The Refinery is a partnership between freelance editors Crystal Burton and Alison Weaverdyck.* We met while working for the same small publisher in 2016, but after it closed its doors we’ve come together to offer literary services to independent creators at reasonable rates. Though Phoebe Darqueling and the Network of Indie Steampunks are closely tied to the Steampunk genre, The Refinery is open to all genres, and is an especially good fit for writers of historical fiction (18th-early 20th c.), mysteries, science fiction and fantasy, and their sub-genres.
To check availability, e-mail TheRefinery [@] Phoebedarqueling.com
If you are a Steampunk author interested in editing services, consider becoming a member of the Network of Indie Steampunks to get discounts on a variety of services and extend the reach of your marketing efforts.
Services
To check availability, e-mail TheRefinery [@] Phoebedarqueling.com
Beta-Reading: $300 for books up to 80k words (Rates for longer works is determined on a case-by-case basis.)
Your entire book will be read twice, and you will be provided with detailed notes about issues of structure, theme, continuity, point of view, and voice before your book is published (or reprinted). Writers who have multiple, related novellas may submit them as a single work.
Developmental Editing: $.01/word
This is the most involved level of editing, and includes the initial beta-reading and notes, but you continue to work with your editor as you complete the necessary re-writes. This includes additional consultation by phone, Skype, and/or email to continue the development process. In addition, your manuscript gets a full line-by-line edit for style, spelling, and grammar.
Ghost Writing/Developmental Implementation: $40/hour
Sometimes, writers have been staring at the same piece of writing so long they can’t wrap their head around finishing after they get their beta-reading or developmental edit back. If this sounds like you, hire Alison to implement the changes you discuss, correct factual/historical errors on your behalf, and do the hard work of replacing redundant words and phrases for you. This rate includes a line-by-line stylistic and copy-edit after the changes are approved by the client.
Stylistic/Copy-Editing: $.005/word
A full line-by-line edit for punctuation, grammar, spelling, clarity, and word choice (repetitive phrases, strengthening descriptions, etc.). The client makes all final decisions and must accept or reject changes through Word’s track changes feature.
Print Formatting: $50/book
Coded E-book Formatting: $100/book
Steampunk Blog Tours: $100
To check availability, e-mail TheRefinery [@] Phoebedarqueling.com
Unlike The Refinery’s other services, we are only offering blog tours for Steampunk books at this time. Our list of Partner websites is growing all the time, and they are hungry to fill their blogs with content relating to Steampunk books. The Refinery manages the content distribution and scheduling so you don’t have to waste your valuable writing time reaching out to people one by one. Blog tours are a great way to build buzz surrounding a new release, and the more different sites that host content related to your books, the more likely your target audience will find you.
What’s included:
- A minimum of four tour stops including Steampunk Journal and The Pandora Society, but more than likely 6+ stops. (If fewer than three Partners express interest in your book, you will receive a refund and the tour will be cancelled.)
- A press release and marketing copy created for your book and distributed to Partner websites in addition to the content provided by the author.
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- One meme created with your consultation. This could be a quote from your book, a line from a rave review, or a “quotable quote” by the author about reading, writing, or Steampunk.
- All of the graphics on PhoebeDarqueling.com were created by the same person who would be making your meme. The Refinery has tons of graphic resources to fit the mood of any quote.
- One meme created with your consultation. This could be a quote from your book, a line from a rave review, or a “quotable quote” by the author about reading, writing, or Steampunk.
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All content generated by the author and The Refinery and distributed for the blog tour will get a line-by-line edit for punctuation, spelling, and grammar. In addition to the content and giveaways hosted on Partner websites, links to that content will be posted on the newsfeed for sites such Airship Ambassador, Steampunk Empire and the Steampunk Writers and Artists Guild, as well as Facebook groups where your target audience can be found. The Refinery will coordinate the posts across multiple websites over several weeks to maximize the impact of your release.
What you must provide:
The blog tour Partners opt-in to each blog tour on an individual basis depending on the type of content available and their own schedules and needs. Your fee guarantees a minimum of four stops, but most likely more. No one wants to just be posting the same exact thing as everyone else, so it is up to the author to provide a variety of content related to their book and to make themselves available for interviews. For instance, authors seeking reviews would need to provide a copy of their book in advance to allow the reviewer time to read it.
Here’s just a few options, but Partners are open to other creative tie-ins:
- Exclusive excerpts and/or the first chapter
- Character profiles and artwork
- Interviews
- Guest post on a topic related to your book
- Covert art reveals
- Giveaways
- Reviews
- Memes
When a blog tour is scheduled, deadlines are set for both the Refinery and the author to meet to create the content to make the blog tour diverse and successful. Once the author commits to which types of blog tour stops they’d like to offer, Partners are contacted.
Copy-editing is included for all blog tour content, and final versions are sent to the author to use in their independent marketing efforts.
*Phoebe Darqueling’s legal name.
Phoebe Darqueling 