"I would recommend Barbara Sjoholm's editing clinic to any writer at any stage in his or her career. I was very pleased with the insightful, thorough critiques I received on a how-to writing text and an adventure novel. The quality of the development editing was high and the price was very low—a great combination."

Since 2004 the Author-Editor Clinic has been helping authors revise, clarify, expand, trim, and improve their manuscripts. We do this in the context of six-week editorial sessions offered twice a year in the fall and spring, and through our on-going manuscript review service.

Manuscript Sessions
Each session matches an editor with an author. The editor will read your manuscript twice, making thorough notes. We may have questions for you that can be answered via email correspondence. You'll receive at least 20 hours of reading and structural editing, culminating in an editorial letter of 8–15 single-spaced pages.

If your project is fiction, we'll focus on theme, plot, character, dialog, and narrative strategies. We accept genre manuscripts, such as mysteries, science fiction, and romance, and can help with pacing and development. We accept young adult books and can look at issues of audience and age-appropriate language. We accept many forms of nonfiction projects, from self-help and instructional books to biography, history, and travel. We also have worked with many authors on memoirs and essay collections. In short, the only forms we're not able to edit in the Clinic are poetry collections and books for very young children.

Since we focus primarily on structural issues and "big-picture" editing, we don't do copyediting—that is, check your facts or your spelling. However, we're interested in helping you improve your writing skills and will sometimes make suggestions regarding general grammar and language problems.

Each session we look for book-length projects, completed or near completion, no more than 350 pages (12 pt type) or around 85,000 words. If your manuscript is over this word limit, please contact us to discuss, or think about trimming it down for the session. The fee is $500. We will need your check and two copies of the manuscript approximately three weeks before the Clinic session begins. As there is increasing demand for this service and we must be selective in what we choose to work on, please feel free to contact the session manager in advance of the deadline.

Manuscript Review Service
This service goes on all year round. Although you will work with one editor, outside a Clinic session, several things are similar to the Clinic manuscript sessions described above. Your editor will read and make thorough notes on your book, ask some questions, and write you a long editorial critique letter of at least 12 single-spaced pages. You will receive your critique within one month after your manuscript has been received by your editor.

In this service we also focus on structural issues and select manuscripts that meet our criteria of being complete or nearly complete. We can accept somewhat longer manuscripts with this service, however: up to 120,000 words. The Clinic works with a group of editors who have participated in manuscript sessions and have freelance editing businesses; all are listed on our referral page. Because of the nature of the service, we will assign you to an editor and are not able to guarantee any particular editor.

Please contact us regarding the one-time fee for the comprehensive manuscript review.

Practical Details
Upcoming Author-Editor Clinic manuscript sessions include the following:

Spring 2009 Clinic: March 19 – May 1, 2009
Application Deadline: February 16, 2009
Cost: $500

If you'd like your manuscript to be considered for the spring session or for the manuscript review service, please submit the following by email attachment to the Clinic session manager, Kyra Freestar, by the application deadline (if for the manuscript session).

• 10 sample pages of your work (single-sided, double-spaced).
• A one-page description of your project, detailing the total number of pages, whether the manuscript is complete or in-progress, and a brief summary of your book's genre/purpose/plotline.
• A brief biographical note with information about your writing and publishing experience.
• A letter with as much information as you'd like to give us about your specific editorial queries.

We'll review prospective projects and make our final selections for the spring session within ten days after the deadline. If your manuscript is chosen for the Clinic, we'll require two double-spaced hard copies, sent through the mail. You'll also receive an agreement to sign and return with your payment.