Atzei Rimon Seedling Program

Developmental Editing

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Developmental Edit

This is sometimes also called “structural editing”. This is where an editor goes through the entire manuscript and assesses the whole package in terms of plot, characterisation and structure, and any other areas that may need work. This is sometimes done as a mark-up on the manuscript, or written up as an editorial report, or a combination of both. It's an in-depth look at your story and characters, and provides you a perspective on your overall novel that will surprise you, challenge you, and (hopefully!) get your creative juices flowing.

For a developmental edit, I offer one of the following:

  1. Manuscript mark-up: this is where I go through the entire manuscript (in a Word doc), and add comments and suggestions in the margins as I go through.
  2. Editorial report: for this, I read the entire manuscript and write a summary report detailing what I feel are the novel’s strengths, weaknesses and areas that require further exploration.
  3. Combination of the two: a mark-up and editorial report together.

All fees include discussion over email, but do not include reading of any revisions. Follow-up consultation sessions can be booked separately at a reduced price of $150 USD, compared to $200 USD for new consultations.

Book your developmental edit

Your quote is tailored to your project and will reflect the scope of services requested, manuscript length, and current stage of development.

Estimated turnaround: enter your word count.

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Nothing is charged now. Your agreed full fee will be charged only when Chana accepts your project. Saving a card does not verify that a later payment will succeed.

Ready to submit your manuscript? Go to our submissions page.

Fee structures

Hiring an editor to work on your book can be a significant expense, so it is important to understand how much you are paying and what for. For a developmental edit, this is how I structure my fees:

First draft

Early stage draft.

  • Manuscript mark-up: $31.625
  • Editorial report: $40.25
  • Mark-up and report combo: $59.80

Revised draft

A complete story that still needs a thorough professional review.

  • Manuscript mark-up: $27.50
  • Editorial report: $35.00
  • Mark-up and report combo: $52.00

Final draft

A complete, reviewed story that just needs one more perspective on it.

  • Manuscript mark-up: $24.75
  • Editorial report: $31.50
  • Mark-up and report combo: $46.80

Prices are in USD per 1,000 words.

Most people seek an editing service when their manuscript is at revised draft stage, ie, you have reviewed it yourself a lot, it reads pretty polished to you, but you would like a professional to take a look at the complete thing and give you feedback on how it all works.

The timeline I work with is 2 weeks for every 25,000 words.

Discounts

I offer discounts for the following circumstances:

  • People under 18
  • People on low incomes
  • Marginalised voices
  • People in full-time creative writing, English, literature or related education
  • People in part-time education (a smaller discount than for full-time education)

Please contact me if you are in one of these categories and we can discuss a reduced fee for your project.

View all fees and discounts

Please note

Occasionally people will consider their manuscript as a revised or final draft but when I look at it, it still seems very much like an early draft. If that happens, I will discuss with you about increasing the fee or timeline. Similarly, if you consider your manuscript as an early/first draft but when I look at it, it seems very polished and not in need of such heavy editing, I will discuss with you about reducing the fee and timeline.

Any change to the quoted fee or timeline will be agreed with you before your card is charged.

Chana (Anna) Solemani

Work with me

Chana (Anna) Solemani

I'm a literary editor with over 15 years' publishing experience, with particular expertise in Jewish books. I love working with authors to find their voice, hone their storytelling and helping them to understand their own characters and their journeys even better.

There's nothing I love more than getting stuck into a great story and helping it become the absolute best it can be.

I work across a variety of genres and age groups. I am particularly looking for:
Literary Jewish voices, fiction, narrative non-fiction, middle-grade and YA, tearjerkers, magical realism, quirky reality-benders, inspirational coming-of-age and overcoming-of-odds stories.

Testimonials

“Chana (Anna) Solemani, my esteemed editor and publisher, whose enthusiastic belief in Krumpfelbaum has been an inspiration, and whose wisdom and advice have been transformational. Magic lady.”
Richard Rea EvansAuthor of KRUMFELBAUM
“We love having Chana (Anna) Solemani as one of Cornerstones’s industry editors. She’s a brilliant mentor and we’re very lucky to work with her!”
Julie GourinchasCornerstones Managing Editor
“It has been an absolute pleasure to work with Anna. I'm a debut writer, and I was a little bit nervous about sharing my work. However, Anna has been very supportive and professional throughout the whole editing and revision process. Her edits were on point and insightful. Most of all, I felt, Anna understood my vision and voice and helped me nurture my story and brought it to a higher level. I'd definitely work with Anna again.”
Mel G.Developmental edit
“Anna was really helpful: picked up things that had passed me by, but clearly needed altering. Gave good advice on technical matters I was ignorant about, and guidance as to possible improvements of story line. And enormously encouraging! I’m very grateful.”
Richard E.Developmental edit
“If you are looking for a book editor, especially a Jewish book editor, I really recommend Chana (Anna) Solemani. She has top level experience in both traditional literary book publishing and also corporate digital content. She’s an amazing editor and points out improvements to your story that will blow your mind. She knows your characters better than you do. She’s also a skilled writer with a super sharp wit, and above all, so much fun to work with :) thank you Chana!”
Sarah S
“Anna was an absolute wonderful person to work with! She was so encouraging with my work and with a confident and assuring kindness showed me my strengths and cons on how I can improve them to make my book the best it can be. She saw my potential and passion in my writing, which encouraged me even more to challenge the hurdles of revising and proofreading! :)”
Veronica T.Mentoring
“Anna is very professional, friendly and supportive. She provided a valuable fresh look into my MS, pulling out some great constructive points. And happily expanded further on some points after I contested them. Satisfied customer!”
Joshua S.Developmental edit
“It was a breeze communicating with Anna. Managing expectations was straightforward. She shared her professional perspective beyond the parameters of just copyediting. Her copyedit was very light (as expected due to the advanced condition of the manuscript). Among other things worth noting, she suggested one edit to remove a minor recurring redundancy in one passage, which I tend to agree with and value. She responded to my queries in a very timely manner. I’m satisfied.”
Adnan A.Copyediting
“Working with Anna was a good experience from start to finish. She kept the deadlines and provided high quality feedback, which was easy to understand. I am very happy with the end result, and if I ever write another book, I will approach her again with an offer. Easily recommended.”
Thorbjørn W.Developmental edit
“Anna has been invaluable. Patient and professional throughout, she has helped me craft my story into a marketable product. Highly recommended and I will be using her services again once the next book is written.”
Dave O.Mentoring
“Anna was a pleasure to work with. Being dyslexic its like swimming in shark infested waters and Anna was my coast guard rescue boat. She gave me insight into ways to improve my story, edited my issues I could never see and improved the story structure. She worked kindly with changing schedule, I …”
Billy B.Developmental edit
“I really enjoyed working with Anna. She had great insight and suggestions for my novel. I feel so much more confident in my writing and know where to take my novel. I will definitely work with Anna again.”
Tai M.Mentoring
“Anna was excellent! She took my manuscript to the next level, while giving me constructive feedback about things I never questioned before. Anna is professional, easy to work with, honest in her advice, and especially knowledgable. Anna has a thorough grasp of understanding the inner makings of a book. From the bits and bobs of loose sentence structure and overlooked grammar mistakes, to the interworking threads that makeup plots and characters, Anna will make your manuscript clearer and stronger. I hope to use her services again. Thank you!”
Saga E.Developmental edit
“Very thorough, accommodating and wonderful to work with. I will definitely recommend her to others and would love to work with her again. Thanks again, Anna.”
Tomi D.Mentoring
“Anna was an excellent resource for me in this stage of my book project. She outlined her ability to work on the project with her schedule. She proposed what she would provide based on my initial submission to describe the larger project. This was likely a little more than most would have had the patience to wade through. She was prompt once the work began and gave thoughtful suggestions and critique that were of great help. Thank you, Anna.”
Paula G.Mentoring
“Writing is flying in dreams. When you remember. When you can. When it works. It's that easy.”
— Neil Gaiman