all website content ©  Marianna Jameson ~  all website design © Paula Roe
Reprinting any part of this website without prior permission is strictly prohibited.
about Marianna
Marianna's books
tips for writers
go home
bonus extras!




$4.00/page
(A Spa Day for Your Contest Entry)

Get ready for the big day with this granular review, line edit, and copy edit of your page-limited contest entry. I will provide constructive feedback on the elements of your entry with respect to the contest rules and, if available, judging requirements. The feedback will be presented in tracked changes or as a hard-copy markup, with additional commentary, suggestions, and recommended resources provided in a separate editorial letter. All changes to your entry will be visible and reversible.

Please provide the contents required by the contest (manuscript pages, synopsis, etc.) in the prescribed format, as well as the contest rules and judging criteria, if available, or a link to the rules.

The price includes one follow-up email.



$50.00 (flat fee)
(A Critique of your Synopsis)

This in-depth review of your synopsis will provide a copy edit and constructive feedback on structural strengths and weaknesses related to story, plot, setting, consistency, coherence, organization, imagery, characterization, point of view, and reliance on clichés, coincidence, or stereotypes. The feedback will be presented in tracked changes or as a hard-copy markup, with additional commentary, suggestions, and recommended resources provided in a separate editorial letter. All changes to your synopsis will be visible and reversible.

Please ensure that the synopsis is no longer than 10 pages and includes information about the manuscript’s setting (location and time period); timeline; story arc; primary and secondary plot points; character arcs for key characters, including their goals, motivations, and challenges; and the ending/resolution.

The price includes two follow-up emails.



$150.00 (flat fee)
(An Evaluation of the First 20 Pages of Your Manuscript)

This review of your synopsis and in-depth evaluation of the first 20 pages of your manuscript includes structural suggestions and a line edit. This introductory treatment will familiarize the author with my standards and style of editing, and give me a clear idea of the author’s style of writing.

I will provide feedback on structural strengths and weaknesses related to story, plot, consistency, coherence, organization, imagery, setting, pace, characterization, dialogue, point of view, and reliance on clichés, coincidence, or stereotypes, as well as sentence structure and grammatical issues. The feedback will be presented as comments in the document, with additional commentary, suggestions, and recommended resources provided in a separate editorial letter. This service does not include a copy edit. No editorial changes will be made to your manuscript or synopsis.

Please ensure that the synopsis is no longer than 10 pages and includes information about the manuscript’s setting (location and time period); timeline; story arc; primary and secondary plot points; character arcs for key characters, including their goals, motivations, and challenges; and the ending/resolution.

This includes one follow-up email.



$9.50/page
(A High-level, Structural Evaluation of Your Manuscript)

This in-depth evaluation of your entire manuscript is will provide high-level feedback and recommendations, and is suggested for manuscripts that are finished, but in need of polishing.

I will review structural strengths and weaknesses related to story, plot, flow, voice, consistency, coherence, organization, backstory, imagery, characterization, character and scene development, pace, setting, point of view, continuity, believability, information gaps or redundancies, non-sequiturs, leaps of logic, research intrusion, balance between action and exposition and between narrative and dialogue, and reliance on clichés, coincidence, or stereotypes.

Although this is an evaluation rather than an edit, it will include some high-level fact-checking and will identify global grammatical issues, as well as issues such as ambiguity, repetition, sentence structure, and passive voice. My feedback will be presented as comments in the document, with additional commentary, suggestions, and recommended resources provided in a separate editorial letter. No editorial changes will be made to your manuscript.

For this level of intensive scrutiny, it is helpful if the author includes a style sheet specific to the manuscript to identify location and character names, unusual or colloquial spelling usages, deliberate misspellings, dialects, and other terms specific to the manuscript.

This includes one 20-minute follow-up telephone discussion, if needed, and three follow-up emails.



$12.00/page
(A Developmental, Substantive Evaluation and Edit of your Manuscript)

This in-depth evaluation of your entire manuscript will provide granular, detailed feedback and recommendations and is suggested for manuscripts that are ready for submission to an editor or for self-publication.

I will review structural strengths and weaknesses related to story, plot, backstory, flow, voice, consistency, coherence, organization, imagery, characterization, character and scene development, pace, setting, point of view, continuity, believability, information gaps or redundancies, non-sequiturs, leaps of logic, research intrusion, overwriting, missed opportunities, balance between action and exposition and between narrative and dialogue, and reliance on clichés, coincidence, or stereotypes.

This evaluation also includes moderate, high-level fact-checking and a first-pass copy edit to identify and correct grammatical issues and provide suggestions regarding issues such as ambiguity, sentence structure, passive voice, word choice, repetition, wordiness, and deadwood. My feedback will be presented in tracked changes with additional commentary, suggestions, and recommended resources in a separate document. All changes to your manuscript will be visible and reversible.

For this level of intensive scrutiny, it is helpful if the author includes a style sheet specific to the manuscript to identify location and character names, unusual or colloquial spelling usages, deliberate misspellings, dialects, and other terms specific to the manuscript.

This includes two 20-minute follow-up telephone discussions, if needed, and three follow-up emails.






contact Marianna
BIO   |   BOOKS   |   FOR WRITERS   |   EXTRAS   |   EMAIL   |   THE BOOK SPA   |   HOME   |