Question Time
Learn more about KLS and how we work.
Here at KLS, we have the chance to work with, learn from, and support so many amazing authors. We are passionate about helping authors at any stage in their author journey. Here are some tips for aspiring authors:
📌Find like-minded critique partners who write in your genre, can be your cheerleaders, read early bits of your projects, and be a sounding board for ideas, frustrations, etc.
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📌Utilize alpha readers to read early drafts of your project to provide honest and thoughtful feedback. Ideally, these readers should not be friends or family, but they should be readers who read extensively in the genre you are writing in. We recommend using an odd number of readers so that if you ask for their opinion on something, you will always have a majority vote.
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📌We share a lot of blog posts and tips posts on our social media and website. These are tips and tricks from an editing standpoint and can be useful during your drafting and self-editing stages.
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📌Read! You’ve probably heard this advice before, but read widely in the genre you are writing in. Some authors find it challenging to read while they are in the writing stage, but read extensively during their research and plotting stage.
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📌Start marketing and develop a social media presence early. It’s never too early to start connecting with other authors and, especially, readers.
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📌Follow other authors in your genre to see what they are doing to market their books for inspiration.
The editors and proofreaders at KLS specialize in working with the romance genre, but across the team, we also have experience working with other genres, including fantasy, mystery/thrillers, literary fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and memoirs. We also enjoy working with LGBTQIA2S+ authors and authors who write in this genre.
Within the romance genre, we don’t have any triggers, we can handle all spice levels, and our editors have extensive knowledge in working with and reading romance.
Whether you are a romance writer or you write within another genre, we would love to support you.
📌Each editor has their own editing style, but we are all respectful. We understand that you’ve poured your blood, sweat, tears, and soul into your stories and believe everyone has a right to tell their story.
📌Kat will sometimes write comments as if she is talking to the characters in the book. Steph will comment on her reactions to characters. Kara will tell you how things made her feel. Vanessa will let you know her real-time reactions to scenes and will drop the odd emoji.
📌We will all let you know what we loved about your book and how to strengthen it. When making suggestions, we give our reasoning so that you can grow as an author and so you can understand our thought process. We don’t just fix things; we give explanations too. Editing Notes accompany all edits. These are ways to explain further themes or patterns of repetition.
📌We are great communicators and will email our clients during the editing process if necessary to get clarification on things or just to let them know how the edit is going.
📌We love to support our authors on social media. We will share posts congratulating our clients on the release of their book. If we are given enough warning, we will share cover reveals too. We display book covers on the portfolio page of our website so prospective clients can see who we work with and what books we’ve edited. If the client would like a link added to the portfolio, we can take people to the retail site of their choice.
📌We follow our clients on social media and join in their celebrations. We might even drop into their DMs with words of encouragement or congratulations.
📌We post monthly wrap-ups at the end of each month, showcasing the releases from our clients from that month. It’s a great way to celebrate with them.
📌We require all new editing clients to take a free sample edit. This is so we can get a feel for their writing, and they can see how we work.
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📌Once a new client has reviewed their sample and decides to work with us, we ask the client to fill out the Booking Request form on our website. This ensures we have all the necessary information to complete the booking process. We communicate with the client via email to offer proposed project dates.
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📌For most editing and proofreading, our standard turnaround time for each service is two weeks. If your manuscript is over 100k, we may need slightly longer than the standard two-week turnaround. Shorter projects, with lower word counts, are usually completed within one week. Packages with multiple layers of editing/proofing and graphics/formatting have a longer overall turnaround time. The spacing of services included in our packages and turnaround times will be discussed at booking.
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📌Each round of editing or proofreading consists of two passes. This means the editor or proofreader does one in-depth read-through to complete most of the suggested changes and then does a second pass to catch any lingering errors.
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📌Once project dates are decided, the client receives a Literary Services Agreement that details the services being taken and the project dates, and an invoice for the deposit. The client’s project is fully booked once we have received the signed agreement and the deposit.
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📌We send a reminder email one week from the start date of each service along with an invoice for 50% of the estimated project fees. The project will not begin until we receive the 50% payment. The final balance of the service is due within five days of delivering the final files.
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📌Payment plans are available. The frequency and amount will be set out before signing an agreement.
Here at KLS, we understand the importance of confidentiality. We want you to feel confident about handing over your manuscript to us for literary services, and we take our role in your process very seriously.
To ensure the confidentiality of your manuscript and information, all subcontractors are trusted members of the KLS team, and all members have signed a nondisclosure agreement that applies to all KLS clients.
We are also happy to sign specific NDAs from clients if requested.
At KLS, we are guided by our authors. This is your book, and we are here to help make it shine. We work collaboratively with our clients.
We ensure we have plenty of information at the start of a project. Our clients complete information or style sheets so we know their preferences. We get a sense of each client’s unique style and preserve this. We use The Chicago Manual of Style when editing in American English and the New Hart’s Rules when editing in British English. These style guides are just that—a guide. We communicate with our clients about what rules they want to bend and which ones are important that we adhere to. When working with authors repeatedly, we are able to develop an easy rhythm, understanding what things they like and don’t. Feedback is so important to us. We request it so that we can grow, but also to save our clients’ time. We don’t want to keep correcting something or suggesting changes that are repeatedly rejected. We aren’t able to read all projects after publication. Therefore, feedback is vitally important because we don’t know which suggestions were accepted or rejected.
We communicate with our clients only when necessary during the editing process. We bring the important issues up. On the flip side, we won’t repeatedly communicate with our clients unnecessarily. We know how important it is for them to be able to get back to writing their next book or marketing their upcoming release.
Ultimately, we are respectful, flexible, communicative, and adaptable. What works for one author won’t work for them all, so we change our editing to work for you!
The most common things our clients say are that we care and our communication is top-notch.
If you’d like to read more testimonials about specific services our clients have received, you can find them under the Testimonials tab.
We are proud to serve a wide range of authors. Our client list ranges from debut authors to seasoned authors and everyone in between. Wherever you are in your author journey, we are here for you. And while we specialize in romance, we also have experience working with authors writing poetry, self-help, memoirs, and children’s books. We can also work with thrillers, women’s, and general fiction.
Good question! At KLS, we recognize that every author has different needs. Whether it’s the way you spread the cost of the literary services you take, the mix of British and American English spelling and grammar rules, how much time you need to go through your edits, how much communication you want, the type of feedback you want or don’t want, how you want to interact with us, or how far in advance you like to plan, we are happy to be flexible and adapt to your needs.
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We realize that a one-size-fits-all approach is never going to work in our industry, so tell us what you need, like, don’t want, and desire, and we’ll do our best to work with you to make it happen.
There are a few things that our clients say sets us apart from others.
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📌We care about more than your words. We take time to get to know you, so we can develop a more personal relationship with our clients.
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📌We are clear and concise in our communications and expectations of our clients. You will always know the date and time we expect information from you. We work with clients all over the world, and our team is based across the globe, so we take care of the time zone magic! We will update you as necessary with new information, and we don’t send unnecessary emails.
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📌We can’t guarantee it every time, but we often deliver projects a little early, giving you more time to go through things.
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📌Our processes are straightforward, and we pride ourselves on responding to inquiries quickly.
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📌We don’t just “fix” things; we try to explain why we make suggestions so you can grow as a writer.
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📌We are used to working with debut authors and are happy to answer any questions you might have.
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WE’RE IN THIS TOGETHER!
We have an extensive services menu. Click on the SERVICES tab for the full list of single and package services.
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SINGLE SERVICES
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Alpha Reading
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Blurb and Author Bio (editing only)
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Brit Proofing
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Release Coaching
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Copyediting
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Developmental Editing
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Internal Formatting
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Line Editing
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Proofreading
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The Release Sheet
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PACKAGE SERVICES
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The Essentials: Copy and line edit combined.
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The Fundamentals: A first-round copy and line edit combined and a second-round proofread.
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The Comprehensive: Developmental Editing (one pass) and everything in The Fundamentals.
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The Deluxe Comprehensive: Everything in The Comprehensive and Internal Formatting.
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The Ultimate: Everything in The Deluxe Comprehensive and The Release Sheet, Graphics, and blurb writing.
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The Marketing Tool Kit: The Release Sheet and Graphics.
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Graphics: We have a range of graphics packages these listed on the website, including ones with audio clips embedded in them for audiobook promotion.
It started as a result of Kat continually finding errors in the books she was reading for pleasure. She just couldn’t turn off that part of her brain. Then, she was approached by an author to proofread her books. Once she started, things just snowballed. Instead of this being her side hustle, she quickly realized that she was so passionate about it that she was ready to leave her twenty-plus years in healthcare behind her. It also meant she could work from home full-time and be more available for her child, who has extra needs, or as she likes to call them—superpowers.
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In the beginning, it was just Kat, but since then, the vision has been to become a one-stop shop for authors. Providing as many services in one place as possible. The services menu has grown extensively from just proofreading to over ten different services and many packages. KLS is now a team of seven women based all over the world, providing services to authors spanning the globe.