Millions of potential dollars go un-awarded to deserving projects every month because of sloppy proposals that are incoherent, lack focus, and are filled with grammatical errors. Judgments are made about your organization the moment a funding body starts to review your cover letters, proposals, applications, and other supporting documents. Poorly written documents (ones that are filled with grammatical errors and incoherent) says a lot about you and your organization.  In most cases, these proposals never pass the initial screening and are immediately rejected.

We work in collaboration with you to improve your documents and online content.  Editing and proofreading assignments are done remotely.  To get started, e-mail us your documents and let us give you a quote.  Most documents are returned within 24-48 of confirmation acceptance and receipt of deposit or full payment.  Editing and proofreading is performed on an hourly basis.  See our fee schedule.4

We offer four levels of editing and proofreading which are the following:

1. Copyediting 4

2. Substantive Editing 4

3. Developmental Editing 4

4. Proofreading and Final Edits 4

Level 1 - Copyediting

At this level, we evaluate the grammar and mechanics of your document.  We check the following and make corrections as required:

Level 2 - Substantive Editing

At this level, we check for sentence and paragraph structure.  Our review and actions are more thorough than Level 1. We focus, not only on the items detailed in Level 1, but on "readability" and the reviewer's "reading experience".  Is the document an easy read or too difficult to read while sipping a latte at Starbucks? (A little humor, perhaps, but it is the reality for many grant reviewers.)

Level 3 - Developmental Editing

At this level, we check content, organization, and style in a problem document to determine if the document needs to be reorganized or totally rewritten to meet the reader's need.  Working in collaboration with you, we either rewrite the entire document or make recommendations for you to improve it.  Level 3 editing is usually prompted by at least one of the following scenarios:

• A manager or director returns a document to an employee with strong instructions to rewrite it. 

• A funding agency sends a letter with several requests for clarification.

• A document does not comply with the organization's or funding agency's style guide.

• A determination is made by us that Level 1 or Level 2 editing cannot be adequately performed until it is reorganized or entirely rewritten.

Once returned to us, we repeat Level 1 and Level 2 edits.

Level 4 - Proofreading and Final Edits

At this level, we prepare your document for submittal.

• We compare one version of your document with an earlier one to make sure that marked corrections have been made and instructions followed

• We compare your document and all of its enclosures with the RFP, RFQ, and other requirements specified by the funding agency

You may prefer for us to do either or both of these items.