Send your introductory email to LisaKaitzEditorial@gmail.com with the following information, which will help me figure out a quote. (If you send a very general email without at least some of the info below, I may think you're a bot and delete it.)

1. Your quick "elevator speech": genre, basic plot, narrator POV, setting, target audience
2. Stages of editing your manuscript has gone through—is it a first draft; has it been through developmental editing; has it been professionally evaluated or workshopped at all
3. Total word count
4. Deadline or timeframe, if you have one

Please attach an excerpt as a Word doc, or if it's a short story, the whole manuscript. I prefer 12-pt. Times New Roman font so I can easily see the punctuation. The paragraphs don't have to be indented but the breaks must be obvious.

I’ll send your sample edit along with a quote. If you like what you see, please respond as soon as possible. I’ll draft a contract, which we’ll both sign electronically, and we’ll figure out payment together. I’ll send you invoices accordingly:

For short stories or novellas, I ask for the full 100% at commencement since it’s a quicker turnaround.

For books, there are two options.

• Option 1: I ask for a 30% nonrefundable deposit upfront if you want to hold a spot in my schedule (unless I'm free immediately). Then 20% upon commencement and the final 50% upon delivery.
• Option 2: I ask for 50% upon commencement and the final 50% upon delivery.

I’ll begin editing on your start date (assuming I've received any payments due). I may shoot you an email at some point if I need clarification about something in your manuscript or to simply say things are progressing, but usually I just hunker down and work. If I finish early or if I’m going to be late (this is extremely rare), I’ll send you an email right away.

Average time to edit a short story is a week or two.
Average time to edit a book is four to six weeks.

When I’ve finished copyediting, I’ll send you a friendly email with my final invoice. Once final payment has hit my bank account, I’ll send you three documents:

1. Your copyedited manuscript with all Track Changes visible
2. A “clean” copy of your manuscript in which I’ve accepted all changes and only queries in comment bubbles remain—this makes for easy reading
3. A detailed style sheet listing preferred spellings, characters, treatment of numbers, etc.

After you’ve had a chance to go through my edits, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I’m happy to chat by email for a reasonable amount of time. If you’d like a round of light copyediting after changes have been made, we can talk about what that would look like.