Dianne Pearce's Blog, page 4

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New Post Up at Authors Electric

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Affordable Book Editing: Transform Your Manuscript

Have you thought about having an edit on your writing project? You can have it on a full book, or a short story/memoir, or even a poem.

What’s the benefit?

A second pair of eyes. A dialogue with an experienced editor who is focused on your work, and what you want your work to achieve. One-on-one interaction. A live Zoom discussion. And lots more!

What’s an edit look like?

Kinda like this, though every book is different:

crisp clear notes to show you why I am suggesting what I am suggesting, and collaboration that suits you.

How much does an edit cost?

As a member of ACES and the EFA, I edit based on the standard scale. That means I charge a per-word fee. This is because words can be cut during editing, and words can be added, but the price is based on the original word count. Some editors charge an hourly fee, but I don’t do that, because what if I read much faster than another editor? The other editor is going to present you with a much higher bill, and you’re going to pay for that person’s lack of experience and speed. Word count is much fairer to you, the author. The EFA recommends three to four cents/word, and I charge three cents. For that three cents I will do a combined edit: developmental, line/copy, and proofreading. I’m a registered business in Los Angeles, California, and I give you a contract, so you know what you’re getting, and when you’re getting it. I also offer a free query letter if you’re going to send your work out to agents and publishers. If you decide in the future that you want to publish with Current Words Publishing, I hold a spot for you for two years (no obligation) and do not require a second edit. If you choose to self-publish you can hit us up for any tasks you need help with, like formatting the manuscript. Sometimes authors choose to do a small piece at a time, depending on what they have time and budget for. I’m open to what works best for you. As an example, a 50,000-word piece would cost $1500, and take one week for me to complete, but would include free Zoom meetings and a free query letter, and help and suggestions on how to start promoting yourself as an author.

What makes me the best editor you can hire is that I am so experienced. I have spent over 25 years working with new authors of fiction and non-fiction in many colleges on both coasts. I published an award-winning student literary magazine at UMES for four years. As an editor I have worked on a lot of mystery, horror, dystopian, speculative, fantasy, magical realism, women’s, LGBTQ+, erotic, memoir, and short story collections, including the celebrated Echoes from the Hocker House. I studied under Juan Felipe Herrera, Syd Lea, Luanne Smith, Betsy Scholl, and Christopher Buckley, to name a few. I ran a very successful workshop that met bi-monthly for seven years. I run a poetry coop, and a literary magazine, and I have curated, edited and created many anthologies of horror, mystery, and literary fiction. I have also been a guest editor at literary conferences including the Atlanta Writers’ Conference. I’ll be at the self-publishing conference in Atlanta this spring, where Current Words Publishing is one of the sponsors. There are so many things an experienced editor can do that most “editors” can’t. You have to be choosy. And going with one of the large “we have editors” sites really hamstrings you, because those editors are not allowed to become a part of your literary life. They’re only allowed to do the job and move on. I am not like that. I invest in the authors I work with for the long haul.

The new year is just around the corner. January is already filled for me, but I am open to your project any time after January 31st, as needed. Depending on what you need I can turn around a full novel in as little as a few weeks. Some folks just like to have me edit their new work, a short story or a chapter in the novel, as they finish it. I am very open to a collaboration that suits you.

And, once the year is over, it’s over, and we, much to our frustration, cannot go back. So maybe what you need in 2025 is that push, that meeting, that obligation to send something to someone who is going to interact with it, and you. Let’s make 2025 the year that your book or collection becomes a reality. If you’re interested email: dianne@currentwords.com, or choose a meeting time that suits you.

Here’s to a happy, healthy, and literary new year!

Dianne

New Post Up At Authors Electric!

Check it out!

NEW ISSUE!

One of my favorite things in life… the new issue of INSTANT NOODLES is LIVE! Welcome to….

HOLIDAY NOODS!

To Book Award, or Not to Book Award?

Book awards, book awards, do I want thee, book awards?
Let’s take a look at three possible book awards.
Next Generation Indie Book Awards offers cash prizes and seals for winners and finalists, which can enhance a book’s cover and validate it for readers. Their current promotion allows authors to enter one category and get another free. Popular categories include “first novel” or “horror,” but avoid “general fiction,” as it tends to be overcrowded. Here are the categories that you can choose from for this award.

What do seals look like on a book cover? See ECHOES FROM THE HOCKER HOUSE.

Other awards to consider include the Eric Hoffer Award (currently discounted by $15):
 Registration link. Information link.
The National Federation of Press Women (NFPW) contest, which often sees fewer fiction entries, is open to all genders, despite its name, and early entry costs less. Entry Link.

Awards are a personal choice—some authors value the credibility they bring, while others prefer to avoid the cost. If you publish with my publishing company, Current Words Publishing (CWP), your book will stand out due to professional editing, formatting, and design, improving your chances of success. Plus, we can add any award seals to your book cover at any time.

Why do awards charge fees? Running contests involves hiring judges, administrators, and PR teams, much like publishing requires professional services. At CWP, we offer high-quality editing, production, and promotional support. Publishing is an investment, and a successful writing career is built over time, not on one book.

If your book is in production for 2025, aim to have it available by July to maximize award eligibility. If you’re considering publishing with us, we offer free sample edits and meet-and-greet sessions to demonstrate the value we provide. Some awards are closed to authors who self-publish, which is another benefit of publishing with me and Current Words.

Ready to pursue an award? Let my company help you showcase your success.

Happy Black Friday—enjoy those leftovers! I know I’m enjoying mine!

Dianne

JOIN ME? IN THE BEWILDERNESS

I spent a transformative hour this morning in the Bewilderness with poet Ellis Elliott. I signed up for her course and spent an hour with a group of other authors as we put the rubber on the road and wrote in response to two poems Ellis shared with us. I struggle with giving my own writing practice the time and respect it deserves, so it took a lot of hemming and hawing for me to allow myself to spend this money on myself/my writing, to register, and think I was even three minutes late, as I found other things that definitely needed to be done right away before I joined the class. During the session, which lasted the perfect amount of time, IMHO, we each came up with two pieces. They were remarkably different, and some (mine, I’m going to say) were less polished than others, which was fine, because polish isn’t the point. What is the point is going barefoot in the grass, or, in my case, the mud. Getting in there and feeling it is the point, and getting it down on the stubbornly Teflon pages I always seem to have… Why won’t my writing stick there? Well’p, it stuck today. And, guess what: no one says a peep about anyone else’s writing, so it is 100% a safe space where you create, and off you go into your own ether, unmolested by critique. 

I loved it, and I cannot recommend it enough. 

Why don’t you sign-up already?

Bewilderness Writing

New Post Up at Old Scratch Press

Happy Veterans’ Day everyone! Veterans, thank you for your service! All who serve, thank you for your service

My OSP post this month is about the US Election. Check it out!

NEW POST UP AT AUTHORS ELECTRIC:

Check it out

WHAT TO DO POST-RUMPOCALYPSE

Here’s my suggestion on what we should do, if anyone is interested.

The situation: The Republicans, and the people who vote them into office, currently, have a culture of grievance.

For example: college is too hard, and they want good jobs without it, and they also don’t want others going to college and being successful because then they feel less-than. They don’t want vaccines or masks, and they don’t want us to have them, in case it gives us an edge, and so forth and so on. Right? “We want to be miserable, and we want you to be miserable too.”
And “We love eating tacos and Chinese food, but we don’t want them people around us.”

One way to respond to that is this:

1. Women/LGBTQIA folks move to safe(r) places, like California, as much as possible. There are many places where it is affordable in CA still. Don’t count a place out as a safe place to go because you think it is too pricey.

2. Create support groups in as many places as possible, but especiually safe spaces were folks might migrate too.

3. Women/LGBTQIA/immigrants seek remote jobs, as much as possible, to facilitate #1.

4. Women who can hire, hire women/LGBTQIA/immigrants (train them if needed, hire them while they’re still working toward a degree).

5. Women who can become landlords to other women: rent your extra space to a single mom, an immigrant, an lgbtqia person, a foster kid, etc. Create your own safe spaces.

6. Women who are able to mentor other women, do so.

7. Help other women have access to birth control, explain it to them, buy it for them, so that they don’t end up needing an abortion. Think of all females old enough to menstruate (some girls start at age 9) as WOMEN, and, if you know one, give her information early. Give her encouragement too.

8. Avoid grievance yourself. Not that we don’t deserve it, but make a conscious effort to be the people of “This isn’t what I like? I’ll try to fix it,” rather than to complain about it. Attempting to fix things is much more empowering.
Use rage for good. Right? Because we’re not going to change the minds of JDRump voters, and the Republicans can do almost anything they want to do now. We can’t make policy or change the courts, and they reject our beliefs of education, freedom, openness to different peoples and cultures, etc.

So we do things for us, anyway, in spite of them, in places where we can do them, and we help other marginalized people to freedom and safety and gainful employment and a decent place to live, as much as we can.
Together we can help each other, and make the unlivable, livable.