How I did it: Since I was being paid for this, I figured I needed to devote a reasonable amount of time to it.  Neither so few that I felt I wasn't giving my client/friend her due, nor so many that I wasn't making a decent wage. 

The novel is 189 pages long.  I decided to read it in 50 page blocks, which worked well.  It took about two hours to do the first block, and the rest were more or less the same.  That gave me a way to estimate how much time I had to devote to it as the deadline neared. 

I spent two or three hours at the end gathering and summarizing my thoughts, and typed up about two pages of critique that focused more on theme and structure than on the copyediting aspects that I marked on the pages themselves.  This gave me a good reference for talking about the work as a whole with the client, and it gave her something concrete to work from.

We talked about it for maybe another hour at the coffee house.

Lessons & tips: Take notes about plot on a separate notepad, with page numbers noted.  

Do the copy editing part in pencil. 

Figure out from the number of pages approximately how many hours it will take, and set your fee appropriately.

Resources: Years of reading, writing and critiquing.

A good mechanical pencil and a stiff backed legal pad.

Jan 11, 07:18AM PST | 0 comments | 5 cheers