Prices

Not sure which service you need? Reach out to us and ask for help! Fill out our form or email us at hello@saltandsagebooks.com.

Check out our introductory courses and guides!

• Free consults for the first 1,000 words are offered for anything above 10,000 words.
• All consults will be charged a minimum of $240/service.
• All edits will take a minimum of 4 weeks.
• Rush edits are available on a case-by-case basis for an additional fee. (There is a 10 day minimum for rush edits over 100k words.)

FAQ:

• Invoices are sent through Stripe; PayPal is also available.
• We offer payment plans, just ask!
• Please send all of your documents in .docx or Google Docs, 12 pt Times New Roman, 1" margins.
• If your piece is longer than 130,000 words, it will be split into two separate bookings to facilitate editorial turnaround.

Developmental Edits | Proofreading & Line | Sensitivity & Expert | Beta Reads | Children’s Books | Self Publishing | Screenwriting | Other Edits | Book Coaches

To honor the emotional labor required for a sensitivity read, pricing begins at $240.

• From $0.024c (or $240 per 10,000 words). This is for a single pass and one round of follow-up questions.
• Sensitivity reads help when you are writing outside of your expertise or lived experience, want an informed take, or want to write more authentically.
• This service is available for all sorts: outlines, story ideas, blurbs, pitches, character sketches, illustrations, sketches, poetry, marketing, academic writing, video games, world-building, TTRPG classes, finished manuscripts, etc.
• Tell us exactly what sort of feedback you need from a specific reader. We can help!

Cultural Consultation: $240.

Book a trio of questions & answers with one of our editors! Send 3 rounds of questions via email or book a one-hour video call. $240 flat rate for either.

Editorial Sensitivity Read (light developmental edit + sensitivity read): prices from $490.

• From $0.049c (or $490 per 10,000 words). This is for a single pass of a light dev edit + sensitivity read and one round of follow-up questions.*

• Purchase an editorial sensitivity read when you want to have a highly qualified editor read for story and sensitivity.

• This is also a highly customizable edit where the client can specify exactly the sort of feedback they need from a specific reader.

  *If you would like to combine a sensitivity read with a different edit, please reach out for a quote.

If these prices are out of your current budget, please remember that we do offer payment plans. You can also check out our Incomplete Guides for a starter guide to writing inclusively and our courses for more in-depth conversations.

We use the Chicago Manual of Style.

• Line editing (no style sheet) beginning at $300.

  • From $0.03c/word (or $300 per 10,000 words)

  • For when you’re confident in your novel’s plot and structure, and are ready to make it flow.

  • Add a deluxe style guide for an extra $100 per 10,000 words (0.04c/word)

  • Word choice and usage, repetition, sentence flow, paragraph/sentence length, some fact checking*, etc.

    • *For in-depth fact checking, see our Sensitivity and Expert Readers.

  • If you’re looking to smooth out your prose or tighten your word count, you want a line edit.

• Proofreading aka “Copy Edit”

  • From 0.025c/word (or $250 per 10,000 words)
  • Get a proofread when you’re happy with your novel’s structure and flow. One of the last steps before publication.
  • An edit of punctuation, spelling, capitalization, verb tenses, and grammar.
  • If you’re looking to clean up your already-shiny words with some just-right grammar, you want a proofread.
  • Please note that this is not the same as a line edit.

If you would like to combine your line edit and proofread, please make a note in your consultation request that you would like a copyedit. (Priced at 0.055 c/word or $550 per 10,000 words.)

• Translation Check

  • From $0.025c/word (or $250 per 10,000 words)
  • Available languages: French, Spanish, and Brazilian Portuguese.

Developmental edits are the first step in any publishing endeavor. Make sure your piece works as hard as you do!

We have a sliding scale of depth available here so you can get the feedback you need at the price that works for you.

• Reader Report

  • From 0.0125c/word (or $125 per 10,000 words)
  • This edit is perfect for writers who want to know what works and what needs work.
  • Author gets back an editor’s letter.
  • If your writing is an ocean, this is a glass-bottomed boat.

• Light Developmental edit

  • From 0.025c/word (or $250 per 10,000 words).
  • This highly customizable edit focuses on five essential keys of storytelling and writing (world building, plot holes, pacing, character arcs, and emotional authenticity & resonance).
  • Author receives in-text comments plus an editor’s letter.
  • If your writing is an ocean, this is snorkeling.

• Deep Developmental edit

  • From 0.05c/word (or $500 per 10,000 words).
  • This deep edit is a deep dive into your manuscript. We focus on eight critical areas that will make your storytelling and writing glow like a bioluminescent squid.
  • Author gets back many in-text comments plus a detailed editor’s letter.
  • If your writing is an ocean, this is the scuba dive.

• Deluxe Developmental edit

  • From 0.1c/word or $1,000 per 10,000 words).

  • This deluxe developmental edit is the most intense edit we offer. We pair you with one of our most experienced, highest-level editors. We focus on the eight critical areas, but go deeper than even the deep developmental edit.

  • This is great for authors who want to have more of a 1:1 relationship with their editor for a single project. (For long-term or ongoing relationships, ask us about book coaches!)

  • You get back deep in-text comments plus an extremely detailed editor’s letter; you then also choose 3 options from several follow-up options in an à la carte manner (i.e. you can choose 3 video calls if you like, or 1 of each):

    • 30-minute video chat
    • Follow-up passes of sections (up to 10,000 words per)
    • Clarifying questions in an email format

  • This also includes one 30-minute “emergency” video chat–if you have urgent questions, your editor is available for them!

  • If your writing is an ocean, this is the Challenger Deep.

  • Limited slots available; please book in advance.

• Query edit

  • Have a querying expert go over your query three times until it’s perfect! $240 flat fee.

• First chapter edit

  • Before you send your query out, make sure that your first chapter is extra shiny.
  • Can be a developmental edit, a line edit, or a proofread; please indicate which you would prefer.
  • From $240 up to 4,000 words.

• Blurb edit

  • If you’re self-publishing, you know one of the most important things you can do for your book is to have a well-written and engaging blurb. Get a set of professional eyes on it! We’ll go back and forth three times until your blurb is the shiniest on the block.
  • $240 flat fee.

We recommend that you hire sensitivity readers for your visual projects at the pencil stage.

Illustrations are charged at $25/page with a minimum fee of $250. This includes a detailed editor’s letter.

Video game play-throughs are charged an hourly rate of $240 with a minimum fee of $240 that increases in 10-minute increments. This includes a post-viewing editor’s letter.

For an individualized quote, please contact hello@saltandsagebooks.com for your video game projects.

All editor’s letters addresses visuals, dialogue, and explain historical/situational context. Individualizations available upon request.

• From $0.00625/word (or $62.50 per 10,000 words)
• A great final step in any publishing endeavor to make sure that your piece is meeting your audience’s genre expectations.
• Author receives an editor’s letter with general impressions of the project and feedback on genre accuracy.

All edits include half-hour and hour-long TV, and feature film lengths.

Work with the incredibly talented Al Ross to get your screenwriting red-carpet ready!

Light Edit

• $4/page ($40 / 10 pages)

Medium Edit

• $7/page ($70 / 10 pages)

Deluxe Edit

• $13/page ($130 / 10 pages)

Pitch Pack Edit: Flat rate $300

• We offer support for graphic novels, comics, RPGs, TTRPGs, and cook books!
• We work with all sorts of nonfiction projects, including essays (high school, college, admissions, etc.), Works Cited pages and MLA citations, contracts, professional letters, procurements, quotes, technical editing, science fact-checking, field guides, etc.

If it has words, we probably have someone who can help. Ask! We don’t bite.