Novel & Manuscript Editing Services

Helping writers prepare for the road ahead

You’d never embark on a journey without making sure your ride is road-ready. The same goes for any writer embarking on the journey of turning their manuscript into a published book or memoir. Easy Writer is your mechanic, confidant, riding partner and navigator, making sure your manuscript is tuned up, strapped down, shiny clean and gassed up for the road ahead. 

After more than 20 years as a writer, journalist, author, editor and syndicated columnist (and yes, I love to ride my Harley), the next chapter in my own writer’s journey is helping other writers prepare their manuscript for the road ahead and have some fun together while doing it.

Writing is hard work. Getting some help and levity from someone who has traveled the road you’re on can make it easier and allow you to reach your destination with fewer bugs in your teeth. What follows is a list of services Easy Writer offers that I could have used — and learned from — in order to avoid some writer’s road rash…

Get your manuscript in gear

First Gear

• Proofreading

• Copy editing

• Spelling/Grammar

• Summary notes (General overview of your manuscript) 

.02 cents/wd

Second Gear

• Proofreading

• Line editing 

• Spelling/Grammar 

• Plot and pacing review/suggestions 

• Basic manuscript critique (General overview of how to tighten your story, characters and plot)

.04 cents/wd

Third Gear

• Proofreading

• Line editing

• Spelling/Grammar

• Plot and Pacing review/suggestions

• Detailed manuscript critique (Deep dive into strengthening your story, characters, plot and subplots

• Let’s talk Dialogue (Does what your characters say ring true and advance the story?)

• Plot and continuity review (Do your plot points line up with the action and characters’ actions?

.06 cents/wd

Full Throttle

• EVERYTHING through the first three gears, plus:

• Narrative style analysis (Is first-person, omniscient or third-person best in telling your story?)

• Four weekly one-on-one coaching sessions (30 minutes each): You pick the time and we’ll meet online in real time each week to talk about your manuscript as you write or re-work it)

.08 cents/wd

Other tools from the saddle bag…

Phone consultation

Let’s brainstorm! We’ll spend an hour together exploring your story, ideas, characters, plot and sub-plots, as well as troubleshoot any potential road blocks — and how to avoid them. ($60)

Query letter review/critique

A query letter is just as important — and sometimes just as hard to write — as the manuscript itself. Let’s make sure your first impression is the best it can be for potential agents and publishers. ($90)

Manuscript outline review/suggestions

Before you begin the journey of writing your manuscript, we can make sure your road map doesn’t have any dead ends or wrong turns. ($130) 

For the writer who has Everything!

…EXCEPT a well-edited manuscript…

Just click HERE to choose the amount and complete your purchase, then scroll down to the “Get in Touch” box to confirm the details of your order and where we can send your gift certificate and official Easy Writer mug!

Word on the Street…

Ned is full of helpful tips on writing that will inspire you to write that book.

Tom Cherones

Emmy Award-winning director of “Seinfeld” and author of “The Hardly Boys: Mystery of the Golden Goblet”

Whether YOU are a writer or know someone who is, I highly recommend this service as a way to bolster courage and encourage good writing practices — and even laugh a little.

Randall C. Willis

Award-winning writer and screenwriter, founder of “So, What’s Your Story?” story analysis service

A Nickel’s Worth of advice

Some thoughts on how to avoid becoming your own expendable character on the road to your writing goals…

Get in touch

Have questions? Ready to roll? Don’t hesitate to reach out by sending a message. You can also call 541-991-3638, contact me by email or through any of the social media links below.

Thanks for considering Easy Writer as a part of your writer’s journey and, regardless of which riding partner your choose, my best wishes for a smooth road ahead!

— Ned Hickson

Ned Hickson is an award-winning nationally syndicated humor columnist. He has been awarded “Best Local Column” from both the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association and the Society of Professional Journalists.

His first book, Humor at the Speed of Life (2013), is a collection of columns over his 23 years at Siuslaw News, where he also served as editor-in-chief from 2016-2021. His second book, Pearls of Writing Wisdom: From 16 shucking years as a columnist (2016), is a humorous writer’s guide offering tips, insights and perspectives from his many years as a columnist and writer. He is currently working on his third book, No Safe Harbor, a murder mystery set in Seattle, Wash. He is also the host of “Humor at the Speed Life” on KXCR 90.7 FM, a weekly radio program aimed at “bringing people together through our shared experience as people, in the common language we all speak through humor.”

Ned lives on the Oregon coast with his wife, four children, his Harley Sportster and entirely too many seagulls.