Authors Own is not a publishing house or a vanity press. It's a community hub of indie publishing for authors, created by authors and the creatives who support them. With AOP, authors retain all rights and creative control of their work. The goal: uplift the wonderful creativity we see in the bookish community by providing transparent, supportive, and human services.
The Developmental Edit Process
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Up to 6 x 60-minute 1:1 recorded meetings with your editor to workshop the big picture story and character elements
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3 x passes of your manuscript by your editor
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A written editorial framework, which functions similarly to a report but is used as a tool for collaboration and tracking changes through the process with you and your editor.
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A written 'style guide' to your book that records unique spelling and style preferences that can be built upon in the next editing stage
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Pass 1 is the initial read through and compilation of an editorial framework, which is a shared document outlining the plan you create together for working on the manuscript on the first call. This will evolve as you continue to collaborate over the course of the edit.
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Pass 2 is the collaborative editing stage, where you and your editor work through a section of the book at a time in fortnightly increments and implement big picture changes. This is where the next 5 calls happen.
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Pass 3 your editor compiles the sections back together and ensures the changes made are cohesive. We encourage all authors to have at least three beta readers read the book at this stage to ensure the changes are meeting reader expectations.
The Close Edit Process
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2 x passes of your manuscript by your editor
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Finalising the style guide prepared during developmental editing ready for proofreading and for your records
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Pass 1, the 'heavy lifting' of changes on the line level. Grammar and style rules are looked at on this pass, but the main focus in on rhythm and your voice as an author and creating an immersive experience for the reader.
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Pass 2, this is to tidy up the manuscript after the first pass and ensure that it's adhering to the industry standard style guide and prepare it for proofreading.
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A note: we don't take on projects for close editing that haven't been through developmental editing either with Authors Own, as we find it reduces the quality of the service you get at this stage editing. However, if upon assessment of your manuscript our editing team determines that your manuscript does not require our full developmental process, then we will happily do a custom quote that reflects the level of editing required.
The Investment
All the prices are in AUD and include GST and a 5% admin fee that goes toward the running of AOP (think website hosting, scheduling software etc.), as the total after GST + the admin fee goes entirely to the editors or designers who are delivering the services. Rather than price per word for editing, we've priced in word count brackets. This is to allow for fluctuations in word count during edits to make budgeting easier. The aim is to remove some of the pressure on you so you don't have to worry about going over your word-count budget when you need to be in creative flow, especially during developmental edits.
