Editor Profile: Lee Caleca

The essential nature of storytelling and books revolves around the art of successfully delivering a cogent idea, but there are aspects that separate good books from incomplete concepts.

I've authored, ghostwritten and edited several dozens of novels and non-fiction books in various genres and work tirelessly fact checking for content, language usage and historical accuracy where necessary. I will work to ensure that your project appears complete as a whole and without errors.

As a former managing editor for Status Magazine Nashville, I’ve seen a lot of copy in many different writing styles. For anyone who doesn’t know what a managing editor does, they basically manage the workflow of the magazine: features, columns, department stories, interviews, and all other editorial.

I’m been a judge for the Global Ebook Awards for unpublished works and am currently judging the Eric Hoffer Awards, a competition open to published works from indie and small presses.

As an award judge, I can tell you that many books are passed over because of editorial concerns, poor layout and a failure to fulfill the parameters that make a book complete.

As an editor, it's my job to improve the dynamics of your work. I will edit your book with an eye toward the following:

• Opening – Writing that is clear and cohesive from the start, presenting major story characters and story questions, or in the case of non-fiction, major questions and ideas so the reader knows what to expect from the content that follows
• Content – Content that is organized and thorough, and that unfolds in a logical manner from the opening toward a satisfactory conclusion, maintaining pace and theme consistently
• Editorial – No grammatical or spelling errors, clumsy or unfocused sentences, or awkward word choices
• Characterization – Consistency in speech patterns, history and timelines
• Layering – Descriptions that bring the narrative to life allowing readers to “read between the lines” and visualize scenes
• Layout – Headings, chapters/sections and paragraph breaks that are appropriately placed according to content and for easy reading
• Cover – A cover (if one is provided) that reflects the contents of the book, is professionally composed and eye-catching, and can be read from 20 feet away (for print books)

Prices and Description of Services:

• Prices begin at $2 USD per page for both fiction and non-fiction. The industry standard for a page is a firm 250 words, so gauge your manuscript by the number of words, not the number of pages calculated by your computer.
• Changes will be made directly in the manuscript using red for new text and the strike-out tool. This is essentially the same as MS “track changes” but without the MS formatting lock, so it makes for any easy user-friendly exchange.
• Where two rates are quoted, rate depends on your language fluency, so for example, non-native English writers may need much more work than others.
• All payments are made in advance through PayPal.
• You will receive a standard industry contract stating your rights to possession of all material and terms of payment.

Rates:

1. Proofreading: $2 per page. Includes a check for punctuation and typographical errors, page and chapter breaks and location of art or images only. This is the final stage after all other editing is completed.
2. Basic editing: $3 and $4 per page. Includes a check for grammar and syntax (how your sentences are put together – do they make sense?).
3. Substantive (structural) editing: $4 per page. Includes clarifying and/or reorganizing a manuscript for content and structure. Changes may be suggested and/or rewritten by me, but are always finalized by you, the author.
4. Stylistic editing: $3 and $4 per page. Includes clarifying meaning, eliminating jargon or fluff, smoothing language and other line-by-line editing; may include correcting for reading level.
5. Copyediting: $4 and $5 per page. Includes editing for grammar, punctuation, spelling, syntax, and other mechanics of style; checking for consistency of style and mechanics and internal consistency of facts (characters, timeline, history); creating chapter titles and subtitles; placement of provided art as necessary; creating back matter and cover copy. Rate depends on your language fluency, so for example, non-native English writers may need more work than others.
6. Developmental editing: $20 per page. Includes editing a project from rough manuscript to final manuscript, with a minimum of 25 pages being paid in advance. If you end up with 100 pages, for example, you’re balance will be due for 75 pages, to be paid incrementally as the book develops. You are not locked into finishing the project with me. If you get 50 pages finished, for example, and feel you can complete it on your own, your balance due is only on the remaining 25 pages, to be paid in advance before editing.
7. Rewriting: $.10 cents per word. This is for those areas of a book that might need some tweaking, where you can’t quite get it right and you need a fresh perspective. It could be a paragraph or an entire chapter. You will go through the new text and delete the old text, leaving new red text in place. In this way, we can build upon changes until we reach a satisfactory conclusion for each section.
8. Manuscript evaluation: $3 per page based on a fully developed project (project doesn’t need to be “complete”, just fully developed, with a full plot, outline, beginning, middle, end, and most basics in place). I will give you constructive insight for improvement and/or direction so you know where to spend your money on editing and what kind of editing to ask for when you’re ready to do that. An evaluation includes two looks at the project: the first will give you suggestions and direction and the second will build upon the changes you’ve made, offering additional advice and direction. This is an invaluable service for someone who might be “stuck”. The assessment is thorough, with sidebar comments you can refer to as you rewrite your manuscript.

How to Make Payments?

Please send payments to PayPal at: lee.caleca@att.net