Frequently Asked Questions
GENERAL
Q. Where can I see samples of your work?
A. We have a link to writing samples across various areas in the footer.
Q. I’ve placed my order…now what?
A. Right away, you should receive an email confirming your order. We may need more information from you, at which point, we will get in touch with you via the email address that you signed up for your order. If not, we will be in touch with you within the allotted delivery time with your writing. For more information on delivery times, please click here.
Q. I have some questions before I order…
A. Great! We love chatting to new people! You can get in touch with us via the live chat function on the website, or, if it’s out of office hours, feel free to get in touch with us via our contact page.
Q. Do you offer a payment plan for longer books?
A. Yes, we do! For any books 20,000 words or more, we provide a custom four-milestone payment plan. This breaks your order into four smaller payments and four smaller milestone deliveries.
Q. How does your milestone payment plan work?
A. Just like this:
STEP ONE: You get in touch with us via the contact form to request a milestone payment plan and we send you a custom invoice for the first quarter of the project. Once paid, we get to work on creating the first 25% of your book.
STEP TWO: We deliver the first 25% milestone. Once you’re happy, we will send over the invoice for the second milestone. Once this is paid, we will get started on the second 25% percent of your book.
Rinse and repeat until the book is complete!
Q. I’ve tried to order but I’ve been warned of extended delivery times and a potential waiting list. What’s going on?
A. Due to the hands-on nature of our service, from time to time we reach maximum capacity. When this happens, we extend orders. When we’ve reached our extended order maximum quota, we stop taking orders and instead, add you to a waiting list.
REVISIONS & DELIVERIES
Q. What is your standard delivery time?
A. For projects 5,000 words or less, we deliver within seven to fourteen days of your order. For projects 5,001 words or more, we add on roughly seven days per 5,000 words. A good barometer for judgement is that the longest book service we offer is 40,000 words and we would aim to complete this within no more than eight weeks. Due to the nature of our bespoke service, during busy periods, there may be unexpected delays. Under this circumstance, we would give you regular updates on the projected timeline.
Q. How does the revision process work?
A. Just like this:
DELIVERY: This is your initial draft delivery. If you’re happy with this, we send this to the editor (copyeditor as standard, or developmental editor if you’ve upgraded). If not, you share with us what you do and don’t like and then, we go away and fix this up for you. (NOTE: All revisions must be based on original brief. If additional information or content gets added here, there may be an additional charge).
REVISION ONE: After taking on-board your notes, your revised work is delivered back to you. If it’s still not quite right, we’ll take more of your notes on board and go again.
REVISION TWO: After taking on-board your first revision notes, your revised work is delivered back to you. If it’s still not quite right, we’ll take more of your notes on board and go again.
REVISION THREE: We now deliver our fourth edition of your work. If you’re happy with writing, it now goes off to the editor…
Q. What happens if I don’t like what you’ve written?
A. As standard, all orders come with three free revisions, which essentially works out as four attempts for us to get this spot-on for you (including initial delivery). It’s very rare that we don’t absolutely nail-it within this structure (in fact, 99% of our orders don’t even require the third revision). If, after delivery and three revisions, you still need more work on your writing, there will be a fee for each additional revision. Our additional revision fees are listed here:
| up to 1,000 words: £50 | up to 5,000 words: £80 | over 5,000 words (per milestone): £150 |
Q. What happens if I’m still not fully satisfied after my free revisions?
A. Honestly, we’re an excellent team of intuitive creative communicators. It rarely gets to this point; in fact, 99% of our work is always completed and finalised within the standard free revisions. If, after delivery and three revisions, you still need more work on your writing, there will be a fee for each additional revision. These are priced at the following rates:
| up to 1,000 words: £50 | up to 5,000 words: £80 | over 5,000 words (per milestone): £150 |
Q. How do revisions work on longer chapter books?
A. For all projects 20,000 words or more, we split the deliveries into four milestones, delivering a quarter of the work to you at a time (eg. 20,000 words would be split into 4x 5,000-word milestones).
Each of these four milestone deliveries come with three revisions, so there’s plenty of opportunity to make amendments as we go.
Q. How long are your revision windows?
A. Our revision window remains open for five days. Each new revision request initiates a new five-day window when the updated work is returned to you. If we do not hear back from you within the five-day window, your order will be marked as complete and your work will be sent to the editor and delivered to you. If work has gone to the editor, any further revisions are charged at our paid revision fee.
SERVICES & EDITORIAL
Q. I get free copyediting, but I can upgrade to developmental editing; what’s the difference?
A. A copyedit of your work essentially ensures that the spelling, grammar and syntax are all correct, whilst being mindful of a consistent writing style. Developmental editing looks more directly at the content, structure, themes and character arcs, and fixes the writing structurally to ensure the best version of your story is being told.
In a nutshell: the free copyediting is like an enhanced proofread, whereas developmental editing hones and perfects your manuscript to ensure it is fully ready to hit the shelves!
We strongly recommend that all books should be developmentally edited before publishing.
Q. My initial delivery has spelling and grammar errors in – why is this?
A. Your initial delivery has not yet been passed to an editor as this is what we call the draft delivery. Your revision deliveries may also contain errors or typos, too. This is because we want to make sure you’re happy with the direction, tone and style of the writing before our editors do the final polish on your work. Your final edited delivery will be error-free.
Q. The service I’m looking for isn’t listed in the Build-a-Book Portal, can you still help me out?
A. The chances are that, yes, we probably can help you out. To find out for sure and get a custom quote from us, please get in touch.
Was your question still not answered here?
If not, feel free to get in touch with us here