Whitten Words’ Submissions Policy:
Requirements and Suggestions for Clients and Potential Clients.
Please refer to the following list if you wish to hire me.
--The Editor
01.) If you are interested in becoming a client, please send me a one page double-spaced sample of the copy you wish me to work on. Please include with this your name, your address, and your telephone number. Also include any special considerations, such as whether or not you need to follow a particular style manual. Lastly, I need to know the total length of your copy and when your deadline is. It is necessary for me to make a decision on whether or not I can be helpful to you. If I can, I will take you on as a client. If I don’t think I can help, I will recommend against your using my service. If I do recommend against submitting your work to me, you may still insist that I take you as a client; and if that is the case, I will take your copy subject to the above disclaimer (but only if my workload allows).
If you do not include your name, address, and telephone number, I will not look at your sample, and as such I will not take you on as a client. I have a lot of copies to look at. The ones that don’t include such information tend not to be serious, so I have taken to ignoring them. You should be aware that I do not sell or give away information about my clients or potential clients. I consider such practices to be unprofessional.
Also, copies that don’t include some indication as to total length and deadline will be ignored. I cannot make a proper evaluation of the job if I don’t have that information.
Most of my clients prefer e-mail for at least the submission of the sample, but traditional post is also acceptable.
I do not have a fax machine yet.
02.) Be advised that if you want me to work with a hard copy, it will cost you extra if I have to print it out. While I prefer to work with a hard copy, especially for larger works, it is an economic reality that such things cost money. I am fully capable of printing out an e-mailed document, but you should keep in mind that it would probably be cheaper for you to print it out and mail it to me.
03.) My default style manual is The Chicago Manual of Style. If you wish me to use something else, please inform me before I start work on your copy. This has been fine, so far, for all of my clients; though, to be fair, all but one have been liberal arts academics. If, for example, your professor or employer requires APA or MLA style footnotes, you need to tell me. If you are not sure what is required, find out before you hire me. Two hours before my deadline is not an appropriate time to inform me of such things. My job as a proofreader and as an editor is to make sure your copy is consistent stylistically with itself. Which style I apply is up to you. If you say nothing, it will be Chicago rules.
04.) Students, please get your submissions to me as early in the semester as possible. Typically, I watch contact stubs disappear from my fliers throughout a given semester. I never hear from potential clients who are students until crunch time. If I receive too many submissions at the end of the semester, I will have to refuse many of them. To overload myself with work would do neither my clients, nor myself, any good.
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