My name's Jason Pettus.
I make good books great.

From 2007 to 2017 I was the owner of the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography, which published 40 books for total distribution of over 20,000 copies. Along the way, CCLaP's books won or were finalists for a half-dozen awards, including the Pushcart Prize, the Lambda Award for LGBTQ literature, and the Independent Publisher Book Award; and the center itself was named one of the 10 best indie presses in the United States by both BookRiot.com and Poets & Writers magazine. Now I bring that same award-winning deep editing experience to your own self-published or small-press manuscript, helping you hone it with a fine knife into the best book it can possibly be.

I don't perform jobs for my clients; I build relationships. I become as much of an expert on their voice as they are. I work with authors over multiple books and entire careers, forming an integral partnership that benefits us both.

I specialize in developmental editing, taking a big-picture look at your manuscript and identifying strengths and weaknesses in plot, character, pacing, style and tone, and giving you no-bones advice about how "publishable" it currently is. I also regularly do copy editing (also known as “line editing” and “content editing”), focusing in on a word-by-word basis to correct mistakes in what my industry calls GUPS (grammar, usage, punctuation and spelling). Other services include simple "post-production proofreading" for typos and missing punctuation; complete rewriting of entire sections of text for better clarity; specialized academic work using the Chicago Manual of Style, APA and Bluebook; and short documents like memos, web articles, website copy and promotional material for enterprise and other corporate clients.

I've been on the other side. I've been the one sorting through a slush pile of hundreds of manuscripts. I give you clear, no-nonsense advice on how to make your book more appetizing to agents, editors and audiences.

But don’t take my word for it; read through the hundreds of testimonials my current and past clients have given, attesting to both the quality of my skills and the compassion I bring to the job. My work comes with a 100% happiness guarantee; if you’re not entirely satisfied, I will continue working for free until you are.

Simple proofreading for typos: 0.5 cents per word

Developmental editing: 1 cent per word

Copy editing: 1 cent per word

Developmental + copy edit: 1.5 cents per word

Rewriting text into a more readable form: 1.5 cents per word

Doctoral dissertations: 2 cents per word

Journalism: 3 cents per word

Enterprise clients: 5 cents per word

I believe in being transparent and consistent with my rates, so here they are, laid out in advance. I’m a proud member of both the American Copy Editors Society and the Romance Writers of America, and abide by a strict code of ethics that guides my industry, including no hidden fees or deliberate price-gouging. All of these rates are also open for discussion and best offers.

AI pledge: I promise that all work I complete for clients has been, and will always be, accomplished using only my human brain and ten human fingers, never using AI bots, Grammarly, or other software options. I encourage you to demand this promise from all the freelancer candidates you interview and work with!