There are many types of editing, and they all can more or less overlap. This can get very confusing with different interpretations of the various types, like developmental editing, content editing, copy/line editing, and proofreading.

And while the lines of demarcation may be clear for some, I for one have always found it difficult to put the blinders on and ignore obvious issues while focusing on others. For instance, I find it challenging to ignore grammar, spelling, and punctuation when reading for content.

That said, here is what I can do for you. Basically, I’m going to read and mark your work as if I were your high school or college English/composition instructor. I will read your work carefully and mark/highlight/correct issues with grammar, punctuation, spelling, syntax, sentence structure, accurate word choices, verb tense, noun/verb agreement, capitalization, missed and repeated words, paragraph and sentence length, and more.

I will also note any issues I see with tense, person, point of view, character, redundancy, story, content, and consistency.

Having previously done this job extensively, I can tell you that most often you are looking at more than one pass through the editing/review process, depending on how committed you are to having the end product scrubbed, with initial edit, interim review(s), and final proof.

Here is the procedure I suggest for your consideration:

1. Contact: Contact me about your project and, if possible, send me a dozen or so double-spaced pages.

2. Discussion: We will discuss the project scope, target demographic, schedule, and compensation.

3. Agreement: We will come to agreement on the project which will be formalized in a contract. At this point, we will have agreed on a style guide (for example, "The Chicago Manual of Style"). I can help you with this choice if need be.

4. Initial Draft: You submit the entire draft to me to get the project underway. I suggest this “entire draft” approach as opposed to sending chapter after chapter, since interrupting the creative process for technical issues and corrections can be counterproductive.

5. Initial Review: I will read your work and clearly notate all the issues I see, giving you progress reports at pre-agreed-upon points. Then I will return the notated draft to you for your review, correction, and changes as you see fit. We can do this on paper when I use my famous red pen, or, if you like, I will complete the work in Microsoft Word or Google Docs with “track changes” turned on. Track changes allows you to easily see my notations, changes, and additions, and accept or reject them.

Fee: Typically $3 to $4 per 250-word page depending on content. (A 50,000-word manuscript is somewhere around 200 double-spaced pages and contains about 250 words per page.)

6. Interim Revisions: As certainly may be the case, during your implementation of the suggested changes and possible content revisions, other errors and issues inadvertently will get introduced into the work. Here you will have to make a call as to whether to either go back through the loop again or go straight to the final draft and final proof.

7. Interim Edits: You can opt to engage me here for an entire re-read of the work; just have me scan for implementation of the first round’s corrections; or skip this step and press on to the last step, which is the final draft and final proof.

Entire Re-read Fee:     Typically $3 to $4 per 250-word page, depending on content.
Scan for corrections:    $30 to $40 per hour depending on complexity.

8. Final Draft: Once you have the final draft ready for submission to a publisher, book designer, and/or printer, you can once again engage me to re-read the work for any remaining issues that may have slipped through the cracks or cropped up during revision.

Final  Proof:            Typically $3 to $4 per 250-word page depending on content.

Note: Second and third re-reads can get very tedious and make strong demands on the reader, so the assumption that it should go faster would be, by and large, inaccurate. If you rush here, you can blow by things without realizing it until the book is in print.

9. Fini: You’re done and ready to submit your scrubbed project to a publisher for review, a designer for layout, or a printer for publication.