Editorial Services · Book Coaching · BOOK PLANNING INTENSIVES

 Manuscript Evaluation

Expert guidance and evaluation on the structure, content, flow, and voice of your manuscript

I will review your complete manuscript as a whole and chapter-by-chapter to provide both general/overall and specific feedback. This includes:

• Notes on overall book structure and order of material.

• Suggesting locations for subheads within chapters.

• Clearly identifying book theme or themes, and ensuring text supports it/them.

• Identifying potential missing pieces of text (e.g., resources, foreword).

• Developing appropriate questions for beta readers.

• Ensuring your tone remains approachable throughout.

• Answering any specific questions you pose in advance of delivering the manuscript (e.g., specific areas of transition in places in the manuscript, questions about citations).

• Other tasks as you request.

During the manuscript review, our work will be conducted via email and within the manuscript. A status update will be provided weekly via email.

The manuscript evaluation takes approximately six weeks from delivery for a manuscript up to 50,000 words.

I will send a project questionnaire the week before manuscript delivery that details the project and your goals to enable me to better prepare feedback so your book best serves you.

$2,000 for up to 50,000 words [$3,000 for manuscripts between 50,000 and 60,000 words]

This fee includes manuscript evaluation, in-manuscript feedback using MS Word’s “Comments” feature, email support, and one 30-minute call to review feedback and/or discuss self-publishing related questions.

 “I loved working with Jodi. She far exceeded my expectations during my copyediting experience! She had my 100 page book edited within days and gave great suggestions to help clarify my ideas to my readers. This not only allowed me the proper edits I needed for the book but also moved my launch date up further. Thank you for your hard work, Jodi!”

Sarah Sunstrom, Sarah Sunstrom Photography

 Copy Editing

Line editing for grammatical, formatting, continuity errors, and more

Have you ever had to read a sentence three times to understand the point the author was trying to make? Or found yourself cringing about too many typos in a book? Readers can’t connect with even the most inspirational and insightful books if they’re riddled with errors and unclear text.

My book coaching package is intended to support you throughout your writing process, whether you simply have an idea for a book, you have an outline for a manuscript, you’ve just started writing and are stuck, or you’re mostly finished with your manuscript and need help crossing the finish line.

Need help getting started?

We’ll take your idea and transform it into an outline. To help with writing consistency, we’ll establish a writing schedule that works with your day-to-day schedule.

Not sure where to go after outlining your idea?

We’ll discuss how to move from an outline to a manuscript, and we’ll create a customized writing schedule that will help motivate you to keep going.

Struggling to finish what you so eagerly started?

I’ll help you move past the blocks you’ve encountered, whether they’re creative or motivational, and see you to the end of the process.

 “I interviewed one and only one editor, because I knew exactly who I wanted. Jodi Brandon agreed to be my editor, chief enforcer, and weekly therapist. I signed up for her book coaching package and it was truly one of the best investments. I wish I’d done it three books ago!”

Dannie Fountain

 Frequently Asked Questions

Writing a book is an activity that takes time. Book coaching is no different. The three-month commitment gives us enough time to work together and see real results and progress. We can tackle more creative blocks and frustrations in three months than we can in a single one.

The three-month time frame also enables us to establish a good working relationship, something that’s crucial for successful book coaching.

Book coaching includes some developmental editing, which entails feedback on your latest writing. When I do developmental editing, I look for tone, ideas, and structure in your manuscript.

Copyediting, which is performed after a work has been completed, is not included in book coaching. (However, the “cleaner” a manuscript is when it goes to a copyeditor, the less time it will take, and thus the less it will cost.)

Some issues certainly can, like redundancy in words or ideas, consistency in word treatment, and mechanics, but the “big picture” issues, like the structure of the manuscript and the overall tone, won’t be addressed at the copy editing stage.

I wish I could. Editing is done with the human eye, which of course means that absolute perfection is impossible. The acceptable error rate in the book publishing industry is about 4%. I take editing tests quarterly to make sure I’m keeping my skills sharp, and my rate is typically between 1 and 2%.

Unfortunately I’m not the right book partner for you. There are plenty of great people out there, though, and if I know someone who would be a good match, I’m happy to make an introduction!