Focus
PTO Editing prides itself in bringing a lifetime of reading under the blankets, sharpening pencils to craft crackerjack letters of complaint and propping open doors with War and Peace to help you say what you want cleanly and clearly, with style and grace.
Goals
It's very simple. PTO Editing wants to help. Years of expertise are engaged to spruce up your text and make your life easier.
PTO normalizes grammar, spelling, punctuation and the mechanics of language, always aware that language fashions are changing as we speak.
PTO provides an international perspective on English, having infiltrated various English-speaking colonies, some of which remain loyal and some of which broke away.
PTO eliminates all those tedious habits involving repetition, jargon, incomplete sentences, muddled tenses and the application of funny old rules.
PTO handles various editing styles applied to academic papers. These include APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, ASQ and house styles.
'How can I help this writer to say it better in his own style?' James Thurber
Background
PTO Editing believes in working on a wide range of textual matter to keep up with all sorts of language use. After all, we use many types of English depending on context, mood and intention. English is always changing, so judgement calls have to be made as to how appropriate the particular vocabulary or style is to the current piece.
Sally has always been a voracious reader and soon became an English teacher, with a bachelor's degree from the University of Auckland. Beginning with novels and short stories for Heinemann's in Singapore, she later branched out into academic editing with all its styles and requirements. Achieving a master's degree in Canada prompted this change of state. The net widened to include business English, children's stories and poetry. Whether working for Heinemann''s or Friesen Press, Sally has always worked independently.
Editing has run in parallel with writing and an interest in history. Sally's books have been published by Altitude Press, Rocky Mountain Books and the Chinook Country Historical Society. She transcribed the proceedings of a conference, which she had organized, and the results were published by the University of Calgary Press. The Survival Travel guidebooks are also on her bookshelf, and were based on her knowledge of New Zealand and Canada. Guidebooks on Victoria BC are her latest project.
How it works
Send your manuscript to PTO Editing via email asking for a quote and/or an edit. Depending on the amount of work needed, the charge will be approximately $15 per 1,000 words (250 words per page).
Resume and cover letter - standard charge of $50.
The time taken to edit the paper will vary depending on length, amount of work needed and any prior commitments that have to be dealt with.
A PhD dissertation may take three weeks. A novel could take longer. Most small pieces of a page or two will be done within 24 hours.
The editor will use track changes so that you can see everything that has been edited. A track changes copy will be sent to you with a clean version, which you can use immediately.
The paper will be emailed back to you as soon as it's done and you can check and query any edits. Answering any questions is part of the service.
When you are satisfied, an invoice will be emailed to you. We prefer that you pay by email transfer because it's quick and easy. If you haven't registered with your bank to do online banking, you will need to do that. Then go to a box that says something like "Email transfer" and type in the amount from whichever account you want. You send the link to pto.edit@gmail.com and PTO downloads it. It may cost you $1.50.
An alternative method is PayPal but please add 10% to cover PayPal's fees.