CRITIQUE/EDITORIAL SERVICES*
*Member of the Editorial Freelancer's Association
I provide comprehensive, professional writing guidance and editorial feedback to fiction writers of all genres and experience levels. I will seek to bring out the best in your writing style, voice, and story through rigorous, constructive evaluation that focuses on narrative and character arc, plot development, pacing, dialogue, setting, themes, as well as the clarity of your voice, the efficacy of your sentence structure, the rhythm of your language. My feedback will guide you into revisions to refine and tighten the art of your language and the craft of your story.
The First 50 Pages
A lot can be learned from the first 50 pages of a novel. A manuscript's strengths and weaknesses and a writer's idiosyncrasies all reveal themselves in these crucial opening chapters. You will receive comments and examples in the manuscript and an editorial letter laying out suggestions for revision.
Cost: A "First 50 pages" evaluation is a flat rate of $500, Pre-PAID.
Manuscript Evaluation
This is a detailed appraisal of your entire manuscript, its strengths, weaknesses, and marketability. I will provided a thorough analysis of what's working and what needs some extra attention, plus tips and techniques. Areas of analysis include writing quality, thematic consistency, narrative structure, character development.
Cost: Pre-paid, $1000-1200, depending on length of manuscript.
Story/Developmental Edit & Critique
This story or developmental editing, as it's known, is an extensive process: a two-pass edit of a full-length novel (i.e. 80,000-100,000 words) requires about three months from start (my initial reading and feedback, your revisions, my second reading and feedback) to finish. Although I do not offer fact-check, line editing or proofreading services, my copy-editing addresses issues pertaining to grammar, mechanics, spelling, and/or style. My comments will be based on the Chicago Manual of Style, which is the guide used by most fiction editors.
If this interests you and you have a completed draft of a novel, I will complete a free sample edit of your work. Then we can decide together if you are ready for a substantive developmental edit and if I'm the right editor for your project. Pricing varies by length of project.
Cost: $2400-3000 is the typical rate for a book-length project. All work must be pre-paid and is non-refundable.
If you are interested, let's talk! CONTACT ME here
OTHER EDITORIAL SERVICES
The Literary Agent Query Letter. The Novel Synopsis.
Your goal is to see your novel or memoir in bookstores, libraries, and in the hands of readers. If you choose to pursue traditional publishing, the manuscript you spent months or years writing, revising, editing, and polishing must first be accepted by a literary agent, who will then submit it to publishers. Your calling card is your agent query letter. You have one page—four or five paragraphs, three hundred words—to sell your book, convey your voice, state your credentials, and make the case why—out of the thousands of queries an agent receives each year—your story is the one she or he should read and represent.
I offer a variety of freelance critique and editing services for your query letter and/or synopsis, and a package that includes a critique of the first ten pages of your manuscript. The options are detailed below.
Query Critique
A query letter should be one page, 1"-margins on all sides, 12-point Times New Roman on a Word .doc or .docx
COST: $150, PRE-PAID. This includes:
A review of your query and feedback via Track Changes.
A second review and critique of your query after you have made changes, as well as thorough proofreading.
Each additional pass: $10.
*Fiction and Memoir only
Synopsis Critique:
Synopsis should 1"-margins on all sides, 12-point Times New Roman on a Word .doc or .docx
One-page Synopsis (single spaced)
COST: $100, PRE-PAID. This includes:
A review of your synopsis and feedback via Track Changes.
A second review and critique of your synopsis after you have made changes, as well as thorough proofreading.
Each additional pass: $10.
Up to five pages (double-spaced):
COST: $150, PRE-PAID. This includes:
A review of your synopsis and feedback via Track Changes.
A second review and critique of your synopsis after you have made changes, as well as thorough proofreading.
Each additional pass: $15.
Submission Critique Package:
A standard submission package consists of a one-page query letter, a one- to two-page synopsis, and the first 10 pages of your manuscript.
COST: $250, PREPAID. This includes:
A review of your query letter, synopsis, and the first 10 pages of your manuscript, feedback offered via Track Changes.
A second review and critique of your complete submission package after you have made changes.
Each additional pass: $25.
Comprehensive, rigorous writing guidance and editorial feedback
Realize your writing goals with compassionate mentoring and constructive evaluation.
TESTIMONIALS
“I’m still feeling echoes of the trust and vulnerability that was demonstrated in the room during your workshop on Saturday. It was special to witness the way you invited those things out. I just want to acknowledge your wonderful gifts as a teacher. ”
“I’m sitting here in awe of the experience and wanted to reach out to you and thank you for the “you are a writer” statement that I’ve used as crutch and motivation as I continue to put one word in front of the other on this curious adventure.”
“Dear Julie,
Came home and wrote for hours. Thank you for your inspiration and for the great gift you are making of yourself.”
“Your feedback is fantastic. I am very appreciative of your viewpoint and experience as you bring up valid issues.”
“You’ve been wonderfully responsive – and very clear about what you think doesn’t work. The hardest part has figuring out what to cut, and you convinced me to make smart decisions that other friends who write well failed to convince me to make.”
“I wanted to touch base with you on how things went with agent pitching at the —- Conference for WAVES ON WAVES. It went amazing! Out of the six agents I pitched to, all six wanted to see the full manuscript. A large part of my success was having such a concise query and synopsis. But most of all, the confidence you gave me with this story shined through.”
“Still can’t thank you enough for sharing your talent with me. I know I’m paying you, but it feels like such a gift to have you on board!”
“The query letter you helped me with went over very well. It was selected it among a pile of letters in a panel where they read queries out loud and all 4 agents were impressed. Most every other query they shot down. I received eight manuscript requests at the conference!”
“I wanted to write and tell you how much I enjoyed the workshop. As an ex-teacher, I appreciated your classroom approach. I was quite anxious about renewing my desire to write, and now I’m excited. Good for you!”
“Thank you, thank you. You are a Godsend. I have tweaked and rewritten this query so many times but I’ve been completely stuck, paralyzed and unable to make any significant changes. Now, I’m actually excited and looking forward to reworking this query. I’m so impressed with your insight and comments. ”
“You’ve been a fantastic mentor throughout this whole process, and you’d better believe that if I find even a small measure of success, I’ll be singing your name from the mountaintops. ”
“Julie Christine Johnson, you could seriously make a fortune as a query doctor. ”
“Julie is a a natural leader. I am on my way back to writing. I even wake up thinking about new perspectives.”
“Thanks for the great workshop Julie! I enjoyed the day a lot, and came out energized and writing.”