Line + Copy Editor for Narrative Nonfiction (Trauma Psychology + Memoir): Full Manuscript Due Nov 13

LINE + COPY EDITOR: NARRATIVE NONFICTION / TRAUMA PSYCHOLOGY + MEMOIR FULL EDITED MANUSCRIPT DUE NOVEMBER 13, 2026 I'm seeking an experienced book editor for a late-stage trade nonfiction manuscript that braids three strands: personal narrative, trauma psychology and science, and direct address to the reader. The manuscript has been extensively revised and beta-read, and it is written for intelligent general readers, not an academic audience. This is a line edit and copyedit. KEY DATES SAMPLE EDIT INVITATIONS: September 21 to 25, on a rolling basis, only to applicants who confirm in writing that they can accept the manuscript October 12 and return it complete by November 13. SAMPLE RETURN: no later than September 30. FINALIST RATE QUOTE: October 2. Finalists quote a per-word rate for the full scope below. EDITOR SELECTED: no later than October 5. CONTRACT SIGNED: no later than October 9, at a set final fee calculated from the finalist's per-word rate and the locked manuscript's word count. The fee is fixed at signing. MANUSCRIPT HANDOFF: no later than October 12. COMPLETE EDITED MANUSCRIPT DUE: no later than November 13, 2026. November 13 is a hard return date tied to a March 2027 national magazine publication. THE BOOK A substantial, full-length work of narrative nonfiction by a licensed professional counselor with a background in law. It moves among lived experience, trauma and psychological science, and direct engagement with the reader. Research Notes accompany the manuscript and are part of the assignment. The challenge is not to make these three modes sound alike. It is to help each do its job while making the movement among them feel deliberate, fluid, and readable. THE ASSIGNMENT One full line edit and copyedit pass on the complete manuscript and its Research Notes, including: LINE EDITING: clarity, rhythm, flow, concision, sentence construction, transitions, and voice consistency. TIGHTENING: sentence- and paragraph-level concision, including unnecessary repetition or qualification, without restructuring or developmental rewriting. Please query larger cuts rather than making them. COPYEDITING: US English, Chicago Manual of Style; grammar, punctuation, usage, syntax, terminology, and consistency. VOICE: preserving the author's voice, including intentional departures from convention where they work. TRANSITIONS: careful attention to the shifts among memoir, science, and reader address. RESEARCH NOTES AND SOURCE VERIFICATION: citation-style and consistency editing; bibliographic-detail checking; cross-reference and endnote integrity; and opening and reviewing cited sources, where accessible, to verify that the manuscript accurately represents them. Please query inaccessible sources and any claim that appears unsupported, overstated, or inconsistent with its cited source. STRUCTURAL FLAGS: noting any significant structural problem you encounter. No developmental memo, major reorganization, or ghostwriting. DELIVERABLES: Microsoft Word with Track Changes, queries in comments, and a project style sheet. The author resolves all queries. Proofreading is a separate, later stage. The finished book should be cleaner, tighter, and more precise, and it should still sound unmistakably like the author. PAID SAMPLE EDIT Finalists who have confirmed the schedule will complete the same paid sample every candidate receives: one complete chapter of about 3,000 words with its linked Research Notes, under an identical brief. Samples are authorized individually before any work begins. I'll be looking at editorial judgment, restraint with voice, tightening, handling of the science and notes, the quality of your queries, and your judgment about when not to edit. I'm not looking for the person who makes the most changes. I'm looking for the person who makes the right ones. HUMAN EDITORIAL WORK ONLY The same named editor who completes the sample must personally edit the full manuscript, with no reassignment or subcontracting without my approval. Generative AI may not be used to edit, rewrite, analyze, summarize, or otherwise process the manuscript or Research Notes, and the contract will include both requirements. TO APPLY, PLEASE ANSWER EACH OF THE FOLLOWING AVAILABILITY: Can you accept the manuscript on October 12 and commit in writing to returning the complete edited manuscript by November 13? EXPERIENCE: Briefly describe your work with narrative nonfiction, memoir, psychology or mental health, popular science, or comparable serious trade nonfiction. COMPARABLE BOOKS: Name at least three books you personally edited that are most relevant to this project, and the kind of edit you did on each. EDITORIAL JUDGMENT: In a few sentences, when a sentence is distinctive and voice-driven but technically imperfect, how do you decide whether to edit it or leave it alone? NOTES AND SOURCE VERIFICATION: Can your edit include all four of the following: citation-style and consistency editing; bibliographic-detail checking; cross-reference and endnote integrity; and opening and reviewing accessible cited sources to verify that the manuscript accurately represents them? If any of these would change your rate or scope, please say so, and tell me how you handle sources behind paywalls. RATES: Upwork requires an hourly budget range, but this project will be contracted at a set final fee. Finalists will quote a per-word rate for the full scope above, and the final fee will be calculated from that rate and the locked manuscript's word count. SAMPLE FEE: What would you charge for a paid sample of one chapter of about 3,000 words with its Research Notes? HUMAN WORK: Please confirm that you personally do the editing, that you would edit the full manuscript yourself if selected, and that generative AI will not be used on the manuscript or Research Notes. A FINAL WORD I care a great deal about getting this final editorial stage right. I'm looking for an editor with both confidence and restraint: someone willing to cut a sentence that's getting in the book's way, question a claim that has outrun its evidence, and recognize when an unusual sentence is doing exactly what it should. The best edit won't make this book sound more generic or more "correct." It will make it more fully itself. If that sounds like work you'd enjoy, I'd be very glad to hear from you. Thank you for considering it.