Wednesday 1 January 2014

Writers' Services: Perry Iles

Perry Iles

email: chamberproof@yahoo.co.uk



Proofreading novels, novellas, short stories, articles, academic papers and all things abstruse, recondite, arcane or obscure. No length limits – anything from haikus to Russian novels considered. 



Triskele meets Perry Iles:


What kind of editing do you do?
How much money have you got? I’m an editorial slut that way. Seriously though, I look after the small stuff. It’s more proofreading than editing, so I’m less of an editor and more of a proofreader with attitude. Typos, spelling, consistency, layout, basic grammar and common sense. I often find myself making suggestions on word-choice and smoothing sentences off a little, but large scale structure, characterization and narrative arc are not my areas. I’m the guy who polishes what Stephen King would call your little red wagon before you drive it home.

How do you approach working with a client on a manuscript?
I tell them what I do, what I don’t do and how much I want. I give them some background about me and invite them to email me a sample manuscript to look at if they need further convincing. I seldom meet clients face to face, and usually do my work using MS Track Changes on the documents they send me. If people don’t like Track Changes I mark suggestions and alterations in a different colour on their manuscript.

How would you describe a successful author/editor relationship?

Keeping to deadlines, not overstepping the mark, charging people what I say I’m going to charge them and making sure they understand what I do and equally importantly what I don’t do.


You can read more about Perry Iles here.



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