SERVICES QUICK REFERENCE (READ BELOW FOR FULL DETAILS)
Short Stories: $250/10 pgs +$10/pg to 15 pgs. Flat fee, paid up front.
Manuscripts: $.04 a word standard pricing (flexible if you’re cool) Further details included below.
Dev, Story Consulting, Mentoring (I refuse to say coaching) Personal… training. $50/hr. Minimums 2hrs/week ($400/mo) 4hrs a month ($250/mo)
Walk fee. Separation triggers a contracted walk fee. (Don’t waste our time)
Flexible billing for special cases or stories I like.
Email: emilottoman@gmail.com. Subject Line: Editorial inquiry.
OR
Who I am
The Bio:
Emil Ottoman: Founding editor of Television Sky Press, Founder of Cult of The Rainbow Rat, Editor-in-chief of the 9 Story Hotel project, Freelance editor, mentor, story consultant, and prose voodoo doctor.
Emil Ottoman is an author editor of dubious vintage and clandestine credentials who knows half the contemporary indie writers you read, and you’ve never heard of him. He was one of two founding members of the meme page and experimental arts/writing project Cult of the Rainbow Rat, and founder of Burnt Tongue Editing Televion Sky Editorial Services. E.O. is a freelance editor with a decade and a half experience specializing in line and developmental editing with a holistic, professional, sentence and systems level, no bullshit approach to what he calls “The Work”. Rarely published because of crippling imposter syndrome, Emil so far mostly prefers to stay behind the curtains pulling the strings for others.
Writer, author, editor, publisher, artist, retired criminal, unrepentant, Emil Ottoman has been called the official unofficial editor of Substack.
I am The Editor, an autopsy artist who wants to help lift the strivers up a level in their craft. He runs his Evil Empire from ST. Louis, Misery, the Show-Me state. So, please, by all means, show me your work!
WHAT I DO
My editorial style is holistic and client focused. I bring 20 years of obsessive near neurotic experience concerning the craft, along with 10+ years editing experience with me. I’m not proscriptive or prescriptive.
I believe in helping authors find their voice and style, recognizing their personal grammar and syntax (which is more important to outstanding writing in my opinion than perfect or technically CORRECT, grammar and syntax) questioning their themes, inspecting the text at the sentence and systems level.
I encourage focusing on intentionality in the writing process, and amplifying all of the aforementioned to help them rise to the level of their true competence, ideally helping you reach a full draft displaying your best work.
Though I specialize in and come from a lineage connected to minimalist fiction I don’t want to flatten everything to fit the mold of formal minimalism. My minimalism isn’t even formal, it’s a hybrid including experimentation and maximalism combined with everything I’ve absorbed from friends, workshops, fiction, too many books about writing fiction, and my own thoughts and feelings about how the best way to be an editor is to make your contributions invisible while helping the author create the work they want to see in the world. However I do not mince words, I do not suffer fools, and I can be snarky, familiar, and sometimes a little blunt.
Services
Short Stories
Short stories of up to 10 pages are handled on a flat fee basis. $250 up to ten pages. Every additional page up to 15 pages is an extra $10.00 (tops out at $350)
Short stories do not require a contract or invoice unless one is requested by the client.
Short stories are paid up front and will receive:
A full developmental and line edit.
A document containing full editorial analysis, thoughts, questions, and suggestions.
One client side Zoom or equivalent contact to discuss the story of no set time limit.
And a read over a second draft (if one is made) with short notes (if thought necessary or warranted) at which point you can hire me to do it all over again if you want.
Manuscripts
Anything not classified above as a short story falls under my arbitrary editorial category of “manuscripts.” Because anything longer than 15 pages but shorter than 100 is rare and weird. I like rare and weird, but still.
Full Length manuscripts of novella length (roughly 100-120 pages) or longer will require a contract. Every contract starts as a template and is then made bespoke for the client. However some things are set in stone.
Full length manuscripts have two pricing options:
.04 cents a word for the entire document.
flex billing at 50 dollars per work hour on retainer billed either by the month or by the week.
Note: Before I read anything or do any substantive work we gotta consult and figure out scope, needs, expectations, and if we vibe. A serious MS inquiry with reading fee is $50.00 so we both have skin in the game (Your money. My time).
Note: If at any time you decide you don’t sparkle with the services being rendered after signing a contract, understand there is an automatically triggered walk fee written into every contract. This allows me to recoup some of the time I spent working on your project, and allows you to keep anything of use you got from my work. The separation and walk fee will be a flat fee agreed to by both parties while drawing up the final contract.
Full length manuscripts have two payment options:
.04 cents a word for the entire document with a down payment of whatever both parties agree to so the work can begin. The remaining payments scheduled will be dictated by the desired turnaround time and depth of work requested by the client, or required by the state of the manuscript and the abilities of the client as I gauge them and as written in the contract, with the final payment due upon completion and delivery to the satisfaction of all parties involved.
Flex open contract billing at a billable rate of $50 an hour with a minimum monthly hourly contract of no less than 4 hours ($200.00 USD monthly), or minimum weekly contract of 2 hours ($100.00 USD weekly) minimum or $200.00 USD monthly minimum. This is the best option for unfinished dev or long term projects who don’t have a full manuscript, want editorial input on call at a reasonable price, or expect to have a long and meaningful journey through the work they’re doing. Often times these contracts end up lasting upwards of a year or more, with one I had lasting over 28 months. Hourly pay on a full length manuscript would quickly eclipse a per word contract. The first payment is due upon the signing of the contract, and the last payment is due upon the satisfaction of all parties involved, or the separation fee (based on a per contract basis for flex pay)
Here it is worth noting, I really dig my work. If you can only pay the minimum, expect more if only because I like what I do.
If I believe in your story or manuscript, there is always room to work out something. I enjoy what I do.
A full length manuscript will receive:
A full developmental and line edit.
Ongoing discussion and continued contact throughout the process.
A document containing full editorial analysis, thoughts, questions, and suggestions.
Depending on the size of the project no less than two but no more than four client side Zoom or equivalent contacts to discuss the story of no set limit.
Emails from me if I’m goddamn confused about something.
And a read over a second draft (if one is made) with short notes (if thought necessary or warranted) at a point however if deemed needed or appropriate a new contract will have to be drawn up. I offer aftercare, but it can only go so far.
Continued support throughout the process including coaching (I hate that word), additional materials, and ancillary resources, especially on an open ended flex plan, or if your manuscript is unfinished.
THE BREAKDOWN
$125 non-negotiable initial consult and reading fee for up to 1,500 words to see if we will work well together. Skin in the game, is we mesh, in it to win it, hopefully.
$250 flat fee for short story edits up to ten pages, $10 a page up to 15 (line + developmental), payment up front.
$0.04/word for full contracted manuscript edits (line + developmental), first payment due on contract signing, remainder split into payments as agreed to in the contract.
Flex open contract à la carte work at $50/hour billed weekly ($100/2hr minimum) or monthly ($200/4hr minimum)
Contracts come with a walk clause. We will hash it out together. Editing takes time, and energy has value.
I’m willing to work with you to find a payment structure that works, especially if I believe in your work.
CURRENTLY ACCEPTING SHORT STORIES
And I have room for ONE 50-70k manuscript, or 2 30-40k manuscripts.