Fifteen years of other people's books

Because this industry gives you almost nothing to judge on. Editors do not publish prices. Their websites say things like "collaborative partnership" and "bringing out your unique voice." You are asked to hand over a manuscript you have worked on for four years, plus several thousand dollars, on the strength of a nice-sounding paragraph and a photograph.

So I do the work first. You send ten pages, I edit them the way I would edit the whole book, and you read the notes and decide. Some people read them and hire me. Some read them and conclude we would drive each other mad, which is genuinely a good outcome discovered cheaply. Either way you saw the actual work rather than a description of it.

The other thing worth saying plainly: I take between eight and twelve manuscripts a year, which means I turn down more than I accept. If your book is not something I can be useful on, I will tell you in week one instead of being encouraging for three months and cashing the cheque.