Why Do I Need an Editor? 

So you’re deep into a really good book, eagerly following the story line, when BAM! You run smack into a mistake in the text. Maybe the hero says he’s flying somewhere, and then a few pages later he’s boarding a train. Or maybe the heroine’s silver Porsche inexplicably turns into a blue Mustang from one paragraph to the next.

These things happen to even the best and most experienced authors. As a writer, you know that it’s easy to overlook errors in your own copy, after writing and rewriting it for months or perhaps years. And as a reader, you also know that nothing kills your interest in a good story more quickly than clashing details, misspelled words, unclear references, and other such mistakes, which interrupt your concentration.

That’s why Certa Publishing offers critical reviews and consultations, manuscript outline development, developmental editing, heavy editing, and proofreading services to ensure that errors in your original manuscript are not overlooked, and the smooth flow of ideas from you to your readers is uninterrupted. Our editors will never change your unique writing style or your story line, but they will tie up loose ends, correct typos, and verb tenses. They will do everything it takes to ensure that nothing comes between your readers and the message and/or story you want them to hear.

You’ve spent a lot of time and effort on the writing process, so let us give your book the polishing necessary to showcase the results of your hard work. Remember, Certa Publishing is not only your publisher but also your partner. Your success is our success, so we want to make sure your book has every advantage it needs to succeed in the marketplace. Look over How to Submit Manuscripts, and then give us a call today to discuss submitting your manuscript to Certa Publishing. We are ready to publish your book!

Book Editing Services

We offer professional editing services. Our editors are chosen for their experience and professional standards. Their attention to detail ensures that errors are not overlooked, and adds a final polish to your book without changing your unique writing style. An editor will look through your manuscript upon submission and prepare a manuscript evaluation. They will provide you with a suggested editing level, and the rationale for the suggested level. The manuscript evaluation will also list the strengths and weaknesses of the manuscript with any comments the editor has regarding it. This evaluation is free of obligation for our authors!

Certa Publishing editors use The Chicago Manual of Style, the authority and preferred style guide for the publishing industry.

Rates and Services

Basic Copyediting: This service includes the basic rules of writing: spelling, grammar, punctuation, and proper capitalization rules, especially those specific to Christian terminology. Having more than five small corrections per page moves a manuscript up to the next service level.

Rate: $0.02 per word

Medium Copyediting: This service covers everything included in the Basic Copyediting, plus the following: attention to audience, logic and clarity, subject-verb agreement, pronoun-antecedent agreement, verb tenses, gender neutrality, consistency, word usage, and proper abbreviations. Sentence polishing may be needed for flow and readability (lengthy sentences are adjusted, wordy or awkward sentences are re-written).

Rate: $0.03 per word

Heavy Copyediting: Medium Copyediting, plus: usage, syntax, paragraph transitions, clarity, cadence/consistency (flow), some paragraph/chapter relocation, slight characterization and plot consistency, some assistance with dialogue. Questions and suggestions are noted in the margins, making it a two-step process. Once the author reviews the edited manuscript and makes suggested changes/adjustments, another edit of the entire manuscript will be completed by a second editor on staff.

Rate: $0.045 per word

Developmental Editing: Combines all of the above levels, plus: major paragraph/chapter relocation, major characterization and plot consistency, assistance with dialogue, triteness, wordiness, vague generalizations, weak sentence style, organizational weakness, lack of focus, significant cadence/consistency (flow) and sentence polishing. Questions and suggestions are noted in the margins, making it a two-step process. Once the author reviews the edited manuscript and makes suggested changes/adjustments, another edit of the entire manuscript will be completed by a second editor on staff.

Rate: $0.075 and up, per word

Other editorial assistance available for an additional charge:

•  Critical review and Consultation
•  Manuscript Outline Development
•  Bible Verse Reference Checking
•  Final Read-Through Edits by Additional Editor, Following Original Certa Publishing Editor

Turnaround Time

Turnaround time for delivery of the first proof will be agreed upon by both parties after an editor looks over the project and before the editing process begins.

Ground Rules

Manuscripts should be submitted in Microsoft Word, double-spaced, typed in 12 pt. Times New Roman or Courier font, with 1.25” side margins. To see a full listing of our manuscript guidelines, please click here. For book-length manuscripts, we follow The Chicago Manual of Style, but we will be glad to utilize a client’s style book if requested. Fact checking is an additional fee.