Work with an editor
Every book deserves a second human.
Software can hold your book together. Only a person can tell you whether it works. Our editors read the whole manuscript, say what they think, and send their changes back page by page inside the app, where you accept or reject every one. Tell us about the book and we match you with one of them and quote a flat price.
Pacific Northwest editors first. A person answers, usually the same day.
What our editors do
The parts of a book a machine cannot judge
A developmental read
The whole book, read as a reader would. What it is trying to be, where it drops a thread, what a chapter promises that the next forgets, what is missing and what is repeated. A written report and a conversation.
A line edit and a proof
Sentence by sentence, in your voice, not theirs. Then a proof of the typeset pages before anything goes to the printer.
Cover, specs and files
An editor account sets the book’s publishing specs, turns your cover design into the files the printer and the Kindle store ask for, and checks them against what they reject.
Two meetings in the challenge
Every 90-Day Book Challenge includes two one-on-one meetings with an editor, at the points a first book most needs them.
Your own editor, welcome
Already working with someone? Invite them from Send to Editor. We set them up with an editor account so the two of you can pass the book back and forth.
Human first, by design
Our editors are people, and the app keeps the assistant on a short leash beside them. A book edited here can say, with a number, how much of it is the author’s.
How it works
Four steps, one more person on your side
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Tell us about the book
A few lines by email: what it is, where it stands, roughly how long. A person reads it and writes back.
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We match you and quote a flat price
One editor, chosen for your kind of book, Pacific Northwest first. A fixed price for the work agreed, before anything starts.
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Send the book from the app
Send to Editor puts the manuscript in their hands. Your private Journal never goes.
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Their changes come back, page by page
Every change arrives as a suggestion. Colored pages show what still needs you. You decide, line by line, and the book stays yours.
For editors
Join the roster.
If you edit books and you are in the Pacific Northwest, we would like to know you. Authors come to us because they want a person; we need more good ones to send them to.
Editor accounts come with the app’s Editor view, a dashboard of every client’s book, the publishing files, and terms set in a plain contract with H.D. Publishing. Use the contact page and tell us what you edit and where you are based.
Questions
Before you write to us
Is the editor a person?
Yes. Every editor we match you with is a working human editor with a name, an email address and opinions. The app’s assistant is a separate, optional tool and never stands in for them.
What does it cost?
A flat price per book, quoted after we have heard about it, depending on the kind of edit and the length. You see the figure before anything starts. The two editor meetings in the 90-Day Book Challenge are part of its price, which is quoted the same way.
Do I need Pro to work with an editor?
No. Any plan can send a book to an editor and receive changes. The editor needs an editor account, which we provide.
Can I bring my own editor?
Yes. Invite them from Send to Editor and write to us; we set up their editor account.
Will the editor use AI on my book?
Only as you allow. On every book the assistant’s writing is off by default, and the setting lives on your copy of the book. Every word it writes, whoever asked for it, is counted in the book’s ledger. Leave it off and it writes nothing for anyone.
Find me an editor.
A few lines about the book is enough. A person answers.