Welcome to my page! I’m Laura Ownbey, a freelance fiction editor.
I have been editing fiction since 2011. I spent several years as a senior editor at Spencer Hill Press before switching gears to working with authors on a freelance basis. I have been honored to see some previous clients become finalists for the National Reader's Choice Awards, the Bookseller's Best Awards, and the Georgia Author of the Year competition.
My primary area of expertise is genre fiction: mystery, thrillers, fantasy, science fiction, and romance.
I also accept literary fiction and YA (young adult) fiction. My edits can strengthen your plot and character elements, but I can't advise on market trends in these areas: please take that into account before commissioning my work on these manuscripts.
I do not accept memoirs or other nonfiction projects.
Services
Sample edits: review of a few sample chapters (up to 5k words). I provide both a short-form edit letter and inline comments on details of the manuscript.
Developmental edits: an long-form analysis of plot structure, characterization, pacing, dialogue, and other overarching elements.
Inline edits: review of individual story points, ranging from mystery pacing to romance flow. In comments directly on the manuscript margins, I address small but focused questions of tone, consistency, plot coherence, characterization, and more.
Line and copy edits: style, consistency, syntax, grammar and punctuation, and other small details.
Picking a service
I strongly recommend that new clients start with sample edits to see if my editorial approach is a good fit before committing to a longer job.
After sample edits, authors may seek out developmental edits, inline edits, or both. Developmental edits point out broad trends and cite a few page number examples: picture an essay-form review. In contrast, inline edits flag many individual moments for story flow, but discuss overall trends more briefly: picture a reader writing reaction notes in the moment.
Some authors request developmental edits bundled together with inline edits edits to see the big-picture view and supporting examples together. Others prefer to commission developmental edits, do one round of rewrites, and then come back for inline edits in a follow-up session.
The bundled line and copy edits are designed for authors who are almost ready to self-publish a book or submit the manuscript to agents. While I'm editing closely at this stage, it is not a substitute for dedicated proofreading services that fix every rogue comma: changes and suggestions that I make that at this stage often ripple to authors rewriting short passages, so you'll need fresh eyes there.
I encourage clients to mix and match the editorial services that work best for them. Some of my repeat clients only handle developmental edits with me before doing some rewrites and going straight to a proofreader. Other clients are confident in the big picture after writing five books in the same series and only want line and copy edits to polish small details. If you would like guidance, I'm happy to make suggestions about what would be most helpful for your project stage.
Rates
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Service
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Fees
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Sample edits
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$50 for up to 5000 words
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Developmental edits
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$0.006 per word Example: a 70k-word manuscript costs $420.
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Inline edits
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$0.005 per word ($5 per thousand words)
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Line and copy edits
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$0.01 per word ($10 per thousand words)
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Timeline
Once I have started work on your manuscript, timelines are roughly as follows:
- Sample edits: 1-2 weeks
- Developmental edits or inline comments: 3-4 weeks
- Bundled services (line and copy edits or developmental edits + inline edits): 4-6 weeks
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