Titivillus Editing for the Health Sciences: Stage 1. Send Sample

Titivillus Editing for the Health Sciences

Preparing Ideas and Research Results for Publication

Timothy DeVinney, Author's Editor and Copy Editor

Titivillus Editorial Services

Stage 1. Sending a Sample for an Estimate

Objective: to send a representative sample safely and securely for evaluation, with encryption for privacy if needed.

I will look at your work and tell you what needs to be done, how long it will take, and how much it will cost

To give you a better idea of what might be required to prepare your book, article, or presentation for publication, the first stage is to send me a representative sample so I can tell you what I believe needs to be done to get it ready for submission to a publisher or journal or for any other purpose. I will acknowledge receipt of your sample immediately, but completion of the evaluation is subject to available time.

I do not charge you for this, and you are under no obligation to me after my evaluation. Please note that evaluations will be completed as and when I have time to do them.

As a rough guide, a 20-page medical journal article will normally cost about $350-$500 to copyedit to the level where it is ready for submission to a journal publisher or journal. This would include completion of all of the 10 copyediting stages. It assumes that the MS is in fairly good shape and that not much language editing will be required. If extensive rewriting is involved, it may take longer and would therefore cost more.

What is a representative sample?

For a journal article or book chapter, a representative sample is the entire paper or chapter, including text, reference list, and all tables (plus any figures if possible).

For a book, a representative sample is the contents page, the first chapter, and one of the middle chapters that is typical of the work as a whole.

For slide presentations and posters, a representative sample is the entire presentation or all text, tables, and figures for the poster.

Steps for sending a sample and getting an estimate

Step 1. Send me an e-mail with a description of your MS:
  a. how long is it?
  b. what is the subject?
  c. to what publisher or journal will the book or article be submitted (or for what other purpose)?
  d. has the book or article already been considered by that publisher or journal?
  e. when must it be ready?

Step 2. I will reply regarding my schedule.

Step 3. Send your sample. For this step, you have several options. Do one or more of the following as appropriate:

a. where privacy is essential, encrypt the file so that no one can intercept and read it during transmission. See specific steps for this on the procedure page: how to encrypt a file using PGP.

and/or

b. to speed transmission over busy Internet connections, compress the file in an archive. See specific steps for this on the procedure page: how to create a compressed file archive.

and/or

c. simply attach the file to an e-mail and send it to me at tdevinney@titivillus-editorial.com. See specific steps for this on the procedure page: how to transmit a file.

d. upload the file to my FTP site (currently under construction).

I will do a trial edit of the text you send me and reply with an estimate.

For the next step, go to stage 2: copy editor's evaluation.

URL for this page: http://www.HeathSciEdit.com/tes-stage01.htm
© 2003–2006 Timothy DeVinney. Page last updated April 17, 2006.