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Looking for a voice-protective copyeditor for a developmentally complete work of narrative-guided nonfiction combining memoir, psychospiritual reflection, psychological concepts, culturally grounded Black womanhood, and practical reader rituals.
The book, Giving MySELF Permission: Putting Fear and Doubt in Their Place, is a work of narrative-guided nonfiction that blends personal story, psychospiritual reflection, psychological concepts, culturally grounded lived experience, and practical SELF-Permission rituals. The manuscript is complete from a developmental standpoint. I am NOT seeking developmental editing, restructuring, new content, or substantial rewriting.
The scope of work includes copyediting for grammar, punctuation, spelling, syntax, sentence clarity, consistency, continuity, capitalization, hyphenation, terminology, quotations, Scripture references, titles, citations, and accidental repetition. I am also looking for an editor who can identify places where wording is unclear or unsupported without flattening the authorial voice.
The manuscript has a strong, conversational voice that is intentionally raw, soulful, reflective, culturally grounded, and at times humorous or profane. It includes intentional sentence fragments, rhetorical repetition, African American cultural language and lived experience, spiritual language, psychological discussion, and branded terminology such as SELF-Permission, SELF-faith, SELF-trust, SELF-sovereignty, Sacred Expressive Life Force™, Inner Ouch! Quick Catch Ritual, and SELF-Reflective Mirror Moment Ritual. A terminology and style sheet will be provided and should serve as the governing editorial reference.
The manuscript includes potentially sensitive material involving suicidal ideation, domestic abuse, emotional and physical abuse, childhood rejection, racial discrimination, religious manipulation, family conflict, grief, shame, emotional scarring, and difficult parent-child dynamics. These subjects are presented reflectively and in the context of healing, personal responsibility, and SELF-reclamation.
Preferred qualifications include experience copyediting one or more of the following:
memoir, narrative nonfiction, or personal-development nonfiction;
spirituality or psychospiritual writing;
psychology-informed nonfiction written for a general audience;
culturally grounded Black/African American voices;
manuscripts that intentionally blend standard prose with conversational cadence, profanity, fragments, and nontraditional capitalization.
I am especially interested in an editor who understands the difference between correcting genuine errors and overediting intentional voice. Please be comfortable querying rather than automatically revising material that may affect cultural context, spiritual framing, psychological meaning, branded terminology, or authorial voice.
The editor should work in Microsoft Word using Track Changes and comments. I would prefer delivery of:
the marked-up manuscript;
a clean edited version;
an updated editorial style sheet;
a list of unresolved author queries;
and, if included in your standard scope, a limited cleanup pass after I respond to editorial queries.
I plan to ask finalists to complete the same 1,500–2,500-word paid or complimentary sample edit before making a final selection.
Preferred completion deadline: Oct. 15, 2026
Please include relevant book-length copyediting experience, examples of comparable projects, your rate or project estimate, availability, expected turnaround time, whether a post-query cleanup pass is included, and whether any part of the work would be subcontracted.
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