Terms of Service
Effective December 1, 2018
Last updated March 5, 2022
By becoming a client or continuing to be a client of Lyss Em Limited (“Lyss Em Editing,” “Lyss Em,” “Lyss Em / Lyss Em Editing”), you agree to the following terms of service.
First-person pronouns throughout refer to Lyss Em / Lyss Em Editing. Any dollar amount referenced is in USD.
Genres Accepted
I will accept the following genres for developmental editing: romance and erotica. I accept any pairing, including but not limited to M/M, M/F, F/F, and M/M/M.
I will accept any fiction genre for copyediting or proofreading.
I will accept certain nonfiction for copyediting and/or proofreading on a case-by-case basis.
I reserve the right to decline to work on any manuscript for any reason regardless of genre or pairing.
File Types Accepted
.DOCX files are preferred. I will also accept .RTF or .ODT files. However, all file types will be converted to .DOCX for editing and delivered as .DOCX.
Types of Editing
A developmental edit includes feedback on the overall story as well as individual sections of the story. This feedback will be in comments in the document. Overall story notes may appear as comments and/or body text at the beginning or end of the document.
A copyedit includes suggestions for improving grammar, usage, and style. I use Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary Online and The Chicago Manual of Style Online, 17th edition as references. I may occasionally refer to other dictionaries if I cannot find a word in Merriam-Webster’s. I will also make subjective decisions based on my knowledge, training, and experience.
A copyedit does not include full Americanization or heavy line edits.
A proofread includes suggestions for correcting typos and glaring style errors. It is intended as a pass after a copyedit has been completed by me or another editor to ensure that new errors haven’t been introduced during editing.
I reserve the right to decline to work on any manuscript for any reason.
Editing Rounds
A round of editing is when I go through the manuscript from start to finish, adding comments and suggestions as applicable to the type of editing. I will do one round of editing for each type of editing service purchased. Additional editing rounds may be purchased at a 10 percent discount on the regular per word rate at the time the additional round is to be purchased.
If the client purchases multiple editing rounds, they must incorporate the edits from the previous round and deliver me a copy of the manuscript with all edits accepted or rejected (i.e., no longer tracked) before I can proceed to the next editing round.
I reserve the right to decline to perform additional editing rounds for any reason.
Sample Edits
I will provide one sample edit of up to 1,500 words to new clients only free of charge. The sample provided by the prospective client must be from the work to be edited if the prospective client decides to hire me, not a separate work—unless a different sample is approved by me. I will provide the type(s) of editing in the sample that the prospective client has indicated they are interested in but reserve the right to provide additional editing types in the sample if I deem the work requires them.
I reserve the right not to provide a sample edit for any reason.
Price Quotes
All price quotes are in USD. Price quotes are not final until I have received the manuscript to be edited and quoted a price via email based on that document’s word count in Microsoft Word.
Turnaround Time
Turnaround time estimates include the time between delivery of the full, ready-to-be-edited manuscript to me by the client and delivery of the completed editing round(s). Estimates do not include the time needed by the client to incorporate edits into the manuscript.
I will make every reasonable attempt to meet an agreed-upon hard deadline for edit delivery. However, deadlines may change depending on when the client delivers the necessary manuscript file and new agreements between me and the client.
Deliverables
For each round of editing purchased, I will deliver via email a .DOCX file containing comments and suggestions as applicable to the type of editing.
Payment
All payment is conducted via PayPal with invoices initiated by me.
A minimum 50 percent payment on the invoice is required before service. This deposit, whether the minimum 50 percent or more, is nonrefundable except in the event of my canceling service, in which case the client will receive a full refund.
Invoice Adjustments
When a manuscript goes through multiple rounds of editing, the word count tends to fluctuate. If the word count prior to the second or later of multiple rounds of editing results in an overall price fluctuation of $10 or more, resulting in either an increase or decrease to the overall price quote, I will update the invoice to reflect this.
Discounts
For clients who publish monthly and expect to use my services on at least three manuscripts of 40,000 words or above, I offer a 10 percent discount on the regular per word rate.
I reserve the right to offer individually tailored discounts to clients.
Rate Increases
If my regular rates increase after I have already given the client a price quote and sent them an invoice, I will honor the rate already agreed upon for that specific project.
Refunds
The minimum 50 percent deposit required before service is nonrefundable except in the case of my canceling a client’s service, in which case the client will receive a full refund.
Invoices for bundled services also require a minimum 50 percent deposit. This deposit in its entirety is nonrefundable in the event that the client cancels any individual service. If I cancel any individual service, I will refund the portion of the deposit pertaining to that service—but not any portion of the deposit pertaining to edits already delivered.
Abandonment
If a client fails to respond to my email(s) for a period of 30 calendar days, any money they have paid toward an invoice is forfeit and nonrefundable, and any services listed on the invoice that have not yet been delivered are canceled.
Communication
All official project communication will occur via email. If contacted on Twitter, I may answer general questions but will ultimately direct all clients or prospective clients to email. I do not speak to clients via phone or video.
Consultation
My editing services come with minimal consultation. I am available via email to answer questions about the edits I have suggested or share thoughts and advice about story direction (in regard to developmental editing only) or mechanical choices (in regard to copyediting only). I do not, however, provide coaching. I will communicate to the client if our communication veers into coaching territory, and I reserve the right to limit consultation communication as I feel is appropriate.
Rights Granted
After delivering to you any edits of your manuscript, I have the right to display the work as a piece in my portfolio using the title, series title, author name, a book cover image, and any applicable store or website links. I also have the right to display which type(s) of editing of the work I provided.
In addition, I have the right to share any developmental comments I made on the work with prospective clients without mentioning the work’s title, author name, or client name. These comments might include very brief quotes of the work up to a sentence or two.
I also have the right to hire freelance professionals, with whom I may share files in order to use their services.
You retain full rights to the work. Aside from in the ways mentioned above, I will not share the content of your work with anyone.
Guarantees
Lyss Em Editing does not make any guarantees regarding sales or reviews or any other results that may be desired by the client after hiring Lyss Em Editing. While professional editing makes a book’s success more likely, a myriad of factors may contribute to or inhibit that success.
Lyss Em Editing also does not guarantee that there will be zero mistakes left in the manuscript after all editing rounds have been completed. It is impossible for one person (or multiple people, in fact) to catch every mistake. Lyss Em Editing strives for 95 percent accuracy, which is the publishing industry standard.