Children’s Book Editorial Services
Professional children's book editor providing editorial services to authors writing a children's book.
Editorial Assessment
Picture Book: Starting at $350
An editorial assessment is a preliminary overview of a book by a professional editor. An editorial assessment performs one important function: finding the areas of a book that aren’t working so they can be fixed before a developmental edit. This may include finding plot holes, instances of show versus tell, misplaced scenes, or overused dialogue tags. For a children's book, an editorial assessment also looks at word count and page count.
At the editorial assessment stage, I will read the book and note any big-picture issues. I will send back a marked-up manuscript and a full editorial letter, detailing what I think still needs work, along with suggestions on how to fix the issues I see. For a more comprehensive explanation of what an author should expect from a book editor at the editorial assessment stage, please check out my article Editorial Assessment.
Developmental Edit
Picture Book: Starting at $400 (Two Rounds of Editing)
A developmental edit is a thorough, line-by-line review of a manuscript. Also known as a line edit, structural edit, or substantive edit, this is a deep dive into a manuscript to fix issues such as word choice, sentence structure, age appropriateness of language, character development, word count, and story pacing. As part of the developmental edit, I will do a heavy and very detailed edit of the text, rather than just providing notes. I will also offer suggestions for page breaks (book pagination) and provide suggested art notes for the illustrator.
The developmental edit comes AFTER the editorial assessment, and should be completed BEFORE any illustrations are created. For a more comprehensive look at what goes into a developmental edit, check out my article, Developmental Edit.
Art Review
$600
A completed developmental edit means a manuscript is ready to be given to a book designer to create a book template. Once the book template is complete, an illustrator can begin work. But many new authors need help in reviewing book layout, illustrations, and how the two work together. In this stage, I will bring my editorial eye to your children's book illustrations. That means a review of your book template before it goes to the illustrator as well as editorial notes on all stages of illustration (from character sketch to final art). At this stage, you can expect to receive feedback such as how the text is fitting on the page, whether your illustrations are consistent with the text, and if your characters and backgrounds are consistent throughout, to give just a few examples.
Note: I am not a book designer. This service will review work done by a book designer and illustrator.
Note: This service is only available for books that I have edited.
Consultation Call
$125 for 30 Minutes
Have questions about publishing or the market for your book, but not quite ready for an edit? Schedule a call to get your questions answered.
Note: I am not a book designer. This service will review work done by a book designer and illustrator.
Wondering what editorial services I recommend for your children's book, or curious to see an example of what a professional children's book editor can do for your picture book? Send me your manuscript, or an excerpt from it. I'll provide a sample developmental edit and a quote within 24 hours of receiving it.