Writing Services:
Quick links on this page:
This is a full copy edit service, including proofreading, for:
This service is primarily aimed at authors who have a final draft of their book ready for publication. We will help you prepare your manuscript into a professional format.
If you are interested in using our editing services, please contact Chris. We start by discussing your project to get a better understanding of your requirements.
We use Microsoft Word track changes so you can easily review every correction or edit we suggest. You will receive a document with recommended edits and additional comments in comment boxes and/or at the end of the document.
The price includes an optional follow up consultation, to discuss the edit in full with your editor. You can learn more about that in the FAQ section of the page.
It takes us up to two months to complete an edit. This is because we work through the manuscript carefully and that process takes time. However, we do try and deliver earlier whenever possible.
Here are details of the members of our editing team.
Edward Field
Edward Field is an award-winning screenwriter, writer, editor and the author of Permission to Rage: The Book on How to Complain Effectively, as well as three children’s plays currently on the South African curriculum.
He writes and edits fiction, non-fiction, scripts, speeches, corporate presentations & brochures and his work has appeared in anthologies, websites and publications including The Stage, Breathe, Reflex Fiction, Storgy, To Hull And Back and Idle Ink.
You can learn more about Ed on the main Meet The Team page.
Dr Lynda Nash is a tutor, mentor and freelance editor. She has a PhD in Creative Writing and is the author of several books. As a freelance editor, she helps clients realise their self-publishing dreams by taking them from written manuscript to publication.
You can learn more about Lynda on the main Meet The Team page.
Chris is an award-winning short story writer. He is also the author of How to Write a Short Story, Get Published & Make Money, which has been an Amazon bestseller.
Chris runs this website. He launched his writing services in 2013. This comprehensive copy editing service was added to his portfolio of services in 2018.
Chris has self-published his own books and has also published hundreds of authors in anthologies via the To Hull And Back short story competition and the writing challenges he runs on this website. He has experience with editing and formatting manuscripts in preparation for publication, along with extensive knowledge of platforms like Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing and Lulu.
You can learn more about Chris on the main Meet The Team page.
All prices are in Great British Pounds (GBP).
Payment can be made via PayPal or by bank transfer. Full details can be found in the 'How to Pay and Submit' section further down the page.
Novels and Books
| Novels up to 60,000 words in length | £565.00 |
| Novels up to 70,000 words in length | £665.00 |
| Novels up to 80,000 words in length | £765.00 |
| Novels up to 90,000 words in length | £865.00 |
| Novels up to 100,000 words in length | £965.00 |
| Novels up to 125,000 words in length | £1,195.00 |
| Novels up to 150,000 words in length | £1,420.00 |
| Novels up to 200,000 words in length | £1,645.00 |
| Novels over 200,000 words in length | By discussion |
Notes on Prices
Our editing fees are calculated to allow us the necessary amount of time to thoroughly review and edit your work to a professional standard. This process is time consuming. All the edits and additional comments are carefully considered so you gain the most out of the service.
If you are interested in this service, we ask that you start by contacting Chris to discuss your editing project in more detail. If you decide you'd like to go ahead with the editing service, Chris will organise payment with you, either via PayPal or bank transfer.
You do not have to have an account to use PayPal and can pay by credit card, debit card or even direct debit. We use PayPal because it is secure, safe and protects your personal information, ensuring a safe transaction. You can read more about PayPal in the FAQ.
Once you have paid, we ask you to email your story as a Microsoft Word document (as a .doc .docx or .rtf file) to .
If you can't supply a document in the required file format, please let us know - we can usually find a way around it.
Chris will reply to any emails within 3 days. If there are any problems he will let you know. Don’t worry, Chris checks his spam folder too! If for any reason you do not hear from him within 3 days, please get in touch.
On occasion, Chris travels with work and takes holidays / vacations where he has no internet access. This is rare, but in these instances he sets up an 'out of office' reply on his email, letting you know if there will be a delay in his response.
If you need any more information, please check the FAQ below, or contact Chris.
Below are some frequently asked questions we hope you'll find useful. If you have any questions that are not covered here, please don't hesitate to contact Chris.
We will never share any of your personal information or the manuscripts you submit with anyone else. Anything you send to us is treated with the utmost confidence. Your privacy is respected at all times.
For further information, please review this website's privacy policy.
We aim to edit your manuscript and return it to you within 2 months (60 days).
Whenever possible, we strive to make our turnaround time faster than this. However, we pride ourselves in the quality of our services, so we don't rush our work. We will try and give you a more accurate idea of timings when we discuss your project.
This copy editing service is a thorough, line by line edit of your manuscript. We take an in-depth and comprehensive approach to tackle any grammatical problems. This is primarily aimed at authors who have a final draft of their book ready for publication.
Our critique service is a broad, comprehensive assessment of your manuscript. You receive specific advice on how to develop a stronger narrative, better pacing and more engaging characters.
The critique is a big picture analysis, so it should be conducted before a comprehensive edit. You can learn more about our critique service here.
Yes! You will receive detailed edits and suggested improvements for your consideration. These are all provided in a Microsoft Word document.
The edits will include fixing typos, spelling mistakes, incorrect wording, grammar, repetition and sentence structure.
We sometimes use Word's comment boxes to make annotations regarding certain sentences, paragraphs and sections within the manuscript. The sentences / paragraphs will be highlighted and the comments will appear in a box attached to the highlighted area. This makes it very easy for you to see what the comments pertain to and review them. Once you’ve finished considering a comment you can simply delete it.
All our comments will be delivered in a positive manner. We strive to encourage writers, not offend them with unnecessary negativity. We will always try to keep all criticism constructive, positive and encouraging.
Part of any editing process is personal opinion. You may not agree with everything we recommend. Good! We don’t expect you to. But you will have considered an outside opinion, which can only help improve your manuscript.
We strongly recommend using spellcheckers and diligent proofreading prior to submitting to us. This simply helps us do a better job. The edit includes a preliminary proofread. This will pick up most of the mistakes in a manuscript, but we often recommend a second or third proofread. Most professional novels go through this process a number of times before being published. This helps ensure all the typos are picked up.
If you want us to read your manuscript a second time, we do offer discounted prices. This is because the second time through, there are fewer errors to find, even if you have rewritten certain sections of your work, so the job is less time consuming.
The consultation gives you the chance to discuss the edit in full with your editor.
We can do this face to face in the Bristol / Bath area of the UK. If you're unable to meet us locally, we can provide the consultation by phone, Zoom or any other medium that suits you.
We have found that consultations help writers get the most out of this service. They have the opportunity to gain a full understanding of the edits and comments we've made by asking questions and talking everything through. Bouncing ideas off an editor can help a writer fully consider every aspect of the edit we've provided.
Yes. We will consider editing any type of book or manuscript, including brochures, essays, scripts and corporate material.
PayPal is a world leading payment service provider. They offer a secure service, ensuring that monetary transactions are quick, easy and safe. You can set up an account and pay via your bank in any currency, or you can simply pay by debit or credit card without setting up an account. Whichever payment method you prefer, you can be confident that your personal information is safe.
Setting up secure payments within this website would be very costly and is not something we're currently able to do. PayPal are trusted and widely used, most famously being eBay’s preferred payment service provider. For more details, check out the PayPal website.
Below are some testimonials, kindly provided by authors who have worked with us in the past.
More testimonials will be added as we receive them.
Andrea T, June 2021
Thank you kindly for your report. I am very pleased to see it was sent over earlier than the deadline, and I'm impressed that Edward read the manuscript twice, especially as the novel is very challenging. I'm very happy with your work and it will certainly help me improve the manuscript.
B. J. Mears, February 2018
You’ve made a grand job of editing the complete Tyler May series. Thank you for your consistent professionalism and honesty.
Matt Sims, February 2018
As with everything I throw at you, Ed, you took the clumsy idea and perfected it so that it leaps off the page. Top work as always!
Keith K
Dear Chris of Fielden and Field. Good luck with the new venture. Too rich for my pocket but then I have always enjoyed being a skin-flint. The price of everything and the value of nothing, as the greatest writer of the language and, in my opinion, one of the worst novelists once penned, almost.
Fielden and Field does sound a bit like a fifties Vaudeville comedy double act.
Chris Fielden
Thanks, Keith. It’s a difficult one. Copy editing is very time intensive, so pricing has to reflect that. I appreciate not everyone will be able to afford it/want to use a service like this, but we’re unable to offer it at lower prices unfortunately. Our aim is to work with writers and small to medium sized publishers, who may have the budget for this kind of service. Our first projects are underway, so we shall see how it develops.
Indeed – coincidence has presented us with a name suitable for Vaudeville. If all else fails, maybe we can venture into that… :-)
Keith K
Dear Chris, it was not criticism. It costs what it costs and you are in business to make a profit. I was just bemoaning the poverty in which I choose to live. If I could afford you, I would be hammering at your door. Kind Regards, Keith the Skinflint.
Chris Fielden
Hi Keith. No problem, I didn’t take your comments as a criticism. I hope I didn't come across as being defensive – I was just trying to outline how we’d priced it. It will be interesting to see how the service develops as we get more projects under our belts.
And thanks for your kind words, although, if you do hammer at my door, it’s quite old and in need of repair, so please don’t hammer too hard :-)
Dedra T
Hi Chris. There is no proofing for the number of pages I have. My number of pages is less than 50,000. Am I missing something? Please let me know.
Chris Fielden
Hi Dedra. The prices are all based on the word count, not the number of pages. If you have your manuscript in Microsoft Word, it will tell you the word count.
If in doubt, please send me your manuscript and I will price it for you. Many thanks, Chris
Dedra T
Hi Chris. I worded my last message wrongly. I meant to say, my book has less than 50,000 words. I didn't see pricing for that amount. It has 48,670 to be exact. I will look again. Thanks for getting back to me so quickly.
Chris Fielden
Hi Dedra. No problem.
The 50,000 word price is for stories up to 50,000 words in length. So your story would fall into that price band. Please let me know if you have any other questions.
Comment text to go here.
Hello Chris, I hope this email finds you well. I would like to know if you are able to proofread one short story of a little over 4000 words. Many thanks, Allwell
Chris Fielden
Hi Allwell. Thank you for your message.
We do undertake proofreading. You'd probably be better off using our critique service for that. The editing service is really aimed at final draft novel manuscripts being prepared for professional publication. You can learn more about the critique service and associated prices here.
Please let me know if you have any other questions :)
Leave your comments
Please use the form below to leave your comments. All comments will be reviewed so won't appear on the page instantly. I will not share your details with anyone else. Most recent comments appear at the bottom of the page, oldest at the top.