#author services

I run a beta reading service dedicated to helping authors refine and improve their manuscripts before publication.

I provide detailed feedback on both fiction and non-fiction works, focusing on clarity, structure, and reader experience.

Services include:

Plot and structure analysis (fiction)

Argument clarity and flow (non-fiction)

Character and content development

Pacing and readability

General reader feedback and suggestions for improvement

I work with manuscripts at various stages, from early drafts to near-final versions. Feedback is clear, honest, and aimed at helping strengthen your work while preserving your voice.

The time has come for a shameless plug--I promise I’ll keep it short.

For the past eight years I’ve helped authors with every step of the writing process, from outline critique to final polish, and I’m always on the lookout for new clients. I’ve mostly worked with romance, but I love speculative fiction, too. I can also sensitivity-read for books involving queer characters.

Has your manuscript been edited? Want to know how it will be received by the readers? I offer my opinions as a reader and give creative input to better your story! Order now for a base price of $1/1000 words and receive a discount for your next story or revision. Slots are currently open.

by Boni Wagner-Stafford from the Self Publishing Advice Center of ALLI (Alliance of Independent Authors)

In response to a continuing misapprehension in certain quarters that paying for author services means a self-published author is vanity published, Boni Wagner-Stafford  of Ingenium Books makes the case for effective deployment of paid services as essential for serious authorpreneurs and explains why it’s not a black and white situation.

I participate in a number of indie author forums on Facebook. In some I’m a lurker, in others I will poke my digital head up once in awhile if I feel I have something to learn, or less often, to contribute. Recently someone posted a question (no, not on the ALLi page) ‘on behalf of a friend’ who had just been offered a ‘publishing contract’ and would need to pay a sum on

Recently someone posted a question (no, not on the ALLi page) ‘on behalf of a friend’ who had just been offered a ‘publishing contract’ and would need to pay a sum on execution of said contract. The question was, “Should he do it?”

It wasn’t clear but I assumed the contract in question was for assisted self-publishing. The comments, nearly one hundred of them, raged on about whether an indie author should EVER pay ANY money related to the publishing of his/her book.

All comments except mine were a resounding ‘no’.

Let me explain.

Why My Advice Went Against the Flow

Full disclosure: I’ve just launched a hybrid/indie publishing company called Ingenium Books. We help non-fiction self-publishing indie authors centralize all those little and not-so-little tasks every indie author needs help with:

ghostwriting

a range of editing services

proofreading

cover design

formatting

liaison with distributors

Our contracts are clear that authors retain copyright, worldwide distribution rights, and full control. We are paid for our services, yes, but not by taking a cut of royalties. I bristle at the suggestion we are a vanity publisher.

Many commenters on this Facebook trail reiterated the tenet of Yog’s law, coined by James D Macdonald, that “money should flow to the author”. Who can argue with that? Many of us feed, clothe and house our families on the backs of our writing and publishing pursuits. Having money flow to the author ensures our families don’t starve.

What I disagree with is taking Yog’s law at face value and adopting a black and white view that the self-published author should never pay for anything. There’s a veritable rainbow on the spectrum between black and white.

McDonald himself admits that when you’re talking about self-publishing, staying true to Yog’s Law requires an attitude sleight-of-hand:

When you write, you’re the author and money flows to you.

When you begin to engage in the publisher’s activity of editing, proofreading, cover design and formatting, etcetera, you don the proverbial publisher’s hat and pay for the services needed to ensure a professional product with the best possible chances of selling.

With these two hats, you can stay true to dear old Yog. However, you know and I know that hat is sitting on the same sun-bleached grey-blonde head.

So, I do paid proofreading! I figured I’d do a period reminder of my rates and policies.

First of all, this is proofreading and very light copy editing. I’m not going to fix your story or rewrite half of your article.

Second of all, I do have some content policies. That is to say, there are a few things I won’t proofread. I will generally proofread most fiction and non-fiction.

I will proofread most erotica. A lot of proofreaders won’t do smut. I will, and this includes BDSM, same sex, consentacles, xenophilia, etc.

I will not proofread erotica that involves: Children/underage characters, bestiality involving actual animals (werewolves getting it on while shifted or fur fetish is fine), violent/graphic rape as opposed to rape fantasy or snuff.

I will not proofread fan fiction for legal reasons.

However, if your fic only contains characters in the public domain (e.g., Holmes) or myth versions of deities (e.g., Loki as long as you don’t describe him as looking exactly like Tom Hiddleston), then I will absolutely do it.

I will not proofread fiction that involves real living people who have not given their consent. E.g., if you’re shipping actors I don’t even want to know. Same goes for the recently-deceased. Shooting Hitler is fine, so is having Shakespeare be your world’s evil god (I’m not making that one up - excellent comic by the name of Kill Shakespeare).

I will proofread technical material, and I am particularly qualified for biology and medical articles - I worked for the NIH for a while and one of my duties was proofreading a nobel laureate’s papers. Also, if your material is highly technical I may ask for a higher rate.

I will not proofread your college papers unless you have an email from your professor saying using a paid proofreading service is okay. (Generally, English professors are likely to say no, science/engineering profs might be fine with it).

I will not proofread material that promotes illegal activity.

I will proofread material that promotes making an activity legal.

In other words, I will proofread your piece on why marijuana being illegal is stupid, racist, whatever. But not your piece on how to hide your grow op.

Finally, no hate speech aimed at any group, no PUA materials (I got tricked into that once and one shower was not enough), no pro-fascist material or material which promotes a Communist revolution or similar (as opposed to socialist ideals, which I’m okay with, or sane conservatism), no fake reviews.

I have no work right now, so I can turn things around very quickly indeed. I can potentially do same day, especially on small pieces. To help me out, if your piece has jargon terms, constructed language or names which would be unusual to an English speaker, I do ask that you provide a list of the correct spellings. This includes English names like Tiffany/Tiffanie/Tiffyny, or Britney etc that have lots of different spellings as well as, you know, Asian names, invented fantasy names, aliens, etc. Please. It saves me a lot of time and helps you not get it back with somebody’s name corrected to the wrong spelling ;).