FAQ

From start to finish, everything exchanged between us and our clients is confidential. That includes emails, phone discussions, and any documents used in the conduct of business. You can even request a formal non-disclosure agreement if desired. Beyond privacy is the concern of copyright. Lots of writers, especially new writers, are confused and concerned about how copyright works. As one of our creative writing professors was fond of saying, "If you scribbled it on a paper napkin, it's protected by copyright." And that's the truth. Anything you write down is protected from plagiarism/theft by law. Yes, there is a formal copyright process, but folks don't typically need that unless they're formally publishing their work. Now, ideas are different from written words. If you wrote a teenage vampire love story, someone else can read it and decide to write their own teenage vampire love story (For example, Twilight and the slew of teen vampire romances that followed). There's no law that prevents someone being inspired by your work, just from stealing your work itself.

Non-Disclosure Agreement
Terms and Conditions
Sample Editing Agreement

The short answer is "it depends." It largely depends on which service(s) you're wanting, as well as what our schedule looks like at that particular time. Regardless, we always set a timeline that works for our clients before starting work. If we can't feasibly meet your requested deadline, then we simply won't take on your project since we can't meet your need.

The writing world is certainly a subjective one. We understand you might not agree with or even like all of our edits, and that's okay. Keep in mind that you aren't hiring us to tell you your writing is perfect. You hire us to tell you how we feel your work could be improved, and we provide our educated opinions to that end. With that being said, we have open communication with our clients throughout the editing process, including a status check at the halfway point for longer edits to give them the highlights of our edit so far and address any questions or concerns they might have. On the off chance we get all the way through a long edit and you're truly dissatisfied, let us know. We're not happy until you're happy.

If you're a serious writer wanting a quality edit, it will certainly cost a bit of money. Good editing won't be cheap, but it can be affordable, and we're proof of that. However, if you have a book you need edited but just can't swing the cost right now, consider getting a free sample edit from us. We'll edit your first 1,000 words absolutely free of charge. Perhaps that will serve as a good starting point for you to think about how you might edit your work yourself until you can afford a professional editor. Additionally, our foundational edit service is quite affordable even for those on a tight budget, and it will provide you with tons of insight about your manuscript overall and where you might focus your rewriting efforts. We also offer numerous resources for free that will help you as you write, such as our blog.

We wish we had that superpower, but truly, nobody does. You can look up what's trending in the market currently, but we don't put too much worth on that information. At the end of the day, your best bet to write a best-selling book is to write well, regardless of your chosen genre or subject matter. We can help you with that.

The answer to that depends on your writing goal. Is your goal to self-publish or seek traditional publishing for your work? Then yes, you absolutely should have your work professionally edited. Is your goal to have a finished book that's just for you and maybe your family and friends to enjoy? Then perhaps it's sufficient to edit your work yourself objectively after taking a step back from it for a period of time. Hiring an editor probably isn't necessary for hobbyists, but for those looking to be read widely, an editor is essential. All that said, even though casual writers may not need a full edit from a professional, everyone would benefit from a professional proofread to make their manuscript readable in the most basic sense.

We follow the Chicago Manual of Style and Merriam-Webster’s dictionary. However, we also maintain our own house style guide for those pesky things that we disagree with Chicago Manual on or that Chicago Manual just doesn’t cover. As a side note, we also create style guides for our clients as part of our line editing process so that they can keep track of their own stylistic choices that either break from the norm or aren't clearly defined by the Chicago Manual.

When working with a client, we seek to identify and protect their unique voice, coming alongside them to make their work the best it can possibly be, while also encouraging their overall growth as a writer. We don’t tell our clients, “this doesn’t work, change it” without telling them why  they should consider changing it. Our services are offered at affordable rates because a quality edit is important but so is fiscal responsibility. We seek to create long-lasting relationships with our clients, sharing their passion for their work and seeing them succeed.

We edit fiction and nonfiction of all lengths. From flash fiction to full-length novels, we’ve got you covered. We edit nearly any genre except for select topics, such as erotica, violent horror, and journeys of sexual discovery, that are outside of our scope as readers. For fiction, we’re particularly interested in fantasy, sci-fi, and literary fiction, and any crossovers therein, and we have a soft spot for these genres when they’re tackled by Christian authors who want to show Christ in their writing without being overt. For nonfiction, we love memoir, particularly memoir written in scene.

At this time, we DON’T edit:
Poems or poetry collections
Academic essays
Technical documents (procedures, manuals, etc.)
Grant proposals

You can read our privacy policy here. If you would like additional information about what information we collect and how we use it, feel free to email us at embersigniting at gmail dot com.

There are several reasons we may not take on a project. Sometimes a project isn’t a good fit for any of our editors because it’s outside of our scope as readers. Other times, if it seems that the manuscript isn’t ready for editing yet (either due to being a very rough draft or the writer’s voice being unclear to us), we can’t in good conscience accept the project for editing because editing is a substantial fiscal investment for the author. In other words, if we don’t think an edit would benefit your project in its current state enough to justify the expense on your part, we won’t take it on. But we absolutely want you to succeed, so we’ll always offer feedback as to why that's the case and provide some tips to consider so that the story can continue to be developed until it's ready to begin professional editing.