non-literary background. Katie really improved my writing where it was a bit wordy and gave several useful suggestions of placement of material. Furthermore, her questions about the text brought up places where it could be improved. This made her a really great content and copy editor. On deadlines and communication, I felt all of it was smooth and reliable. I recommend Katie very highly and would not hesitate to use her services again!

Sonia Weyers Self-help Book

5 Stars

Katie was excellent to work with in quality, speed and “personal touch”. Great experience and she brought my book up several notches in quality and organization.

Justin Aten Nonfiction 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

I used Katie for content editing/writing on my upcoming book. This is the first time I’ve used a content editor/writer. I was apprehensive at first, but now I can’t imagine every writing without Katie’s input ever again. Her recommended edits were spot-on, adding to the cohesiveness and strength of my book and pulling me out of the myopic trench that I tend get myself into when I write. Wow! I can’t say enough positive about this experience. I can’t wait to work with her again on my next book. Thanks Katie.

Dr. Brian Brown Self-help book

5 Stars

Katie did a brilliant job of taking a rookie writer through the editing process. I’ll be collaborating with her on any books, etc that I write. She is a valuable partner in the process.

Bill Gilliland Self-help book

5 Stars

Katie was great to work with for this project. She is knowledgeable and gave great feedback. We communicated clearly and easily with one another. I would definitely work with Katie again.

Jaime Grodberg Self-help book

5 Stars

Launching my first book was so nerve racking! Katie had helpful advice and was very encouraging; this made me feel I was on the right path. She was very patient and helpful with me, even through the multiple edits, which is part of her process anyways. She was a pleasure to work with!

Cathy Nonfiction Book

< < Prev

Next >>

View all Testimonials

Rates and Services

My rates include two 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 ONLY

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 ONLY

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 PACKAGE

Rate: $0.025–$0.05 per word

This combines copyediting and substantive editing at a discounted rate. Instead of paying multiple editors, you can hire me for both your substantive and copyediting needs, saving you time and money.