One of my academic editing services
What it is
An academic developmental edit includes an initial round of reading, during which I take careful notes on all the big-picture elements that are helping or hindering your work at both the book-level and chapter-level. That includes attention to argument, narrative flow, organization of evidence, cohesion, voice, and overall outcomes. I also consider your chosen readership and your goals, to see if you are on track to successfully meet them.
Then, in a second round of reading, I will go into the text and leave you questions, comments, suggestions, and generative challenges in the margins, to help you along the path to revision. Depending on your preferences, I may also relocate text to fix issues with organization or tweak topic/transitional sentences that are key to your argument’s flow.
Finally, I will draft an editorial report detailing all my revision suggestions. When appropriate, I also provide a proposed new outline for the text.
“I could not have asked for a better editor or thought partner than Alex Crawley. They went above and beyond the basics of editing and helped me craft a narrative arc for my 90,000 word manuscript. Their extensive editorial acumen as well as their intellectual background as an historian was invaluable. Furthermore, they met my tight schedule and delivered all of the revisions on time, with detailed edits and explanations for their astute changes and additions. I cannot recommend Alex highly enough!”
Dr. Lynn Rainville, forthcoming book, Virginian Ghost Stories: An Ethnography of Historic ‘Haints
When it’s helpful
I most often provide this service to authors who are looking for deep, hands-on developmental assistance, especially in the following situations:
- when you need hands-on brainstorming, generative critique, argument development, organization assistance, and paragraph-level feedback on a project at any stage in its formation
- when you need a detailed and specific set of recommendations on a revised dissertation or manuscript, before you begin submitting to publishers
- when you need a detailed and specific set of recommendations on how to incorporate peer review feedback and revision requests as part of the manuscript publishing process
How much it costs
$250 + $.06-$.10/wd after 5k words
The range per word reflects the variety of texts I look at, whether or not they use my particular fields of expertise, how much work they’ll require, and whether an author is paying out of pocket or through their institution. I also use that range to affect a sliding scale based on academic rank and access to research pools.
Lodestar Editing & Coaching 