Volunteer Editor Required

[VVVEsuvius]

Hi -

I have written a story about a the wild sex life of a mysterious woman - the material covers masturbation, FF, MFM, voyeurism, BDSM and more.

The chapters range in length from 800 words to 3000 plus - there are 11 chapters in total. I estimate the entire body of work is less than 20,000 words.

I am looking for a experienced volunteer editor to give the stories a second look over. I am happy with them at this stage but I want to get an opinion from an outsider.

We could start with editing a couple of chapters, which I will release as a teaser to the novel, and then if it sells, I would be happy to discuss payment for editing services.

Please do get in touch.

Many thanks in advance,

Vesa

 

[sr71plt]

Tilt. The services offered here are for free-read stories on Literotica only. It sounds like you are asking for someone from here to edit for a profit release elsewhere.

And news flash also, editors usually get paid up front when they are working for pay, not on a contingency of the work being profitable. The editing is considered part of the production costs, all paid for up front.

 

[VVVEsuvius]

Thanks for the reply.

You will have to forgive me - I am new to this forum.

What does Tilt mean?

Also, I am looking for guidance and editing on a story that I may publish - if it is well received on this forum.

Newsflash? Really - you misunderstand what I writing. I cannot pay anyone up front, which is why I am looking for a volunteer. But maybe you are right, I need a professional.

Have a wonderful day.

 

[sr71plt]

"Tilt" means something like "hold on, something is out of kilter [not straight up] here."

We don't post texts of stories on the forum, so I'm assuming you mean you might have a story that needs edited to be put in the Literotica story file. That's the only editing that goes on here by volunteers, and it would be legitimate help to ask for here.

Beyond that, we're not in synch yet. You posted you wanted a volunteer editor (who you then said would be paid on contingency) to edit a for-profit work for the marketplace. That isn't legitimate to ask for here--especially for a volunteer editor. And it holds that you need to expect to pay for such an edit up front, not on a contingency basis. Editing is customarily part of the in-the-front production costs. If you do find someone to do it the way you want, congrats to you--and "you should have checked better; you're being bamboozled" to them.

 

[LadyVer]

Hi -

I have written a story about a the wild sex life of a mysterious woman - the material covers masturbation, FF, MFM, voyeurism, BDSM and more.

The chapters range in length from 800 words to 3000 plus - there are 11 chapters in total. I estimate the entire body of work is less than 20,000 words.

I am looking for a experienced volunteer editor to give the stories a second look over. I am happy with them at this stage but I want to get an opinion from an outsider.

We could start with editing a couple of chapters, which I will release as a teaser to the novel, and then if it sells, I would be happy to discuss payment for editing services.

Please do get in touch.

Many thanks in advance,

Vesa

FWIW, you may hear from some volunteer editors who are interested.

Many freelance editors usually work out a payment plan of half the fee upfront before starting a project, the other half at the completion of the project. And some editors are flexible and will negotiate with writers.

Good luck!

 

[sr71plt]

And now I'll turn to counsel VVV on this. VVV, if you're going to pay for an editor to prepare something for the marketplace, for your own good, ask for editorial credentials. You deserve someone who didn't just hang out a shingle and may know no more about editing then you do if you're going to pay for it and want it to be competitive in the marketplace. You need to be aware that there is no vetting of the abilities of Literotica volunteer editors.

 

[LadyVer]

And now I'll turn to counsel VVV on this. VVV, if you're going to pay for an editor to prepare something for the marketplace, for your own good, ask for editorial credentials. You deserve someone who didn't just hang out a shingle and may know no more about editing then you do if you're going to pay for it and want it to be competitive in the marketplace. You need to be aware that there is no vetting of the abilities of Literotica volunteer editors.

Good advice. Another thing that is helpful is to ask Lit volunteer editors for references from other Lit authors they've edited for.

 

[sr71plt]

Of course, eight times out of ten, VVV, Lit. authors who used a volunteer editor here have no index in the slightest what an acceptable edit is. If the volunteer editor is a dud, the author who isn't an editor him/herself won't stand much of a chance of knowing when his/her story has not been improved to an acceptable level or has been butchered. I see "finished" stories posted to Lit. frequently that thank a volunteer editor but are in really, really bad shape. Of course the problem there is that the author submits the story, so there's no telling whether the author took the editor's edits or not.

So, I don't think it would do you nearly as much good to consult with the authors the volunteer editor provides as a recommendation as it would be to check out the "editor's" credentials yourself (unless you have a degree in editing yourself, of course). Blind leading the blind and all that.

(Incidentally, LadyVer is correct on private edits sometimes being done on a 50/50 basis. 50 percent of the estimate up front and the rest after delivery. This shares the risk. This, however, isn't anything at all like a contingency payment on the basis of profit made. A fair copyedit rate in the market at the moment is $20/hour for a credentialed copyeditor working in your genre. And the standard rate of editing is 2,000 words/hour, which neatly works out to 50,000 words coming it at $500 for an edit. If the editor is really hungry, you might get it for less--probably not any lower than $15/hour, though. If it's a great deal more than that, you're being taken for a ride.)

Oh, and LadyVer is definitely one I'd double check the credentials for.

 

[LadyVer]

A good many Lit authors aren't new writers, have self-published, and use editors for some or all of their their projects, so they would be a resource.

I'm always open to discussing my background and my editing experience with writers who are looking for a freelance editor. I have never presented myself as something I'm not. I'm also not available to take on any new editing projects at the moment. I have three volunteer editing projects to finish, one possible upcoming freelance project, I'm working more hours, and I'm dealing with a possible return of cancer. Anyway, the categories the op wants edited aren't my preferred categories. I don't edit FF or masturbation (well minor masturbation is negotiable I forgot what the other categories were that the op mentioned.

 

[_Lynn_]

I found this:

Volunteer Editors volunteer their time and skills helping authors with editing issues which may include spelling, grammar, word usage, character development, plot development and the like. Volunteer editing normally occurs before an author submits a new story to be posted on the site, but also may occur when an author re-works a story which has already been approved and posted, but which the author wishes to improve.

 

[sr71plt]

That isn't any less a possibility of the blind leading the blind than what you suggested before, LadyVer (referring to her last post).

Tell, you what, VVV. If you do engage a VE from here to pay to edit anything, ask them to sample edit 3,000 words of your work first. Send me a separate identical 3,000-word slice (you could PM me--the message system at the top right of this page) and I'll do an edit as well--for free. I won't have seen the other edit and I won't need to know who the VE is--and you, yourself, could compare the two versions to get some sort of idea of more than one edit of it. It then could be completely up to you whether it looked like the VE you would be paying would be worth it. You won't know my credentials either, although you could check with the moderators of this forum, who do know my credentials--and can at least verify that I have professional editing credentials. But that wouldn't matter so much, you should be able to get an impression of what is what from seeing two separately edited versions.

Because, VVV, there is no assurance that any VE here knows anything more about what to do to make your copy publishable than you already do. "Volunteer" here means no vetting whatsoever. No guarantee of anything but another set of eyes looking at it (which is better than nothing, certainly--but their view of what to do with anything in your work could be full of hooey.)

But, certainly, you might happen to stumble on one who is worth paying for. I'm sure there are a few of those editing here.

The bottom line is that this forum was never intended to provide a shopping mart for edits outside Literotica. This is not a pool of folks vetted with editorial credentials.

 

[LadyVer]

I read about a writer recently who was looking for an editor. She got 15 names of editors from the Editorial Freelancers Association's website and 10 names from writer recommendations. She sent each of the editors an email requesting their rates and availability for editing her novel, along with a request to sample edit part of her story she had attached to the email. All 25 editors responded and returned the edited sample. She picked the only editor who offered story suggestions that none of the others took the time to do. I assume she'll write about how it turns out in an upcoming blog.