Who I work with
Three people, three completely different fears
A first-time author is afraid the book is bad. A working writer is afraid of being flattered. A founder is afraid of the four hundred hours it would take. Those are not the same conversation, so they do not get the same one.
First-time authors
You have finished something and have no idea if it is any good
Everyone you have shown it to either loves you or has not read it. The first thing you need is not editing, it is a straight answer about where the manuscript actually stands, from someone with no reason to flatter you.
- A free sample edit first, so nothing is a leap of faith
- Plain language about where the manuscript stands, including if it is not close
- An explanation of what each kind of editing does, before you buy any of it
- Honest guidance on traditional publishing versus independent, based on this book
- No packages designed to move you up a ladder you do not need
Working writers
You do not need encouragement, you need a reader who will push
You have done this before. You know your habits, you know which of your instincts to distrust, and what you want is someone who will argue with you about the third act rather than tell you it is wonderful.
- Structural notes that take a position instead of listing options
- Willingness to disagree with you, and to be talked out of it
- Turnaround that respects a submission deadline you actually have
- A style sheet and continuity tracking across a series if you need it
- Discretion about the work and about who you are
Founders & professionals
You have a book worth writing and no intention of writing it
The expertise is real, the story is real, and the odds of you sitting down for four hundred hours are zero. That is a scheduling problem rather than a writing problem, and it has a known solution.
- Recorded interviews scheduled around a real calendar, not writing time
- One argument identified early, before two hundred pages get written around a topic
- Chapters delivered as they are drafted, so nothing goes wrong quietly
- A confidentiality agreement as a matter of course
- My name nowhere near the cover unless you want it there
In their words
First-timers, novelists, and founders
★★★★★
Developmental Edit“The edit letter told me my book started ninety pages in. I did not want that to be true. It was true, and the book sold eight months later.”
★★★★★
Sample Edit“She sent back ten free pages that were more useful than the six hundred dollars I had spent on a different editor the year before. That is when I stopped shopping.”
★★★★★
Book Coaching“I had been at sixty thousand words for two years. Someone expecting pages on the fifteenth turned out to be the entire missing ingredient.”
Start here
Tell me about the book
Whichever of the three you are, the first step is the same and it is free: send me the opening ten pages and I will edit them properly. You read the notes, and then we talk about whether the rest of the book is a job for me.
If you have no pages yet, say so. That is a phone call rather than a sample edit, and it is still free.
Send me your first ten pages
I read your first ten pages and send real notes within one week, free. You will know exactly what working together looks like before you spend anything.
Got it. Send the pages to hello@ninth-draft-demo.com.
Notes back within a week, and a note from me either way.
(Demonstration site. No message was actually sent.)