All invoices are sent electronically upon client approval of written quote or estimate. For payment we accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, personal and bank checks, and money orders. (Also PayPal as a last resort.) Letters of agreement are available upon request.
How Different Services Are Billed
Manuscript Evaluations, Critiques, and Sample Edits: Payable entirely in advance at time of submission.
Manuscript Annotation: Payable entirely in advance at time of submission for new clients. Clients with established working relationships may be billed on a half up front/half on receipt basis.
Manuscript Consultation: The reading fee portion is paid in advance, along with a deposit for approximate expected time on feedback. In the event that the work exceeds that initial deposit or is ongoing, we will run a tab for you and either send you an invoice or process a debit to card on file for you, whichever you prefer. Ongoing consultation is tracked by the editors and reported for billing every two weeks.
Line Editing, Copy Editing, and Proofreading: We will bill you for a 50% deposit to be paid before work begins, with the balance to be paid upon your receipt of the work.
Author Education Services (Task Memo, Fiction Technique Memo, Self-Editing Memo): We will bill you for a 50% deposit to be paid before work begins, with the balance to be paid upon your receipt of the work.
Late Payments
Our invoices are payable upon receipt. We reserve the right to assess a late fee of 5% per 30 days for any invoices that are more than 30 days past due.
While our turnaround times vary to a certain extent based on the scope and depth of the feedback or editing required and how much the reviewing editor has in queue, most writers can expect their work to be completed according to the following timeframes based on a “standard” length 85,000 word manuscript:
Introductory critiques and sample edits: less than 1 week
Manuscript evaluations and reread reports: 3-5 weeks
Manuscript annotations: 4-6 weeks
Proofreading and copy editing: 4-5 weeks
Line-editing: 6 weeks
Turnaround times for task memos, collaboration, ghostwriting, and adaptation services are set on a case by case basis. Please contact the Tucson office for more information.
Rush Policy
Our advice is never to rush anything at the editing or revision stage unless absolutely necessary, but we will always do our best to accommodate requests for faster turnaround times. Please be aware that this depends on each editor’s availability for a specific time frame, and that simply scheduling a service in advance does not guarantee the work can be done any more quickly than stated above. In addition, when rush service is possible, there will be a surcharge of at least 30% and possibly more depending on the author’s requirements.
More information about why we discourage rushing and engaging rush service can be found at Patience: A Sterling Virtue of Quality Publishing. (A Writer’s Primer on Why Hurrying is Bad for Books.)
If you have questions about this policy or would like to discuss rush options, please contact the Tucson office.