Because all projects vary to some degree, it is important to learn a bit about your document, the service needed, your deadline, and related details from the outset in order to ensure your work gets meticulous attention in various areas according to the quality, accurate, affordable, personalized, and prompt professional editing service desired. For initial inquiries, please complete the Information Request form where you can list relevant aspects about your project in the appropriate boxes, i.e., project type, project topic, length (in pages), deadline, desired service, style guide, anything else you feel is relevant about your project. You can use the Contact Dr. Barbara K. Pryor form for general questions, comments, and feedback. If you do not receive a reply within 24 hours (48 on weekends), resubmit your request in case of an electronic glitch of some sort.

After receiving your Information Request form, Dr. Pryor will correspond with you by regular email, and/or telephone if preferred, to provide a complimentary, customized quote and detailed response tailored to your individual needs, along with other pertinent information, such as specific details about where to email/snail mail your document once we have agreed on the services, pricing, and work schedule. We will correspond regularly, as often as desired, while completing your requested work to keep you abreast, answer all your questions, and to explain suggested edits or critique after the work is complete. The following will provide you with additional guidelines, for instance, how to submit your document, how changes are suggested to your writing, and basic rate guidelines* based upon the plethora of quality services described in Professional Editing Services, as well as information concerning secure payment options offered.

How to Submit Your Document

After you have completed the Information Request and we have corresponded and agreed on the professional editing service needed, etc., please send your document according to our work schedule. Electronic submissions over the internet to the email address provided are preferred whenever possible.

Submitting your document through email:

• Save your document in Microsoft Word. If you do not have Word, you can submit it in WordPerfect, or you can save your document in RTF (Rich Text Format). You can also submit projects like newsletters in Microsoft Publisher.
  
  
• As a whole, currently available PC/Windows XP Programs for project work include: Microsoft Office XP Small Business (e.g., Microsoft Word, Microsoft Publisher, and Microsoft Excel 2002 for spreadsheets); Corel WordPerfect Office 2002 (WordPerfect 10, Corel Presentations 10, etc.); ATLAS.ti 4.2 (Qualitative Data Analysis Computer Software Program); Adobe Acrobat 5.0 (Acrobat Reader PDF files - - available for purpose of viewing/printing .pdf file extension format).
  
  
• Your PC-formatted document must be double-spaced with a minimum of one-inch margins all around, in 12-point font like Times New Roman 12 pt., approximately 250 words per page.
  
  
• Send your work as an attachment to an email, NOT in the text area or in the body of the email.
  
  
• Address special concerns or questions in the text area of the email. Please include other relevant information in the text area like your name, phone number/address (optional), project type, topic, length (in pages; one double-spaced page = 250 words), deadline, requested professional service, and style guide, if applicable (APA, MLA, "Bluebook," Chicago, Turabian, other client preferred style guide).
  
  
• If you are submitting a manuscript, include a brief synopsis to provide further insight as to what it is about. You can include an abstract, for example, when submitting a Masters thesis or a Ph.D. dissertation, in lieu of a separate, brief synopsis if you so choose.
  
  
• Please include the subject of your email, for instance, "Manuscript Critiques Service," on the subject line.
  
  
• Dr. Pryor will promptly respond to your email to let you know she received it.
  
  
• If you do not receive a reply within 24 hours (48 on weekends), send another email in case of an electronic error (you can send it to bpryor8769@aol.com).

Submitting your paper copy (hard copy) through snail mail:

• If you have indicated or commented in the Information Request form that you prefer to snail mail a hard copy of your work, specific details, for example, where to mail it, postage, etc. will be provided immediately thereafter. As a guideline, send a clean, typed, readable copy of your work. It must be double-spaced, no less than 12-point font, a minimum of 1" margins all around, approximately 250 words per page, printed on one side of the page only. Please do not bind it in any way (e.g., do not staple or paper clip).
  
  
• Do not send your only copy or one you do not want marked.
  
  
• Include a brief synopsis of your manuscript or an abstract to provide further insight into your project.
  
  
• You can also include a self-addressed, stamped envelope (SASE) or a return box with adequate postage with which to return the hard copy of your work (more details such as this will be provided at any juncture when we correspond through email/telephone).
  
  
• When your package arrives, you will receive immediate email confirmation.

How Changes Are Suggested to Your Writing

Changes are typically suggested to your writing electronically using the "Track Changes" feature of Microsoft Word that shows each edit in another font color. The "Insert Comments" feature is also used to insert comments, advise or explain the suggested changes in separate text boxes that resemble sticky notes. In short, this means you can immediately see each edit because the changes will show up in a different font color-giving you complete creative control to accept or reject the changes as you see fit. That way, you can automatically apply (with the option to accept or reject any or all changes) the edits and save yourself the time of physically keying in every change, potentially missing one. While each writer will always receive "the personal touch" from a Ph.D.-educated published author, highly experienced proofreader/editor and legal professional, and the chance to ask personal follow-up questions often, as a guideline, there are two ways to accept or reject the electronic changes made to your PC-formatted document:

1. Right click on the "virtual" change (remember, each edit shows up in another font color) and select "Accept Change" or "Reject Change."

2. Go to the Tools menu, select Track Changes and then Accept or Reject Changes. With this menu, you will be able to integrate the changes one by one or all at once, if you so choose, after thoroughly reviewing them.

Although using Microsoft Word's Track Changes tool allows you the opportunity to immediately integrate the suggested changes, accepting or rejecting them as you see fit, when submitting a hard copy of your document, standard proofreading and editing symbols are used to suggest changes to your writing, along with handwritten comments in the margins to further explain the changes, advise or to make other constructive writing improvement suggestions. The link below (from University of Colorado) www.colorado.edu/Publications/styleguide/symbols.html illustrates some key examples of standard proofreading and editing symbols that you might see on a hard copy of your edited work. As suggested, a professional proofreader, like Dr. Barbara K. Pryor, puts a mark (typically a line or caret) in the line and writes the correction in the margin of your document. Editing marks are often made within the line rather than in the margin, in part because such changes are usually much more extensive; this also helps explain why Dr. Pryor prefers to work with double-spaced copy when providing other writers with a plethora of quality, accurate, affordable, personalized, and prompt editing services.

Rates

Dr. Barbara K. Pryor customizes her rates as well as her editing to cater to each writer individually. Rates are extremely affordable in concert with rates standard to the editing industry. For comparative purposes, you can visit Writers Market: How Much Should I Charge? (www.writersmarket.com/content/howmuch1.asp) to see an in-depth list of some common rates reported within the editorial freelance industry.

Affordable rates for quality Professional Editing Services are normally determined after assessing your needs and schedule according to the information provided to Dr. Pryor in your initial inquiry or Information Request. The rates listed below are a basic guideline* so that you can budget easily. Sometimes the work needed to be done to your document may require more editing than you originally anticipated. While communicating with Dr. Pryor, you can decide if you want her to do the additional work (at the appropriate rate) or provide only the exact service that you initially requested.

	*Basic Rate Guidelines: (Rates are effective as of 5/1/05. All rates are in U.S. Dollars [USD] and are subject to change)
	Proofreading/Light Editing $25 per hour; normally at the speed of 5-10 double-spaced pages per hour
	Copyediting/Heavy Editing $30 per hour; normally at the speed of 5-7 double-spaced pages per hour
	Substantive Editing/Rewriting $40 per hour; normally at the speed of 2-3 double-spaced pages per hour; however, the speed varies according to the complexity of your document and the level of substantive editing or rearranging and rewriting of sentences and paragraphs necessary to improve clarity and flow of ideas.

While Dr. Barbara K. Pryor normally charges hourly rates for more complex editing jobs to cater to each writer's needs and ensure a thorough job is done for their projects without rushing to the next one, if your project is less complex, or less than 20 pages in length, and you feel more comfortable with per-page rates (remember, one double-spaced page = approximately 250 words) for the above services, per-page rates ranging from $3.00 to $10.00 per double-spaced page can also be quoted. Examples of common per-page rates for such editing services are:

Proofreading/Light Editing (less than 20 pages) = $3.00-$4.00/page ($30 minimum); normal service/turnaround time for short documents can be 3-5 business/working days or as little as 1-2 business/working days when requesting the per-page proofreading/light editing express service for brief documents.

Copyediting/Heavy Editing (less than 20 pages) = $4.00-$5.00/page ($40 minimum); normal service/turnaround time for short documents can be 3-5 business/working days or as little as 1-2 business/working days when requesting the per-page copyediting/heavy editing express service for brief documents.

Substantive Editing/Rewriting (less than 20 pages) = $10.00/page ($50 minimum); turnaround time can be 3-5 business/working days; however, the express service (1-2 business/working days) is not advised due to the complexity of this editing service.

	Flat Rates for Other Professional Services:
	Formatting $100.00 flat rate (without editing) for projects less than 300 double-spaced pages. $200.00 flat rate (without editing) for projects 301 double-spaced pages and up; turnaround time varies according to your deadline, the complexity of your work, and other projects already underway prior to submitting your Information Request. Editing services may be obtained at a discount in conjunction with the formatting service. If during the course of the project it is determined that your document needs additional editing, you will be notified and asked if you wish to add such services before doing any editing work. If you choose to add professional copyediting services, you will receive 10% off the listed rates; this can be included in your final invoice.
	Manuscript Critiques $250.00 flat rate (without editing) for detailed chapter-by-chapter critique of manuscripts, Master theses, Ph.D. dissertations less than 300 double-spaced pages in length. $350.00 flat rate (without editing) critiquing manuscripts 301 double-spaced pages and up; turnaround time also varies according to your deadline, the complexity of your work, and other projects already underway prior to submitting your Information Request. Editing services may also be obtained at a discount in conjunction with the manuscript critiques service. If during the course of the critique it is determined that your manuscript, thesis, or dissertation needs editing, you will be notified and asked if you wish to add such services before doing editing work. If you choose to add any professional editing services, you will receive 10% off the listed rates, which is added to your final invoice.
	Substantive Editing/Rewriting $40 per hour; normally at the speed of 2-3 double-spaced pages per hour; however, the speed varies according to the complexity of your document and the level of substantive editing or rearranging and rewriting of sentences and paragraphs necessary to improve clarity and flow of ideas.

	Hourly Rates for Legal Proofreading and Editing Services:
	Legal Proofreading/Light Editing $30.00 per hour; as a basic guideline, at the speed of 4-12 double-spaced pages per hour
	Legal Copyediting/Heavy Editing $40.00 per hour; as a basic guideline, at the speed of 4-10 double-spaced pages per hour
	Legal Substantive Editing/Rewriting $50.00 per hour; as a basic guideline, at the speed of 2-6 double-spaced pages per hour

Remember, ANY service performed by Dr. Barbara K. Pryor is held in strict confidence and does not constitute legal advice.

*Discounted rates are offered for large volume orders.

**A 10 % discount is now offered to all students and members of nonprofit, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) for first-time orders of editing services listed, as well as other quality services requested, such as typing, legal/scholarly research, and writing help, upon receipt of valid student I.D. or membership identification.

***Purchase my new book: The Role of an Environmental NGO in the Landmark Florida Everglades Restoration (see About New Book for details, i.e., how/where to order; Samples of my Work to read a sample chapter) now and receive 10% off the listed professional editing services rates, which will be added to your final invoice!

Payment Options

For most services, 50% payment is required before beginning the requested work. Final payment for the remaining balance due can be sent using the payment options listed below upon completion of the requested work, before it is returned to you. For long-term jobs, billing and payment may be divided into thirds, whereby a client is billed for the first third to be paid when the project begins, for the second installment when half the project is completed, and for the final third when the project is finished. I can draft a simple letter of agreement summarizing the terms discussed for each of our records if desired, thus documenting in writing our communications according to project work.

The amount due is sent in a detailed invoice by email; a paper invoice can be mailed if preferred. Invoices are due upon receipt unless specified as due within fifteen days. When arranged in advance, corporate accounts may be established on Net-30 terms. After thirty days, interest is assessed, usually at a rate of 1.5 percent per month or partial month.

Please tell me as much as you can about your project in your initial Information Request inquiry so that I can more effectively assess your needs and answer any questions you may have, e.g., about basic rate guidelines* described, payment structure and invoicing, other details on payment options, how to submit your document, etc.

Payment options include: