Showing all 36 results
$90 (Members: $81) | How to edit nonfiction query letters and more| 4 lessons | Self-paced | Intermediate This self-paced class is meant for editors who would like to offer additional services to authors beyond manuscript editing. In this class, you’ll learn how to edit: query letters for authors planning to follow the traditional publishing…
$60 (Members: $54) | How to write a revision letter | 3 lessons | Self-paced | Intermediate The revision letter, which provides the overview of your main editorial findings and suggestions, is a crucial component of the developmental edit, but they are easy to get wrong – including the wrong information, prioritizing the wrong revisions,…
$60 (Members: $54) | How to do a manuscript assessment, evaluation, or critique | 3 lessons | Self-paced | Intermediate This class teaches you how to add the additional service of manuscript evaluation to your menu of offerings. This is a great option for authors not ready for a full developmental edit who just need…
$60 (Members: $54) | How to evaluate your editorial skills | 2 lessons | Self-paced | Intermediate As a freelancer, you don’t have a boss or coworkers giving feedback about your performance. If you work primarily for indie clients, your clientele may not even know what effective editing looks like. What if there are better…
$90 (Members: $81) | How to edit science fiction and fantasy | 4 lessons | Self-paced | Intermediate This class discusses the basics of the developmental editing of science fiction and fantasy novels. The class covers: basic conventions of the genre (reader expectations)—what to do when authors violate these and how to tell when they…
$90 (Members: $81) | How to use sentence-level clues to track down developmental problems | 4 lessons | Self-paced | Intermediate This class is meant for working with fiction authors. When a manuscript has obvious problems, they’re, well, obvious. The overemphasis on backstory has slowed the pacing to a crawl, the POV hops from head…
$90 (Members: $81) | How to edit mystery, thriller, and suspense novels | 4 lessons | Self-paced | Intermediate This class walks you through the principles of developmentally editing the related genres of mystery, suspense, and thriller. It covers: Understanding genre conventions Helping authors create a strong central conflict Keys to building tension and suspense…
$90 (Members: $81) | How to edit novels written as part of a series | 3 lessons | Self-paced | Intermediate Editing series work is complex. You need to edit for all of the usual issues as well as series-related issues, such as the protagonist being an only child in Book 1 and having four…
$90 (Members: $81) | How to edit short stories and novellas | 4 lessons | Self-paced | Intermediate This class discusses the basic expectations for various types of short fiction, ranging from flash fiction up through novellas and focuses on how DE differs when it is applied to short fiction and novellas as opposed to…
$90 (Members: $81) | How to edit romance novels | 4 lessons | Self-paced | Intermediate In this class, you’ll learn the basics of the developmental editing of romance. The class covers: basic conventions of the genre (reader expectations)—what to do when authors violate these and how to tell when they have differences among various…
$90 (Members: $81) | How the novel revision process works | 4 lessons | Self-paced | Intermediate For writers, editors, book coaches, and critique partners interested in learning about the revision process. Follow along as an author shows how her vision for a novel changes from the original draft to the final published version. Identify…
$90 (Members: $81) | How to edit literary fiction | 4 lessons | Self-paced | Intermediate This class explores the concept of literary fiction and what to consider when editing such novels. It discusses what we mean by “literary fiction” and how it differs from genre fiction (if it does). It looks at perspective, the…
$90 (Members: $81) | How to edit query letters, synopses, and more | 4 lessons | Self-paced | Intermediate This class is meant for editors who would like to offer additional services to authors beyond manuscript editing. In this class, you’ll learn how to edit: query letters and story synopses for authors planning to follow…
$60 (Members: $54) | Learn what a developmental edit looks like | 3 lessons | Self-paced | Intermediate This class is meant for writers and editors, new and experienced, who are interested in following along as a developmental edit unfolds on a complete fiction manuscript. It is a reading-intensive class. Note: Recent current events force…
$40 (Members: $36) | How to edit memoir | 4 lessons | Self-paced | Intermediate This class is informational-only, meaning you will not complete assignments based on the lessons. I do recommend that you read a few published memoirs as you work through the material. Notes on Editing Memoir will help you understand the distinction…
$80 (Members: $72) | How to edit for powerful story resolutions | 4 lessons | Self-paced | Intermediate This class is called “Payoffs” for a reason, and that’s because readers want their investment in a story to be paid off. They want to feel rewarded after they close the book. They want to feel it…
$100 (Members: $90) | How to edit for point-of-view and perspective | 5 lessons | Self-paced | Intermediate This class goes beyond the basics of head-hopping to dive deep into problems in perspective and POV. It goes past simple distinctions such as first versus third to dive into close third versus omniscient third versus limited…
$80 (Members: $72) | How to edit for goal-motivation-conflict | 4 lessons | Self-paced | Intermediate When it requires three cups of full-strength coffee to get past the first chapter of the novel manuscript you’re editing, you’re probably dealing with a story that lacks goal-motivation-conflict (GMC). Unlike in our personal lives, in fiction we need…
$90 (Members: $81) | How to start your editing business | 4 lessons | Self-paced | Intermediate This class helps new editors start and grow their editing business, whether copyediting, developmental editing, coaching, or some combination. Each lesson includes information on topics such as: finding your purpose identifying your potential clients conducting a personal skills…
$400 (Members: $360) | How to edit for character development | 4 lessons | With Instructor Feedback | Intermediate On-demand course schedule must be arranged with the instructor as soon as possible after enrollment. In a well-written novel, the characters – especially the main character – will seem like real people who engage the reader’s…
$400 (Members: $360) | How to edit for plot and story structure | 4 lessons | With Instructor Feedback | Intermediate On-demand course schedule must be arranged with the instructor as soon as possible after enrollment. Plot and story structure (also called narrative structure) are the big-picture elements of storytelling that we might call “what…
$400 (Members: $360) | How to edit for world-building and setting | 4 lessons | With Instructor Feedback | Intermediate On-demand course schedule must be arranged with the instructor as soon as possible after enrollment. Though writers and editors have borrowed the term “world-building” from the science fiction and fantasy genres, creating a believable story…
$400 (Members: $360) | How to copyedit fiction | 4 lessons | With Instructor Feedback | Intermediate On-demand course schedule must be arranged with the instructor as soon as possible after enrollment. This class picks up where Beginning Copyediting for Fiction leaves off. It assumes you know the basics of using The Chicago Manual of…
$400 (Members: $360) | How to perform book doctoring and ghostwriting | 4 lessons | With Instructor Feedback | Intermediate On-demand course schedule must be arranged with the instructor as soon as possible after enrollment. This class shows you the basics of book doctoring, coauthoring, and ghostwriting, which go beyond editing to actually writing and/or…
$400 (Members: $360) | How to coach writers | 4 lessons | With Instructor Feedback | Intermediate On-demand course schedule must be arranged with the instructor as soon as possible after enrollment. This class is designed to help you get started in offering coaching as a service to writers. Coaching can be a lucrative addition…
$400 (Members: $360) | How to create and sell classes and information products | 4 lessons | With Instructor Feedback | Intermediate On-demand course schedule must be arranged with the instructor as soon as possible after enrollment. This class will introduce you to a whole new set of money-making opportunities! I’m not going to pretend…
$400 (Member price: $360) | How to land indie author clients | 4 lessons | With Instructor Feedback | Intermediate On-demand course schedule must be arranged with the instructor as soon as possible after enrollment. If you’re looking to build a sustainable freelance editing business, this class is for you! I’ve designed it for editors…
$00 (Members: $360) | How to get work from publisher clients | 4 lessons | With Instructor Feedback | Intermediate On-demand course schedule must be arranged with the instructor as soon as possible after enrollment. This popular class is meant for editors with some experience who would like to branch out from working primarily with…
$300 (Member price: $270) | How to edit narrative nonfiction | 12 weeks | Instructor-led | Intermediate In this class, we’ll read four published works of narrative nonfiction that take different approaches to storytelling. Written lessons will describe what to consider when editing narrative nonfiction, and we’ll discuss the lessons and the novels in the…
$300 (Members: $270) | How to coach writers | 4 weeks | Instructor-led | Intermediate This class is designed to help you get started in offering coaching as a service to writers. Coaching can be a lucrative addition to your menu of services and can be a great way to help writers who are not…
$300 (Members: $270) | How to edit for character development | 4 weeks | Instructor-led | Intermediate In a well-written novel, the characters – especially the main character – will seem like real people who engage the reader’s attention if not the reader’s empathy. Authors often need our help in figuring out what to do…
$300 (Members: $270) | How to perform book doctoring and ghostwriting | 4 weeks | Instructor-led | Intermediate This class shows you the basics of book doctoring, coauthoring, and ghostwriting, which go beyond editing to actually writing and/or rewriting an author’s work. Though much of the available work is in nonfiction, there are opportunities for…
$300 (Members: $270) | How to become a developmental editor | 4 weeks | Instructor-led | Intermediate In this class, we’ll cover the more in-depth concerns of developmental editing, diving deeper into issues like perspective and subtext. We’ll cover issues that crop up often: intensive developmental editing, editing more experienced authors who need guidance to…
$300 (Members: $270) | How to edit for plot and story structure | 4 weeks | Instructor-led | Intermediate Plot and story structure (also called narrative structure) are the big-picture elements of storytelling that we might call “what happens” and “the framework within which the plot (what happens) is shown.” Authors (and editors!) sometimes think…
$300 (Members: $270) | How to create and sell classes and information products | 4 weeks | Instructor-led | Intermediate This class will introduce you to a whole new set of money-making opportunities! I’m not going to pretend that there’s any such thing as “passive income” unless you’re super-rich and can live off the interest…
$300 (Members: $270) | How to edit for world-building and setting | 4 weeks | Instructor-led | Intermediate Though writers and editors have borrowed the term “world-building” from the science fiction and fantasy genres, creating a believable story world is important for any author writing fiction in any genre. This class shows how developmental editors…