New Service: Peace of Mind Package
What brings you peace of mind?
Almost every time I do an edit, I make comments and suggestions — questions for clarification, suggestions for wording changes or requests for elaboration. Often, the client will take these comments and run with them, adding more text or changing parts of the manuscript around. There might be a reworked paragraph or even a new chapter. And this is great! I’m thrilled if my suggestions are helpful. That’s what an editor is for.
More than once though, authors have lamented not being able to come back for another round of editing because their timeline or budget didn’t permit. It also makes me sad, because I want all authors to publish the best version of their book possible. And yes, it makes editors twitchy to see errors in published work. It’s one of our quirks.
As of July 2025, Bright Owl Edits is the Peace of Mind package, which will provide a second round of editing, booked directly after the first, at a discounted price.
For non-fiction authors, what this looks like is pre-purchasing both a round of line editing OR copyediting PLUS a subsequent round of proofreading, after you’ve got your book formatted for printing, for a single discounted rate of $0.05/word. I’ve found that when a book goes through several hands and computer apps or programs, typos seem to multiply. It’s not anyone’s fault, per se, it’s just part of the moving process from say Word to InDesign to Adobe. I once found that two whole paragraphs had been duplicated in the formatting process, probably because the designer’s eyes were tired and everyone involved in the project (except me!) was sick of the sight of the book. The Peace of Mind package will ensure that all the i’s are dotted, t’s are crossed, spacing is as it should be, and that all your references to weblinks work. (You’d be surprised how finicky these are. One missed hyphen, and the whole thing is broken.)
For fiction authors, rugged individualists, the Peace of Mind package can be used for any second round of editing on the same project: start with a line edit and you can have either a second line edit, OR a copyedit, OR a proofread, at 50% of their regular rates. You can be confident that the changes you’ve made have improved your manuscript, and that you’re good to go with self-publishing or querying.
The package does not apply to developmental editing or manuscript evaluation, because there are times when a book changes so drastically after a DE that it’s barely recognizable as the same work. Erin Morgenstern said of her debut novel, The Night Circus, that the first draft didn’t even include Celia, who wound up being the main character in final version. (No, I wasn’t her editor—I wish!—but I LOVE that book.)
What do you think? Will you be able to take advantage this new package? Will its availability encourage you to make time for a second or final round of editing before your release?
Alt image description: The image shows a carefully-balanced stack of rounded greyish pebbles, with a background of (blurred) sunlit water. The overall impression is of a calming day at the beach.
Photo by Deniz Altindas on Unsplash.
