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the process

Click the "contact us" button to respond immediately from this site. Or call or e-mail and introduce yourself. Tell us about your project -- its form, subject matter, intended audience, length, deadline, and anything else you think we might need to know. Based upon this information, we will prepare a strategy for completing your project that includes an estimated turnaround time and fee. We work primarily through e-mail and attachments, but we can accept CDs/DVDs and memory sticks through the U.S. mail or express delivery services, or -- for brief materials -- by way of fax.

a note about language in the electronic publishing age

Although we at Hartbright Editorial Services can work with pencil on paper (after all, most of us learned to work with words this way), experience proves that writing and editing electronically is more efficient, more thorough, and more accurate, and it results in cleaner copy. Through years of experience, the associates of Hartbright Editorial Services have developed expertise in working with the hardware, software, and production processes commonly employed in the publishing trades. While we are always eager to master the newest methods of electronic publishing, we remain determined to retain a traditional concern for the nuances of good language.

a note about samples

Samples of our work may be found in libraries and bookstores. Please see the What We've Done page for a partial list of titles.

a summary of services

Hartbright works on print and online projects such as the following: books, magazines, newsletters, corporate and small business ad copy, annual reports, brochures and pamphlets, web sites and e-zines. We welcome both fiction (from short shorts to novels) and nonfiction (from articles and reports to books) by both established and new writers.

writing
	Description: We write your manuscript or ad copy or other promotional material to your specifications based on your notes, rough drafts, or resource materials.
rewriting
	Description: We work with you, using your outline, notes, or drafts to produce a complete, clean manuscript. This service frequently requires serious changes in substance and organization as well as style and is likely to require additional research.
content- and line-editing
	Description: We make the substantive changes necessary to improve your work. We concern ourselves with your work's clarity, style, tone, structure, development, organization, and overall presentation as well as basic copy-editorial and proofreading corrections. For fiction, we also address issues of plot, plausibility, character development, dialogue, and narrative flow. For nonfiction, we also address matters such as suspect use of sources or quotations, faulty reasoning, and unsupported conclusions. We can also make suggestions for photography, artwork, and other graphics for those projects that require them. If any portion of the manuscript needs major revision (such as extensive rewriting or independent research), we insert comments and queries that include specific suggestions about how to complete the revisions. Thereafter, we follow up on your revisions in response to those comments and queries.
manuscript critique/evaluation
	Description: We review your work and produce a detailed written assessment of its strengths and weaknesses -- a guide to improving the manuscript that covers matters such as content, clarity, style, tone, structure, development, organization, and overall presentation as well as issues of tense, grammar, syntax, word choice, and punctuation. For fiction, we also address issues of plot, plausibility, character development, dialogue, and narrative flow. We do not make all corrections but tell you specifically in what ways your work needs improvement. The result is a section-by-section analysis of your work. We choose examples of recurrent problems and correct them within the body of the manuscript. Upon encountering a passage in a fiction manuscript that relied too heavily upon stage-setting -- presenting bare facts necessary to the plot rather than full-fledged scenes containing interesting description, engaging dialogue, and fitting language -- we would describe the problem in detail and offer rewrites. We would flag subsequent occurrences of this shortcoming and suggest strategies for revision. In addition, we make ourselves available for follow-up questions as you look over the results of our work upon its completion.
proofreading
	Description: We examine your work with an eye for typographical miscues, punctuation errors, incorrect and variant spellings, stylistic inconsistencies, and formatting and keyboarding mistakes. For typeset copy we can also make suggestions involving typographical details such as widows, orphans, ladders, ligatures, and kern pairs.
copy-editing
	Description: We concern ourselves with all matters of style and consistency, including spelling, punctuation, grammar, word choice, sentence structure, verb tense, and clarity. We also address issues of tone, development, and the overall presentation of the material. We flag and query these larger issues and, where appropriate, offer suggestions for revision. We ensure that all copy is clean and refined, ready for publication or submission to agents or acquisitions editors.

cousin julius’s editorial answers line

Hartbright Editorial Services has launched Cousin Julius's Editorial Answers Line to reply to style questions. For a fixed monthly fee, subscribing customers can refer matters of style, grammar, and syntax to Cousin Julius Hartbright and receive quick and succinct replies by e-mail. Please write us for details about subscribing.

referrals

If for any reason we are unable to perform the work you need to have done, we will do our best to refer you to fellow experts in the publishing fields -- other editorial services companies, project managers, or writers or researchers in specialized areas.

benefits of using hartbright editorial services --

We do top-notch work to your specifications and on your schedule -- with a minimum of fuss.

Although we are not to be confused with your neighborhood Kwik ’n’ EZ editing service, we do work for fees that are at or near the industry standards. (When you hire us you are paying for our expertise; you are not providing us with on-the-job training or regular salaries or medical benefits or paid vacations or retirement plans or office space. You’re not supplying us with PCs and Power Macs and facsimile machines with dedicated lines and voice mail or even lap drawers full of Post-it notes and fine-point Sharpies. You’re not setting us up with our morning doughnuts and a Bunn coffeemaker and nondairy creamer. We provide ourselves with all we need.)

methods of payment: