Services Offered

PROOFREADING and COPY EDITING:

As of 2021, I've joined MacKids as a proofreader and copy editor. I will also be providing these freelancing services.

For both proofreading and copy editing, my rates are the industry standard of:

$0.02 per word or $30 per hour.

SENSITIVITY READING

While also being disabled, I’ve recently lost my traditional income and will be offering sensitivity reads. In early 2019, I became a sensitivity reader for InkYard Press. As of 2020, I read for the entirety of HarperCollins Publishing. Within my three years as a freelance sensitivity reader, I’ve worked with Penguin Random House and for authors at MacMillan Publishers, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and more.

My most recent sensitivity reading credits include THE STRANGE MATTER OF MISS HAVISHAM by Hillary Monahan, THIS COVEN WON’T BREAK by Isabel Sterling, ALL THE STARS AND TEETH by Adalyn Grace, THE SOUND OF STARS by Alechia Dow, and CURSE OF THE DIVINE by Kim Smejkal. I pride myself on building relationships with in Publishing through a warm-hearted approach and fervent research.

I am genderqueer, asexual, living with mental illnesses, and disabled. In order to make it easier, I’ve laid out my areas of representation at the bottom of the page for easy perusal. Usually, I write queer sci-fi and fantasy for adults and young adults. However, I've edited and performed sensitivity reads for contemporary, romance, erotica, thrillers, and others outside my genres. My references include NYT Bestselling author Hillary Monahan (aka Eva Darrows and Thea de Salle), MG/YA author of HONOR CODE, Kiersi Burkhart, and Mia Siegert, who was a #1 New Release on Amazon with JERKBAIT.

I have a Bachelor’s in English with a concentration in Creative Writing and Bachelor’s in German Literature and Language from the University of South Carolina. I studied for 2.5 years at the College of Charleston, abroad at University College Northampton, and taught English as a second language in Magdeburg, Germany.

I'm offering sensitivity reads and query letter critiques along with critiques on the first pages. If you'd like me to compile a Trigger/Content Warning List from your book, I can. It will be extra. I signed with my agent through Pitch Madness's Twitter pitch contest and have a place in my heart for Twitter contests, many of which I've pitched in!

If you don't see a service, critique, or price that best fits your needs, please contact me at

authordillwerner(at)gmail(dot)com to discuss the options.

Full Manuscript Sensitivity Read:

$250 for 50-60k

$0.01 per word over 60k

>140k subject to time limits

I’ll leave notes and suggestions throughout your manuscript. You’ll also be given a 1-2 page edit letter, explaining my in-line comments and diving deeper into how you can correct any issues that have arisen. Multiple manuscripts require multiple orders.

Partial Sensitivity Read, including Individual Scenes and Short Stories:

$30 per 5,000 words

As with the manuscript read, I’ll leave notes and suggestions throughout your partial/scene(s)/short story. You’ll also be given a 1-2 page edit letter, explaining my in-line comments and diving deeper into how you can correct any issues that have arisen.

Trigger/Content Warning List:

$200 without Sensitivity Read

$100 with Sensitivity Read

Designed to help readers who may be triggered by certain subjects. As they appear throughout your manuscript, I will make a list of triggering topics and content that may be unsettling to some readers. This list may be used on your author website or included in a publication. I will go through commonplace trigger and content warnings, but if you have any topics you’d like me to look out for, in particular, I will. This service can stand on its own or be included in a bundle with a Sensitivity Read.

Twitter Pitch:

$20 for two pitches

$5 for each additional pitch

I love a good pitch! I’ll help craft your Twitter pitch for Twitter hashtag contests using your query or synopsis. I did snag my agent through a Twitter pitch contest and hold a strong fondness for them.

Query Critique:

$25 for critique

$30 for critique +1 pass

$35 for critique +2 passes

I’ll edit, check for sensitivity issues, and proofread your query letter then leave in-line notes and comments. With each pass, you will re-write your query, allowing me to evaluate the changes. Multiple query letters require multiple orders.

Opening Chapters and Query Critique:

$75 first chapter and query

$150 first 50 pages and query

$10 for each additional query pass

$15 for each additional page pass

I’ll edit, check for sensitivity issues, and proofread your query letter and first pages then leave in-line notes and comments. With each pass, you will re-write your query or first pages, allowing me to evaluate the changes. Multiple query letters and pages require multiple orders. Please keep all first chapters under 25 pages.

Professional Consult:

$1 per minute

Available in 90-minute blocks or two 60-minute blocks divided into two sessions

Sessions are dependent upon personal scheduling

I will chat with you via Google Chat or Skype chat (no video, please) about any world building or sensitivity consulting needs. This is a good way to be proactive BEFORE common mistakes are made. I will be at your disposal for the allotted time to give advice on world building, character creation, plot development, and even assist with problems you're having in your manuscript or story. I will not write anything for you but will make suggestions as to how you could reword or change the writing. My words are mine.

Chatting gives you a written transcript of our communications, and you are able to share excerpts from your writing that you'd like me to give advice on, up to 1,000 words or 3 pieces. After that, it will be considered a scene sensitivity read and I will not make comments unless you agree to the additional charges. No charges will be made or additional comments given on those scenes unless you agree.

Before You Submit:

Please be certain your manuscript is polished and submission ready. Unless noted, I will not be checking for grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, or spelling. That is a different editing service.

I require PayPal payment before I begin a new project. No refunds will be issued.
I reserve the right to turn down any manuscript for self-care purposes.
Remember that I cannot catch every transgression. I am only human and have privileges myself, which is why it helps to have multiple readers. I may suggest an area where you want to have someone else read where I cannot (race, religion, ethnicity).
I do not read unedited manuscripts, stories, or drafts.
I do not edit stories at these prices. If I have the time, that can be arranged.

How To Submit:

Please include the following in an email to authordillwerner(at)gmail(dot)com with “[Your Name] Sensitivity Read Request” in the subject.

Your name, manuscript genre and title, word count.
The service you are requesting. Sensitivity Read, Trigger/Content Warning List, etc.
Which areas you’d like me to read for: queer issues, mental illness, disability, etc.
A short pitch no more than 300 words in length of your work--like a query letter.
What’s your favorite color? Mine’s cerulean. Just making sure you’re reading! :)

Areas of Representation:

Demographics:
Married, gender neutral relationship
Mid-30s
Fat

ADHD, late diagnosis
Sober, 14+ years
Southern (southeastern US—SC, NC)
Raise by a single parent
Physical disabilities

Severe mental illness
Disowned by birth family

Studied abroad

Queer Representation:
Trans, Nonbinary
Genderqueer

Genderfluidity

Binding

Masculine spectrum

Nonbinary spectrum
Fluent in genderneutral pronouns
Asexual, Demisexual
Pansexual, Panromantic

Mental Illness Representation:
Bipolar Disorder
Borderline Personality Disorder
Self-harm, cutting
Anxiety

Panic attacks
Depression

C-PTSD
PTSD related to shootings
Medication use
Psychiatric Hospitalization
DBT Treatment
Eating Disorder Mindset--restrictive eating, purging--beginning at 15

Disability Representation:
Fibromyalgia

Arthritis in a young person (20s-30s)

Chronic Pain
Chronic Fatigue
Medication
Limited Mobility
Cane Use