Academic Editorial Services

Please note that I am not currently accepting new clients for my editorial services.

Welcome, students, academics, and independent researchers and scholars!

Here you'll find out all about working with a professional editor to help you express your ideas clearly in your writing.

Do I need to hire an editor?

What information should I include when I ask for a quote?

Your manuscript and the level(s) of editing that you want

I need to see your full manuscript (including footnotes, endnotes, works cited, and/or bibliography, if you require editing or proofreading for those as well) before I can determine whether it falls within the disciplines that I work with and provide a precise quote and timeline for my editorial services.

I ask for the full manuscript because I need to see whether the writing style and quality vary across the length of the text and get a sense of how long it would take me to edit or proofread any notes and bibliographic material.​

Rest assured I treat all client documents with complete confidentiality, as per my Terms and Conditions.

(For students) Written permission from your supervisor to hire an editor

I require written proof from your department or supervisor that you have permission to use the services of an editorial professional before I will accept any work from you.

Your budget and your preferred payment method

Knowing what your editorial budget is, and the level(s) of editing and proofreading you want to spend it on, helps me tailor my quote to your needs. If your preferred level of editing is outside of your budget, I may recommend a different level that will still help your writing shine while being more affordable for you.

I accept payment by Canadian or UK bank transfer; an electronic bank transfer is my preferred method of payment for clients in Canada and the UK. I also accept payment through PayPal, Stripe, or Wise for clients who are based elsewhere. I normally invoice for 10% of the full payment in advance to secure the booking, 40% when I start the editorial work, and the remaining 50% on the deadline before I submit my completed work to you, although I am happy to discuss other payment arrangements with you if necessary.

My rates are in line with the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading's suggested minimum rates.

Your deadline

Deadlines shape an editor's schedule, so your deadline will be a big factor in determining whether I can work with you on your text.

I am usually booked several weeks or months in advance for larger projects; so, for monographs, journal volumes, and other large texts I recommend getting in touch at least a few weeks before your text will be ready for editing.

If your text is on the shorter side (under 20,000 words), I may be able to fit it in around my larger projects right away, but the more advance notice you give me the more likely I'll be available for your project. 

If you tell me that you will have a text ready to be edited in a few months, I will follow up with you at a later date, but please note that I must prioritize clients who make firm commitments. I can only reserve an editing or proofreading time slot for your text if you pay a deposit at the time of booking.

How long does editing or proofreading take?

As the saying goes, "How long is a piece of string?" There's no single answer to the question.

An 80,000-word monograph can take me under two weeks or over a month to complete, depending on the number of notes or works cited, the writing quality, the level of editing or proofreading that you need, how quickly you respond to queries, and many other factors. That's why I ask to see the manuscript in advance and ask for as much information about your text as you can provide in advance.

What types of academic writing does Maya edit and proofread?

I offer editing, proofreading, and reference-checking services for all levels of academic writing, from undergraduate essays to journal articles, journal volumes, and scholarly monographs.

These are the academic disciplines I specialize in:

• ​the humanities (in particular, English literature, literary theory, and philosophy)

• the social sciences (in particular, political science and gender studies)
  

• education
  

• business and management studies​
  

Proofreading for students

Your writing, whether it be a piece of coursework, a thesis, a dissertation, or a research paper, should be evaluated based on the quality of your ideas and how well you understand the subject matter, without typos and poor English getting in the way. A professional proofreader can help eliminate these distractions so your writing is judged on its academic merit alone.
 
Academic integrity is my top priority, and it is crucial that your work remains your own. I will proofread student texts for spelling, grammar, punctuation, sense, and consistency, but I will never write, rewrite, or substantially edit the content of your work.

What is Maya's academic background?

I have a bachelor's degree in philosophy and English literature (McGill University, 2004) and a master's degree in children's literature (University of Reading, 2005).

Before becoming self-employed, for ten years I was an editor and editorial manager with higher education publisher *Research, and in 2017 I spent six months as Department Manager of the King's College London chemistry department.

“Maya’s proofreading on my book was in a word, excellent. When she returned the manuscript with her corrections, comments, and queries, everything was so clear and helpful that I didn’t need to ask her any additional questions. I am especially grateful for her thorough work with the Works Cited list and in-text citations. Thanks to Maya’s proofreading, it is a book I can now feel proud of having written. I also found Maya to be very personable, and I enjoyed our correspondence. I will recommend her to my colleagues working on similar projects!”

Laura Castor
​Academic Author

"Thank you so much to Maya Berger for proof-reading my PhD thesis. She has done a great job, and I am very pleased with her proof-reading service. Her working style is very accurate and she pays close attention to grammar, English use, and spelling, and thereby improved my work immensely. She was able to deal with the complexity of human behaviour research and all the vocabulary related to it. Moreover, her comments and edits were clear, precise and comprehensive. I can definitely recommend Maya."

Joerg Berberich
PhD researcher