Editing Services

Alycia Morales has been writing since she could hold a pencil and her grandmother taught her how to write the alphabet. Since then, she's been published in a variety of places including Christian Devotions.us, Thriving Family Magazine, Splickety Love magazine, and various books. She is represented by Jonathan Clements of Wheelhouse Literary Group.

Alycia co-authors The Write Editing, a blog where writers can find answers from her and Andrea Merrell, industry professionals. She also writes a blog for the 20-something to 20-something at heart crowd who question who they are, what they are supposed to be doing, or even why they exist. You may find her encouraging others to discover who God created them to be at www.alyciawmorales.com.

She is also a freelance editor. Several of her clients have gone on to receive awards for their writing or their books, including Best New Writer at Write to Publish, Selah Awards, and the prestigious Director's Choice Award at Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference.

Alycia has served as an Associate Editor for Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas, where she edited fiction and non-fiction books and was on several of their publishing boards, including Firefly Southern Fiction and Beacon Heritage.

Alycia is a member of ACFW, The Christian PEN, and My Book Therapy. She also serves as assistant to the co-director of BRMCWC, Edie Melson.

When Alycia isn't busy writing or editing, she enjoys spending time with her husband Victor and their four children. Her hobbies include hiking, reading, watching television and movies, taking photographs, creating graphics with her photographs, designing and making jewelry, and crocheting. She is quite fond of coffee and chocolate, but the coffee must be decaffeinated or she'll suffer a headache for three days.

Perfecting Pages Editing Service 

Preparing your pages for print

I have a passion for reading entertaining novels and inspiring nonfiction. Combine that with my love for writing, and my internal editor leaps with joy.

Every book, article, and devotional deserves to be the best it can be. A thorough round of editing followed by a proofread is an excellent way of perfecting your pages.

That’s where I come in. Experienced in editing blog posts, web material, devotionals, and manuscripts, I love bringing an author’s writing to its fullest potential. Understanding the value of excellence, I want to see your work shine so that publishers will take notice.

I offer the following editing services:

Mentoring: $50 per hour

If you are a first-time writer, this is the service I will recommend to you. I find that first-time writers make many of the "typical" mistakes, including but not limited to grammar errors, overuse of adjectives or adverbs, too much or too little description, telling instead of showing, and point-of-view errors. I like to mentor you through a rewrite of your manuscript so that you are learning as you go through the process of editing your book. This is a back-and-forth, chapter by chapter (or scene by scene, depending on the length of your chapters). My promise to you is that you will be a stronger writer and your story will take much better shape by the time we are through, providing you are willing to take sound advice, do the work required, and put in the time necessary to complete the task. When you are finished, your manuscript will then be ready for a professional edit. Please note that our communication will be via e-mail. If you find yourself really stuck on something, we can then consider speaking via phone.

Proofreading/Copy Edit: $30 per hour

I look for the basic errors in grammar, punctuation, spelling, formatting, etc. I recommend this be the final stage of the editing process.

Substantive Edit: $40 per hour

In addition to the items I look for in a proofread/copy edit, I will be looking for character arc and development, story structure, tension, conflict resolution, and all things novel related. If you are writing non-fiction, I will be considering your voice, authority, and anecdote usage, among other things. I recommend this to be the first stage of the editing process.

Proposal Critique: $5 per page

I saw a lot of proposals when I worked as an associate editor with Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas, so I know what grabs an editor's attention and what doesn't. If you would like me to review your proposal and provide pointers, I would be happy to help.

Manuscript Critique: $35 per hour

Maybe you don't want an edit. Maybe you'd just like someone to look through your manuscript and point out its strengths and weaknesses. If so, this service is for you.

Please Note the Following:

• I have worked with fiction writers in several genres including contemporary, intrigue, suspense, sci-fi/fantasy, and historical. I am also willing to work with children's chapter books. I do not have experience with children's picture/board books or Bible Studies. And I apologize in advance, but I don't read Amish fiction, so I would not be comfortable editing this particular genre.
• If you would like me to consider your manuscript for a proofread/copy edit or substantive editing services, please send me your first 3 chapters and your final chapter (no prologues or epilogues). This will give me a basic idea what shape your manuscript is in. I will then provide you with an estimated cost. If you would like a sample edit, I will provide one for your first 3 pages.
• I do not read entire manuscripts before editing them. Many first-time authors seem to expect an editor to do this. This takes valuable time and is not realistic. If you would really like me to do that for you before I edit your manuscript, I will do so for a reader's fee of $350, in addition to the estimated editing cost.

Endorsements:

As a first-time author, I could not have asked for a better choice of editors than Alycia Morales. She was encouraging, knowledgeable, and patient. These attributes shined as we polished my manuscript, but also as she provided insight into the characteristics of good writing. I recommend Alycia to anyone needing to proof their text, to increase its readability, or to rework their materials. She was an essential part of bringing my manuscript to publication. What I wanted in an editor was someone who was professional, scrupulous, kind, and who paid careful attention to detail. Alycia met and exceeded my expectations.

~ Charles Short, BRMCWC 2013 Director’s Choice Award-winning Author of The Storeroom of the Heart

As an author, I worry when assigned a new editor—but I needn’t have been concerned at all with Alycia Morales, my editor for Fields of the Fatherless. She was a delight to work with! Her suggestions did not change my story, just enhanced it. I was so pleased working with Ms. Morales and hope to do so again.

~ Elaine Marie Cooper, multiple award-winning author of Fields of the Fatherless, including the 2014 Selah Award for Fiction Youth/Young Adult

I would highly recommend Alycia Morales as editor for any of your literary projects. She is consistent in follow-through and response.  She is creative in offering ideas to expand the original thought of your work—making it much better in the end than beginning (without changing the heart of what you are trying to express to your readers).

I recently hired her to edit a book I co-wrote with another writer.  I was amazed by Alycia's editing ability. Nothing slipped by her! She is concise and uncritical. But she also has a way about her that put me at ease even with her positive and constructive advice. Thank you, Alycia! I would give your name to anyone seeking an editor and/or writer!

~ LaTan Roland Murphy, Speaker/Vocalist/Freelance Writer and Award-winning co-author of God’s Provision in Tough Times