Editing Services

At Composed Lotus, we specialize in editing the type of books we love to read: psychological thrillers, fantasy, horror, detective and mystery, and romance. We have a special passion for middle grader and young adult stories. We also do nonfiction editing, specializing in self-help books. We mainly focus on mental health, diet, and nutrition books.

Manuscript Evaluation

Manuscript evaluations are our speciality!

You may want to consider a manuscript evaluation if you’ve completed an early draft of your work but have some questions about whether your story is working. Manuscript evaluations are great if your budget is tight, as you will get professional, independent editorial feedback to guide you as you continue with your next draft.

We give a broad overview of your manuscript’s strengths and weaknesses. For fiction works, we look at plot, structure, character development, and genre expectations. For nonfiction works, we give feedback on the flow and structure; we also assess whether adding material could aid in reader comprehension.

We provide a manuscript evaluation summary of up to ten pages, with feedback provided in an editorial letter.

I really appreciate the thoughtfulness and detail of your commentary. I often get feedback that is vague and general, but you have given me specifics to work on. –Author Brian Borgford

Developmental Editing: Fiction

Developmental editing is all about refining your fiction work before you proceed with a copyedit. In a developmental edit, we take a much deeper look at story pacing, character development, plot, world-building, and thematic consistency. We leave detailed comments and suggestions in the manuscript and further explain applicable concepts in an editorial letter. We offer advice on you how you can re-write certain passages to make them more engaging. If you’ve worked on multiple drafts but feel stuck, a professional, independent editor can help you move ahead and get your story ready for copyediting.

If you aren’t sure whether you should get a manuscript evaluation or a developmental edit, contact us for guidance.

Copyediting

Copyediting is done once your manuscript doesn’t require any structural changes to the flow of your chapters. We focus on spelling, grammar, punctuation, capitalization, word usage, verb tense, language, and basic checking of facts. For fiction, we also watch for point of view consistency.

We will also check for run-on sentences, wordiness, overused words, sentence structure, and improving passages that don’t read well.

Our team is versed in Chicago Manual of Style and APA.

Thanks to the outstanding book editing service I received, my book achieved finalist status in the prestigious Canadian Book Club Awards. The expertise and dedication of Marilyn was unparalleled. She meticulously combed through my manuscript, enhancing its structure, grammar, and overall coherence to a level that impressed not only me but also the award judges. The turnaround time was exceptional, ensuring my manuscript was polished and ready for publication well within the promised timeframe. I greatly appreciate Marilyn’s professionalism and expertise in refining my manuscript, and I highly recommend her to fellow authors seeking top-notch editing assistance.

L.C. Reid, Author

Stork Lake: Tales from a Wall of Hats

Proofreading

Proofreading is done as the final check before production of the final document copy. At this stage, your book has been formatted for ebook, paperback, or hardcover. We are typically reviewing a .pdf copy.

We ensure the formatting such as page breaks, chapter headings, and page numbering are correct, and we check for spelling and punctuation errors.

Beta Reading

Our preferred genres for fiction beta reading are fantasy, thrillers, mysteries, and romance. Our editors will read your fiction manuscript and provide you objective feedback on plot, character development, and pacing. During a beta read, we aren’t looking for grammar, spelling, or punctuation issues. We’ll provide feedback in a high-level summary report, with a maximum of three pages.

We also do beta reads on nonfiction books in many genres, including self-improvement, diet and nutrition, and business books. In nonfiction, we ensure your content is aligned to your identified target audience, terms are explained, and the material is presented in a logical order.

Fees