Professional Editing Services for Writers
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT, COPYEDITING & PROOFREADING SERVICES
From master-level students honing their craft to seasoned professionals, our clients, like you, are focused, narrative-driven storytellers set to achieve a vision, whether it’s to share life-defining stories on the page or see them streamed across screens nation or worldwide.
We share this vision: From securing your first agent to signing a multi-million-dollar production and distribution contract, we share your same pursuit of excellence, and your same commitment to quality.
NEED HELP FINDING AN AGENT, PUBLISHER, MANAGER OR PRODUCER?
With our collective 50+ years of manuscript-development experience, we can give you advice on the best way to find one for your manuscript. Whether it’s guiding you in determining which ones to contact or assisting you with the details of the query itself, we’ll partner with you to put you in the best position for success.
Got a goal to achieve?
I’m very satisfied with the editing services they provided. I have to say I had a bunch of sample edits and no one came close to the depth edit Terry did. She is great and I’m so grateful for her help. I had 35,600 word manuscript and she gave me a developmental edit turn around time 4 weeks as she said. and almost 2,000 comments and edits. Im making my manuscript ready for a copy edit by Terry thank you
Melissa Medina, Hartford, CT
We love hearing your stories.
WHAT TYPES OF EDITING DO YOU OFFER?
For Books, Short Stories & Screenplays
We offer four types of professional editing and proofreading services for books, short stories and screenplays.
Manuscript Evaluation: Our professional Manuscript Evaluation service includes a positive, respectful read-through of your manuscript and in-depth feedback detailing its strengths and weaknesses, ways to improve its marketability and the level of editing required. It provides a big-picture guide for further developing your manuscript.
Developmental Editing: Our exceptional Developmental Editing service starts with a 30-minute consultation to get to know you as the author and your experiences, motivations, vision and timeline for your project. We follow this with a thorough, in-depth evaluation and macro-level edit of your manuscript, as well as a follow-up consultation, to help you achieve your vision.
Copyediting/Line Editing: Our detailed Copyediting/Line Editing service provides a line-by-line, micro-level edit to fine-tune your manuscript once all developmental issues in the manuscript have been addressed.
Proofreading: Once your manuscript has been through Developmental Editing and Copyediting/Line Editing, our Proofreading service identifies any last items needing correction before having your manuscript published or showing it to an agent, publisher or producer.
Got a goal to achieve?
For Query Letters, Synopses, Outlines & Pitch Decks
We offer three levels of professional editing and proofreading services for query letters, synopses, outlines and pitch decks.
Editing & Feedback: This exceptional professional editing service provides a comprehensive, detailed edit and proofread of your document together with equally comprehensive, detailed feedback. The feedback identifies any item needing improvement that goes beyond the scope of editing, covering both writing and content.
Editing according to a particular style guide (e.g., Chicago) is included with the Editing & Feedback service.
Editing: Our Editing service provides the same detailed professional editing and proofreading as our Editing & Feedback service, but without the comprehensive, detailed feedback.
Editing according to a particular style guide (e.g., Chicago) is included with the Editing service.
Proofreading: Our Proofreading service provides detailed professional proofreading only (e.g., spelling and typographical errors). It does not include editing or feedback.
Editing according to a particular style guide (e.g., Chicago) is not included with the Proofreading service.
For More Details ...
Select your project category in the table below for a detailed list of what is covered under each of the above professional editing services for writers.
WHAT IS THE TURNAROUND TIME OF YOUR PROFESSIONAL EDITING AND PROOFREADING SERVICES?
Depending on the project, our turnaround times are as fast as the next business day with Normal Delivery and the same business day with Rush Delivery.
We offer Normal Delivery, Express Delivery and Rush Delivery delivery options. The specific turnaround time for your project will depend on the editing service selected, the word count and the delivery option chosen.
Get Started to see the specific turnaround time for your project.
WHAT STYLE GUIDES DO YOU EDIT?
We edit in AP, APA, Chicago, MLA and Turabian styles. We also edit according to any in-house or institution-specific guidelines when those guidelines are provided.
Got a goal to achieve?
DO YOU GUARANTEE YOUR EDITING?
Yes! We guarantee that we will provide you with high-quality, affordable editing and proofreading services, and that we will finish our work by the due date and time we've promised.
If you find any errors in our work, we will happily provide you with a free second edit or proofread according to the original service and original instructions for the service. Requests for free second edits must be made within thirty (30) calendar days of project completion.
For AP, APA, Chicago, MLA and Turabian styles, we guarantee every proofreading and editing correction will adhere to the style requested and will be able to be supported with specific references to the requested style's manual.
See our 100% Satisfaction Guarantee for additional details.
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN IN BUSINESS?
We've been in business since 2008.
DO YOU OFFER FREE SAMPLE EDITS?
Yes! For more on our free sample edit option, email us at email@dlaeditors.com (we'll get back to you the same or next business day) or chat with us during our regular business hours.
The Editing Process: How Our Service Works
Step 1: Get Started
Whether you’re just looking for a free instant quote or are ready to purchase our services, start with Get Started, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week:
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Under Select Your Category, choose Writers.
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Next, select your project type (Book), project category (Fiction or Nonfiction), genre (and sub-genre, if any) and service (e.g., Developmental Editing).
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Now upload your file to be edited (or, in the case of Manuscript Evaluation, to be evaluated), or enter your page or word count. Our quotes for fee and turnaround time are calculated based on word count.
To get the most accurate quote, or to purchase a service, upload your file to be edited or evaluated. We accept MS Word file type only for book files to be edited or evaluated. Your word count will be automatically calculated and displayed next to your uploaded file.
Alternatively, enter your word count or page count to get a quote.
The page count option is good for getting a ballpark quote. It uses an estimated number of words per page (250), and so is less accurate than uploading your file or entering your word count.
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To finalize your quote, select from Normal Delivery, Express Delivery and Rush Delivery.
Please note that the displayed turnaround times are calculated based on word count. To get the most accurate quote, make sure to upload your file to be edited or evaluated.
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Confirm your quote. To order the service, ensure you have uploaded at least one file to be edited or evaluated, add any comments (e.g., if there is a particular style guide you would like us to follow; by default, we use Merriam-Webster Unabridged Style Guide), enter a project nickname and click Add to Cart.
Step 2: Check out
Once you have added your service to the cart in Step 1, proceed with clicking Checkout.
In the checkout process, you will:
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Log in to your account or create an account if you do not already have one.
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Enter your goals for the service.
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Verify the delivery dates for your service.
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Complete your payment for the deposit or total order amount. We accept credit/debit cards and PayPal.
Step 3: Track Your Order in My Account
As soon as we receive your deposit, we will start working on your order. While we are working on your order, the status will display as In Progress in My Account.
Step 4: Receive Your Edited Manuscript
As soon as we have completed our editing or evaluation, you will receive an email notification, and the status of your service will be updated in My Account. If there is a remainder due, your next step will be to pay it to receive your edited manuscript or manuscript evaluation.
Edited documents and manuscript evaluations are released once the total fee for the service(s) in your order has been paid. Edited documents and manuscript evaluations are both sent by email and made available for download directly from My Account.
The email containing your edited manuscript or manuscript evaluation will provide the name and contact information of the editor who completed the service for you. It will provide a link to instructions on how to review our edits, including how to accept and reject track changes and to remove sidebar comments.
The email will also provide a link for submitting your edited manuscript or manuscript evaluation for a discounted second edit or evaluation, should you desire.
Editor name and contact information along with the second edit link will also be posted in My Account.
Step 5: Follow up With Any Questions
If after reviewing the edits made to or our evaluation of your manuscript you have questions about the editing or evaluation, please contact your editor directly by email. You may expect to receive a response to your email within 1 business day.
If after following up with your editor, you still have questions your editor is unable to answer, feel free to email our editor in chief, David Lombardino.
Step 6: Leave Us a Review
We are passionate about helping you achieve your goals, and hope through our editing or evaluation and answering any follow-up questions we will have helped you get one more step closer to doing so. We are proud of the work we do and would love it if you shared your honest experiences, positive or negative, for future clients to see.
We partner with TrustPilot, a third-party review service that sends email invitations to leave a review to all verified customers a few days following completion of the service. We hope that if you have any concern remaining when you receive this invitation, you reach out to us first so we can address your concern, prior to leaving a review.
Our goal is a five-star experience for every customer, and we look forward to achieving this for you.
You are not just another customer, and your manuscript is not just another document. We take your work personally. Our editors are hand-picked, rigorously tested and dedicated to helping you succeed in achieving your vision.
Still have questions? See a list of our frequently asked questions or give us a call at 877-454-4957.