Children Book editor/proof-reader
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Does anybody have suggestions/recommendation for a good freelance proof-reader/editor who can review a picture book manuscript? I am looking for somebody serious and not too expensive.
BTW: I have just seen there is a class coming up at SVS with Ann Whitford Paul about writing picture books. Her book has been my Bible for the past year and is an absolute must-read for anybody who writes their own stories! So great that she is teaching a class here!
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@smceccarelli I hit up my friends list on facebook and found an Advanced Placement High School English teacher and asked for a favor (since I did a favor for his students before painting a hamlet piece). He read over and made lots of great edits on the book I am working on with my son. Needless to say it reads much better now.
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Thank you @Chip-Valecek! Do you think he would be interested in doing this for a fee? Would you reach out to him and ask if it is something he would like to do, and how much would he charge? My manuscript is about 600-700 words text plus extras (two recipes and a vignette-like machine breakdown - which I have actually not written yet....).
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Another option (if you feel comfortable) is to throw it out here. Yes, we are mostly illustrators but many of us have also really studied children's books and the writing thereof.
I would bet you'd get some very good feedback. At the least, the native English speakers (assuming the book is in English) would probably catch any grammar errors (due to all the eyes on it).
Just a thought.
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@mattramsey Thank you - I thought about community support (here at SVS or local or virtual writing groups), but I decided against it. It is complex to review and revise a manuscript and I´d rather have a professional or semi-professional editor do it so that he/she can dedicate the time that it takes. I should know it, I do copy-writing myself ;-). I mostly write corporate or marketing texts, so it would be good to have somebody with professional experience in creative fiction. I am at draft 4, and still not through with revisions!
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How about posting your job on Upwork? I think there's likely lots of editors on there experienced with editing children's books.
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@smceccarelli I sent a message off asking. I will let you know what he comes back with. Not sure on your time frame, but I know here in the states school will be starting in the next couple weeks and he may be occupied with getting that in order. But I will let you know as soon as I hear back.
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@smceccarelli Are you a member of your local chapter of SCBWI? They usually have a coordinator who can hook you up with other people in the chapter, published and unpublished, who can be in a critique group with you.
