Philosophy & Purpose

💡I believe all people are creative, and that some people express their creativity through words.
🤝🏼 I am here to take care of the language details and help clarify your message so you can focus on expressing yourself.

💡I believe your creative process is unique and important.
🤝🏼 I am here to support your process without boxing you into arbitrary expectations.

💡I believe that small word counts need the same love and attention that are given to full-length manuscripts.
🤝🏼 I am here to serve bloggers, Substack writers, serial fiction publishers, hobby writers who want to be professional, and indie authors who work in one- or two-chapter spurts.

🤖 I currently do not use any AI tools to edit and only accept work that has not been generated by AI.

I am open to proofreading nonfiction articles and short fiction pieces that are “clean” and free of sexually explicit scenes, foul language, glorified racism or sexism, abuse of any kind, or depictions of harm to children.

Email me at literarycottagecoach (at) gmail (dot) com, if you are unsure if I am open to working with your content.

Financial Investment

(Copy editing services coming soon!)

Proofread of up to 2,000 words = $25
Proofread of up to 4,000 words = $50, etc.

Refunds

Because of the nature of small word counts, I am not offering refunds at this time. If I get a submission that I don’t feel comfortable editing for content reasons, I will issue a refund.

If you are concerned about sending me a larger work, I suggest first sending me a piece for a free sample (see below) or booking a one-thousand word piece to start. The investment is smaller and will give you a good idea of my work.

Scheduling Hours

As of now, my available work hours are filled on a first-come first-served basis. You may book as many hour slots as you need, but you have to book one hour at a time.

The last day you schedule editing hours becomes my “deadline” and is the day you can expect to receive your edits back.

After you schedule, I will send you an invoice that must be paid one working day before the deadline.

You must share your Google Doc or send your file to me ONE WEEK before my deadline day. Send it to literarycottagecoach@gmail.com.

Document Types

My preferred document type for proofreading is Google Docs (see this page for tips on using Google Docs).

I will also accept .docx files and PDFs. Marks made on PDFs must be manually entered into the original document by the author, so please keep that in mind.

I am open to experimenting with proofreading in the Substack editor if there is interest.

What I Do & Don’t Do—Description of Services

Proofreading is the last scouring of a piece of writing before publishing. This involves checking for typos, punctuation, repeated or missing words, consistency in font sizes, etc.

Copy editing (coming soon!) is done on a piece of writing that has completed developmental revisions. This involves checking for dangling modifiers, word usage, parallelism, consistent verb tense, subject-verb agreement, and other grammatical nuances that are necessary for communicating your story or message clearly.

I do not

• do any formatting (although I may suggest different paragraph breaks)
• re-write your work or offer copy writing
• look for plot holes, watch for character arcs or plot arcs in fiction
• delete or add content
• change the order of content
• write hooks or prompts
• do any fact-checking
• check consistently for verb tense (although I will note it if I see it change)

My reference manuals for editing are The Chicago Manual of Style, 18th ed. and Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary, 12th ed. (I can also reference The Associated Press Stylebook upon request, though I am not as familiar with it.)

My Education & Qualifications

I have a copy editing certification from Writer’s Digest University.

I have a proofreading certification from Proofread Anywhere.

I am always a student of grammar: I read several grammar books a year—just for fun.

I have a bachelor’s in Music Education, have taught piano lessons for twenty years, and have taught music classes for preschool to adult students over the last twelve years. If you have any content relating to music, I am specifically qualified to check the accuracy of that content.

(I recently read in a popular middle grade series involving music—this book was published in 2025—that a flute player was the leader of a brass section. Please don’t publish that mistake. Thank you.)

Free Option

If you are not ready to pay for services yet, I still have an offer for you if you are a subscriber to my Substack!

Subscribers can submit their work for a sample edit. I may use submissions from subscribers as examples on my edit-with-me posts.