There are many reasons to choose professional editing. Maybe you’ve spent so long on your work that it’s hard to judge it clearly, or you want the extra security of someone taking a fresh look to help you understand where and how to improve. 

Maybe you just need someone to proofread and catch any pesky grammatical or spelling errors, or perhaps you have a deadline and would like to outsource the revisions or proofreading while you work on other things. 

Whatever you want to gain from the editing process, Magpie can help. Check out What Is Editing? to learn about the different options available, and see our Services for more.

This will vary according to the type of work requested, and how long it will take. 

As a rough guide, our copy editing package – a single pass on your manuscript, to proofread for typos, consistency, and grammatical errors – starts as low as £4/1000 words ($5 USD), and complex developmental editing – which includes up to 3 passes to examine story, character, plot, tone, and style, along with grammar, spelling, and sentence structure – is £10/1000 words ($12 USD). 

Magpie offers discounts for students, charitable or non-profit clients, authors with disabilities or who are on low or fixed incomes, and there are also discounts available for full novels and books in a series, or repeat clients.

So, let’s say Sam – who has a valid student ID – sends us their 75,000 word novel for proofreading. They would be billed at £300, standard rate. We could then apply a 10% discount for a full-length work, plus a 15% discount for students, giving Sam a total of 25%, or £75, off the cost of their proofread.

We understand that individual circumstances vary. To discuss your needs, finding a package that fits you, and payment plans, please get in touch.

Very possibly, or at least heavily discounted. Please get in touch to discuss your project. You will need to provide some evidence of your charity’s existence and background, but if at all possible we would love to help.

Uh… not exactly, no.

We can correct grammatical and spelling errors, typos, and other mistakes, and we can offer critique and suggest ways you can improve your work, but editing does not mean rewriting it for you, and it is not a guarantee of perfection, or of publication.

We have no control over that. Magpie Literary Services is not a literary agent or publisher. We will not publish or represent your work, and we can offer no guarantee that using a professional editing service will result in the publication of your work. 

Submitting a properly edited manuscript that is the best you can make it certainly won’t hurt your chances of publication, but we can make no guarantees.  

At this time, no. However, if you have content that already has been translated, and you would like it edited by a native English speaker to improve flow and readability, we can do that. 

Yes, absolutely. Romance, erotica, horror, and mature stories are all welcome, including works with graphic content, though we reserve the right to decline projects that involve illegal, defamatory, or hateful content. 

No underage sexuality, pedophilia, zoophilia, necrophilia, or rape as titillation (excepting CNC when properly framed), no work promoting or glorifying racism, colorism, anti-semitism, transphobia, homophobia, ableism, fascism, or nationalism will be accepted. 

We also heavily encourage clients to use enthusiastic consent in sexual scenes, and will usually offer critique notes aimed at minimizing sexism, classism, racism and exoticism, or other unconscious biases. We believe that, while inclusivity concerns should not stifle your voice, fiction should be as inclusive as possible for everyone. 

To some extent. We aim to provide feedback on minimizing bias and unconscious sexism, racism, ableism or homo/transphobia in all our editing packages, but as our staff is very small we don’t currently have a wide pool of editors who can fulfill many specific sensitivity reading roles. 

If you have a specific concern you would like focused on in your project, please get in touch to discuss your requirements.

Yes! At least one of our full-time editors is a published poet, specialising mostly in free verse. 

Yes we do, though this isn’t our primary area. Our editors are more experienced with adult and new adult fiction, especially in terms of critique. 

We can proofread for accuracy of grammar and intelligibility, but in most cases we will not be equipped to verify the accuracy of data, or offer critical feedback. 

In some circumstances, fact checking and desk research may be a negotiated part of your editing package, but will not be automatically included. 

We can offer basic to moderate fact checking in certain genres (e.g. historical fiction) but less so with regard to hard sciences. 

Please ask for further information if you require fact checking as part of your edits, as each situation will differ.