Www.bookbutchers.com



QUICK INTRODUCTIONWe started Book Butchers to help authors find good editors with less risk and overwhelm. We aim to be the best choice. We strive to find the best editors, and we pay above average. But we need your help to maintain our reputation. Since it’s difficult to screen or test editors, we mostly go by resume, qualifications, recommendations and experience – and even then we’ve had some very bad experiences with editors going behind our backs, undercharging clients and then not delivering or ghosting (exactly what we hope to avoid). Instead of throwing in the towel, we are rebranding and hoping to expand, more dedicated than ever to help authors find the best service without getting scammed. We want you to be part of that experience.Please read through this welcome material and if you agree with our terms and process, sign and return it to us (digital signature is OK). You can use the form at: things that make us unique:Accountability. Anybody can call themselves an editor these days but even if they have the skills it doesn’t mean they’ll do a good job. I’ve heard too many stories of editors who ghosted clients or provided shoddy work, leaving writers out of pocket with no recourse for a refund. We have one of the best refund policies in the industry and I (Derek Murphy) take personal responsibility for every project, which means – if clients aren’t happy with the work, I will personally edit it again for free. This rarely happens, but if our editors aren’t the best in the business, I want to know about it. The main problem is, editors often don’t KNOW what they don’t know, so they may think they’re very good but still miss far too much. We currently don’t screen every project for perfection, but if a client complains and I find a lot of missed errors, we’ll remove you from our team.The best books: nearly every other copy editor or editing service focuses on the writing and the mistakes. They will improve the flow of the words and sentences, they will make it BETTER, but they won’t fix the major problems with content. Our editors have been trained in the Write Good BooksTM method to make sure your book is commercially sound and will resonate with your audience on a deeper level. For nonfiction we focus on branding, credibility, trust, so your readers will take action and see results. For fiction, we focus on universal story telling principles, plot structure, dramatic tension and suspense, and worldbuilding. We have the best training for our editors in the industry.I teach people how to write books and have a course on that you can access for free here. I understand every editor will have their own process, but basically this means we will focus on helping authors create a stronger commercial product. We don’t currently test editors on this material, but you should be familiar with the basic 8 point structure I use in the “Plot Dot” and also the scene checklist.Free access to the writing courseThe Plot Dot (free on Amazon)A crash course in fiction (start with these…)Scene checklist (fiction)Tension and conflictYou don’t have to use my 25-step chapter outline, but should be familiar with the 8 major turning points in the Plot Dot. Not all novels will have the same structure, but they are an easy thing to reference and I’d like our editors to use the same basic terminology when helping authors improve. The tips on tension, suspense and conflict are also important. You can’t write the book for them, but you should point out weak sections and suggest solutions.For nonfiction my writing course has some stuff that isn’t taught elsewhere. The preface, intro and/or first chapter should hook with story, communicate credibility (with facts, quotes and anecdotes, case studies or name-dropping). It should also make the writer sympathetic with a vulnerable share or epiphany bridge (I know your pain, I was suffering with this problem like you, but I overcome it) and promise benefits and get reader buy-in by talking about what they will learn from the book and why they should make a commitment to reading it.In other words, it’s a lot more than just cleaning up the book. Nonfiction writers rarely know any of this, so you’ll need to coach/educate them a little. Some will resist or say they don’t want to rewrite; that’s fine – but we should still be as helpful as possible. They should also have some kind of offer at the end to encourage email signups. *** I will be putting everything together into a book on writing, I know the videos are long and I ramble, but try to read the accompanying text. ***We use a unique two-tiered process, implementing the latest in machine-learning software and manual expertise to make sure your book is 99% clean of typos and errors (the standard benchmark for editing is 95% accuracy, but we’re not comfortable leaving 5% of your mistakes).Our editors can expect to get around 10K worth of editing projects a year, so we don’t think it’s too much to ask for you to invest in editing software. I believe you can use the Grammarly plugin for Word for free – the only feature you need is “contextual spelling” – which will find the most mistakes and typos. (I’ve tested it against ProWritingAid and it found more actual errors, though ProWritingAid found a couple that Grammarly missed.)Please test them out and find a version that works best for you. This is what authors will notice most. If they publish and get complaints about typos or mistakes that we missed, that’s obviously bad for our reputation and business. I prefer to do a quick scan with Grammarly first, before going in to do a manual edit.Besides the obvious mistakes, we also need to fix:RepetitionRedundancyPlot issues or holes, boring scenes, character motivationClunky sentences or overwrought descriptionsLack of scene or character descriptionWe want their content to stand out, and the writing to be clear and engaging, without being too self-conscious or self-absorbed.Tangent: Good Books, not just Clean WritingThe vast majority of self-published books aren’t great, but it’s not always a problem of spelling or grammar. You can even have very good, very clean, excellently-written books that are just… bad. Writers who are too in love with word-play often distract from the message or content. Many advanced stuff like tension, suspense and conflict is done poorly by even successful authors.Of COURSE we want the books we edit to be clean, smooth, polished, easy to read and engaging… but we also want them to be good, which means readers will read them by choice, and get some value out of them, and not give up in frustration because the content or story is a mess. There’s a limit to how much you can help them; and not all authors will be receptive to critical feedback, but if you can’t see anybody actually enjoying their book… you’re probably right. Try and help them see what can be improved so that readers actually enjoy it.As I said earlier, we won’t be checking over your shoulder, unless clients complain – in which case it’s already too late… so please spend some time going through the training resources and learn as much as possible.One more thing: authors are usually anxious about editing, and overwhelmed when they get constructive criticism. Try to stay positive and encouraging, even if the book needs a lot of work. Start with a few compliments about what you liked or enjoyed, before focusing on what can be improved. If you have any advice about similar books, genre or potential audience, great – but don’t falsely inflate their expectations. If you feel the book has too small an audience, but could reach a bigger audience with a few adjustments, let them know.If all this sounds reasonable to you, please read the rest of this document, sign and return it to us.BOOK BUTCHERS AGREEMENT (FOR EDITORS)Thanks for your interest in being an editor – I started The Book Butchers after running another editing company for several years, and realizing I needed to provided more options to help authors produce a superior final product. Please read this guide carefully and let me know if you have any questions.Thanks,Derek MurphySample EditsAuthors send in a sample of their book for editing; if the project looks interesting for you, you can do a sample edit of about 1000 words. Book projects are long and pay well, so even if you only get 1 out of every 10 trials, these sample edits shouldn’t be a big deal: they are just part of the job. If you keep trying but aren’t getting any of the work, then the other editors are probably more skilled than you (or better at communicating their abilities with confidence). Try bonding with the author before touting your accomplishments, and let them know why you are uniquely suited for/excited about working on their project.We feel that our competitive edge will keep our business healthy and our clients happy: the best editors will get the work. Try it out and good luck.How to editUnlike other editing sites, we don’t offer a basic “proofread” that fixes mistakes but leaves bad writing. Our basic, one time through editing is pretty intense; fix whatever you feel can be improved. If a sentence needs rewriting or feels wrong or nags at you, fix it. If a word sounds stupid or is repetitive, fix it. Do as much as you can.If it’s a bigger issue that can’t be solved so easily, leave a comment. A typical page can have a dozen comments, or just a few.In your trial edits, even though it will just be a few pages, try to give as much specific feedback as you can on the sample itself, as well as a brief introduction telling the author why you’d be a good fit and some of your background/ qualifications (you should prepare a pre-written file you can reuse). Don’t be needy or desperate; but be friendly. Choosing an editor is often about how they feel about you and whether you get along, almost as much as your skill level.When you get a sample, you can reply directly to the author and start a conversation. If they choose you, they’ll probably tell you and also confirm with us. Then we’ll direct them to make payment so you can get started editing.You’ll get paid the first half immediately. At roughly the midway point, or before you send back the finished, polished file (depending on the level they chose), let us know and we’ll send an invoice for the second half. If clients aren’t happy with the editing so far, they can request a refund for the first half. If they are pleased and continue, after sending the 2nd payment, they won’t be able to get a full refund (only a refund of the second half). Once clients have received and signed off on the finalized project, we’ll release the 2nd payment to you.We do this to protect both clients and editors, so it’s important to work within our guidelines and not try to charge clients outside our system or offer them a lower price (doing so will mean immediate termination).If there are large issues, I may step in and edit for free. The Book Butchers keeps 25% of each project as an overhead fee and to pay for the management stuff, but as I sometimes need to edit for free, this means we have virtually zero profit. We rely on our editors to provide excellent service. The more confident we are in our editors, and the less time we need to spend with dissatisfied clients or refunds, the more we can invest in advertising to attract new clients.EDITING LEVELSWhen doing a real editing job, we’ll return a ‘clean’ file, and a file showing changes made and extra comments. You can save them as “filename-clean” and “filename-changes.”To structure our editing for writers, we’ve set up the following packages:THE QUICK KILLDescription: We’ll proofread, catch typos, fix grammar, trim sentences, remove repetition, flag some larger issues, but mostly get it ready for publishing and make sure it’s clean and shiny. Unlike most other basic “proofreading” packages, ours includes rewriting and improved word choice, as well as a one page summary of some “bigger picture” issues that could be improved. If we see something that looks bad, we’ll fix it – but we won’t wrack our brains trying to solve bigger issues like plotting, character motivation, etc.This is a one-round editing and proofreading service, so we want to offer as much critical feedback, editing and proofreading as possible in one go. Don’t shy away from addressing larger issues, concerns or suggestions. The one page summary is just a guide, it can be longer. Provide as much value as you can, but understand the authors are focused on publishing and may not be ready to make large changes or rewrites at this point. Get it as clean and ready for print as possible; the other suggestions, comments and changes are optional for them to heed or ignore.(You’ll get the first half of payment right away. After you’ve edited about half the book, send it to them for feedback and make sure they are OK with everything. Request that they complete the second half of payment, before you send the remaining half).EXTRA BLOODYDescription:Round One: We’ll start with a manuscript review – a quick read-through to identify any major problems, boring parts that need trimming, conclusions that can be made stronger, suggestions for rewrites, plot improvements or problems, story arch and structural analysis. We’ll ask lots of questions and provide tips and recommendations. Your editor will be a personal writing coach. We’ll send an editorial report on the big issues that can be improved. After you’ve rewritten to your satisfaction, we’ll move on to part two.Round Two: an in-depth, comprehensive, line-editing that includes rewriting sentences, improving word choice, organization, plotting and pacing. We’ll make the dialogue stronger and more believable, the action more tense and nail-biting, and the emotional peaks less melodramatic and cheesy. For non-fiction, we’ll strengthen your argument and make the writing more engaging.Anything that can’t be easily fixed, we’ll flag or comment as something that could be improved.The result will be a very clean and much improved manuscript, but with lots of comments and suggestions, which will probably require some rewriting and extra work on your part. Getting back a heavily edited manuscript like this can be depressing, but know that it will drastically improve your writing skills and help you identify your weaknesses.The advantage of “Extra Bloody” is that, unlike “The Quick Kill” – we can help writers actually fix the big issues first. The plot, character motivation, the big stuff, the “what happens.” For non-fiction, the organization, argument and development.Read through it, talk with the author, ask questions, and suggest changes. Don’t focus on the little stuff yet, look at the big picture, flag issues, critique and strengthen the main body. This may take some time, or research. The “Editorial Report” will probably be 5 to 10 pages long… this is flexible. Do your best to help them really make a book/story that other people will enjoy and value.Note that some authors may be resistant to your ideas. If they don’t trust or believe you, or are simply overwhelmed at the prospect of re-writing, be patient with them. Suggest that they ask for more feedback or join a writer’s group. They may not be willing to make changes based just on your feedback, they may need to hear it from several other people as well. If you get stuck and feel like you’re butting heads, ask me to step in and give my feedback. I’ll either back you up or suggest something new you hadn’t thought of.That said, some authors will simply refuse to change what they love about their manuscript. Maybe they really need a new title or subtitle, or they should focus on one element or play up one angle. Suggest it, stress it, try to convince them to do whatever will make the book more marketable… but ultimately, if they are unwilling to listen, you need to back down and let them know it’s their book and they are in control of the content.They may need a considerable amount of time for re-writing… that’s fine. You may be entering a relationship that lasts several months, but most of it will just be email back and forth. Once they feel they’ve rewritten as much as they want to, and are ready for a closer edit, you’ll go through their revised manuscript very closely, clean it up, fix it as much as you can.(You’ll get the first half of payment immediately; they’ll pay the 2nd half when you’re about halfway through the 2nd stage of editing. I know this can be a long gap, but the process can’t be rushed, and they will feel more comfortable paying the remainder once they’ve finished rewriting and can see the more in-depth, critical edit.)THE PERFECT MURDERRound One: (Same as in “Extra Bloody”)Round Two: (Same as in “Extra Bloody”)Round Three: A final round of proofreading to improve your rewritten or reworked sections, after you’ve had time to reflect on and incorporate our suggestions and comments. We’ll eliminate any remaining typos, errors, or inconsistencies. This is basically like the “Quick Kill” service – or proofreading on steroids, and again we’ll hack, slash, rewrite, fix, tweak and improve anything we can, but this time we won’t comment on the bigger picture, and we’ll really hone down on the little details, eliminate repetition, trim the writing, and make sure everything is as good as it can be (if you accepted all of our changes in the last round, but didn’t revise or rewrite any of the issues we flagged, there may not be much for us to do in this round – but it’ll be worth it even if we only catch a handful of typos.)This is an expensive level of editing; the clients who pay this much will expect a lot, which may make them harder to please. Rounds One and Two are the same as in “Extra Bloody” – start with a manuscript review, wait for rewrites, do a very heavy edit and proofread, wait for rewrites, then do a super final, pre-print proofreading (since we also offer formatting, you may want to wait until post-formatting to do the final proofread).(You’ll get the first half of payment immediately, the second half after you finish the editing, before you start the final proofreading round). PaymentBook editing can cost a few thousand dollars; most authors will feel more comfortable paying half now, half on completion.We pay our editors 75% of every project. The rest goes towards management and advertising, the included bonuses such as formatting and the speciality gifts we provide clients. The three levels are priced at $0.02, $0.04 and $0.06 per word, so your earnings would be $0.015, $0.03, and $0.45 per word, respectively.For a 50,000 word novel, you’d earn:The Quick Kill: $750 Extra Bloody: $1500 The Perfect Murder: $2,250 I can edit about 5,000 words an hour, but it depends on the material, so a very rough estimate (for me personally), for the same book would be about:10 to 15 hours for editing10 hours manuscript critique + 10 to 15 hours editing10 hours manuscript critique, 10 to 15 hours editing, 10 hours final proofreading.If you can do it this fast, your hourly wage would be pretty good.But you may edit more slowly, 1000 words per hour is not uncommon. Obviously we want you to do the best job you possibly can, and we also want to pay you enough to make it very worthwhile for you. Understand your payment includes a lot of emailing and chatting with the authors. Often clients just want to be listened to. If they voice problems or concerns, make sure you let them know you hear them and understand them (by repeating what they’ve said).Some clients can be challenging. Authors especially, I’ve found, can be quite hard-headed and resistant to change (this is their baby, after all). Editing a book is a very personal matter, and they are endowing you with a great deal of trust and responsibility. Don’t take that lightly. A lot of the submissions are from first time authors, so they *might* have serious issues with content (plot, organization, value)… we want to do a little more than “preserve their voice” – we want to help them improve it. That said, there’s only so much you can do; we can’t rewrite everything, but it’s important to make them aware of the big problems/red flags that will bore or turn off readers.Be kind and friendly and patient. It helps to start with a few compliments, then move into the major issues. I’ll usually summarize these in an email – I may have hundreds of comments but they mostly boil down to two main things.In the most recent project, it was:1. Giving away all the information too early, so there was no suspense or tension.2. Telling + Showing (don’t need both, but if you do have both, showing must come first, and you can “tell” or fill in some details after the scene has happened. Don’t tell what/why a scene will happen before you let readers experience it).*** We pay with PayPal, so expect to lose a little bit from transaction fees. You’re hired as a temporary freelancer, so you are responsible for reporting your own income taxes. ***Changing Word Counts: It’s possible that the initial manuscript is 75,000 words, but based on feedback it becomes significantly shorter or longer. We won’t refund payment if the word count becomes less, but we may charge extra if it becomes significantly more. Try not to be picky about this, but if it’s grown from 75,000 to 100,000, you may want to request the author pay for the additional words (they will probably agree, but keeping them happy and satisfied is the number one priority).I think up to an additional 10% of words is reasonable to edit again after rewrites; more than that would be charged at the normal rate. You can communicate to clients that this is our policy (but only if they ask or continue asking for extra help).IN CASE OF COMPLAINTSIf a client is unhappy for any reason, we will fix it. We may throw extras at them. We may forgo the 2nd half of payment (if that happens, you’ll still keep the first half). We may even return the initial payment (which will come out of our pocket, not yours). I may take over and finish editing for free; or give them a free book cover design. We do not allow clients to leave with a negative impression of our business. But please make it easy for us by overwhelming them with value and professional editing.Be overwhelmingly helpfulWe are setting Book Butchers up as a premium book editing service and we want to become the #1 site for extremely high-quality editing. We will continue to recruit and hire the best in the business. We feel we pay very well, and you’ll be treated professionally by us. We trust you to do a great job.Keep in mind our clients are probably looking to self-publish, so please become as informed as you can about formatting, print on demand (POD) Lulu, Lightning Source and Createspace (now KDP print), book sales and marketing, Amazon, etc. If they have questions you can’t answer, send their emails/questions to me and I’ll respond.For all books: please search for their titles in Amazon and make sure it’s not already being used; check that there are no major bestsellers in the same genre with a very similar title. (If the title is identical, but the other book looks like crap and is doing poorly, it might be OK to use it anyway, but let them know).Help them brainstorm a more suitable title or subtitle if necessary.Novels should also have a tagline – a one or two sentence, hooking statement. These are tricky, they should fill in the blanks left by the title, and tell readers more about the novel, and create intrigue. You may be able to help authors think up a good one after you’ve finished the editing.You can also help them craft a winning sales copy or summary – these are very hard for authors to write themselves. They’re usually about 300 words, and may start with the tagline or subtitle, or a powerful question or statement, followed by an engaging summary that doesn’t give away too much. I can help with these if needed, they will drastically affect book sales so we want to help authors make them really powerful. Helping out with these things are included in the book editing payment.It’s difficult for authors to figure out the core value or story themselves, you’ll be better suited to sum it up and highlight the main features and benefits.BLOGGING QUOTASince we don’t have a large profit margin for marketing, we ask our editors to write two articles a month for our blog. These can be about anything related to writing or publishing fiction or nonfiction. Often while editing, you will become aware of some small issue and how you fixed it. With the author’s permission, it can also mean some free visibility or promotion for their book and you can use specific examples as a case study (if they aren’t comfortable sharing, you can just use the idea without the examples). Articles should be between 500 and 1000 words, and you can add your professional bio and a link to your website if you wish. This also gives you some name-recognition, which will make it more likely you’ll be chosen by authors who submit projects after reading your article.If you don’t have anything to write about, you can defer and write more articles for the site later. With your help, we can quickly grow the website traffic to attract more clients, which will mean more submissions – with more selection, you’ll be free to choose which projects you are eager to work on.ABOUT USI started Book Butchers while working on my PhD in Literature in Taiwan; it’s now managed by my former classmate Tammy (still in Taiwan). It’s a very simple, transparent company: I want to be able to help authors by recommending good editors. I drive all the traffic/marketing, Tammy handles day-to-day operations, the editors make the bulk of the income without having to chase down work. We current have about 15 editors, but get nearly 100 submissions a month.I’ve read this document and agree to the terms:Signature: _____________________________________ Date: ____________Once we’ve received this form, we’ll add you to our online form and you’ll start to receive submissions. These must be kept in strict confidence. ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download