Turn Your Story into a Book Readers Can’t Put Down.
A compelling story draws readers into the world you’ve created. Inconsistencies, repetitive wording, awkward sentences, and errors can pull readers out of your story and lessen its impact.
At Book Magic, we polish your manuscript while preserving the individual voice that makes your story stand out. Our editors have decades of experience proofreading, evaluating, and copy editing fiction, and we know exactly what to look for to strengthen your manuscript while maintaining its unique tone.
Chief editor Sigrid Macdonald is the author of four books, so she’s been on both sides of the editing process. She knows how much time, emotion, and determination go into writing a book and how much trust is involved in handing a raw manuscript over to a stranger. Sigrid and her team treat every book as if it were their own. We take a very personal interest in your story, and to ensure that we’re the right fit, we offer free sample edits of 800–1,000 words so you can see our approach before committing to move forward.
What We Look For
First, we address the basics, such as spelling, grammar, punctuation, and typos, but we go far beyond that. We ensure consistency in style throughout your manuscript. Whether you prefer Canadian, U.S., or UK spelling, lots of commas or very few, we create a style sheet and standardize spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and formatting from beginning to end.
We also examine the manuscript as a whole, looking for inconsistencies and redundancies that can detract from your story. This is particularly important in novels. Perhaps a character is introduced as a 14-year-old nephew in Chapter 2, but suddenly he’s 11 in Chapter 17, and no time travel was involved. Or the name of a character’s spouse changes halfway through the story. We flag these issues and bring them to your attention.
Characterization is another common concern. An author may describe a character as devious or underhanded several times throughout a novel, reducing the impact of those descriptions. We might suggest showing this duplicity through action rather than describing it in narrative. For example, instead of saying outright that Mark is a shady guy, we could have him stay late at the office and submit fraudulent invoices.
When appropriate, we identify repetitive words, phrases, or ideas. A good editor notices these patterns and suggests synonyms or alternate depictions, which leads to a more varied style of writing.
Proofreading
Our proofreading service includes:
- Correcting spelling, grammar, punctuation, and typos
- Flagging confusing or unclear sentences
- Requesting clarification
- Checking consistency in capitalization and punctuation
- Ensuring that chapter titles in the Table of Contents match titles in the text
- Delivering a polished final manuscript
Rate: 1.2 cents per word
Copy Editing
Our copy-editing service includes everything in the proofreading package, plus:
- Creating and applying a style sheet
- Standardizing spelling and usage according to Canadian, U.S., or UK English conventions
- Identifying repetitive words, phrases, and ideas
- Suggesting improvements for clarity and readability
- Flagging continuity issues and inconsistencies
- Removing redundancies
- Ensuring consistency in chapter titles, headings, and formatting
The result is a clean, polished manuscript that is ready for agents, publishers, or self-publication.
Rate: 2 cents per word
Please inquire about our free sample edits of 800–1,000 words and our flexible payment plans.
