- Why do I need Creative Solutions?
If you want your documents to be clearly written, professional looking, and error-free—and you don't have an editor on staff or your editor is too busy—you need Creative Solutions. When you work with us, you have immediate access to an extensive network of experienced editorial professionals who are ready and able to improve your documents right now.
- How is using Creative Solutions different from using a freelance editor?
We have a large team of qualified, professional editors with industry expertise always available to meet your tightest deadlines. We assign
both a primary and a backup editor to each client, so you never have to be
concerned if the primary editor is ill or on vacation. There is always someone ready and knowledgeable about your business to get the work done. And you know what you're getting with Creative Solutions—our editors have been thoroughly screened and tested. Our ability to exceed expectations under pressure has earned us the trust of many leading companies and institutions.
- How can Creative Solutions help my entire company?
Employees at all management levels and in every department can benefit from having Creative Solutions edit their
materials. Our professional editors will help you improve the overall quality and consistency of communication in print or online, resulting in higher sales and greater customer satisfaction. Gaining an understanding of a company's needs and styles makes us uniquely qualified to then help in many departments and offices, locally and worldwide.
We can further help by showing your staff how to be aware of common errors and to do simple editing and proofreading on their own. We can present a two-hour training session on proofreading based on K.D. Sullivan's book, Go Ahead…Proof It!
- How much does Creative Solutions charge?
Because each project has an individual set of components, we cannot quote prices without understanding the nature of the project. Cost depends upon the type of service needed, subject matter expertise required, complexity of project, document length, and completion deadline. Creative Solutions charges by the hour for most services, with rates starting at $50 per hour.
Send us your document and we'll provide you with a no-obligation quote.
- How fast can Creative Solutions complete work on my document?
If your document is 50 pages or less and requires proofreading, Creative Solutions can complete your job within 24 hours—often less. However, much depends on the type of work needed and the number of pages involved. Our goal is to edit your document as fast as you need it while maintaining our record of outstanding accuracy. Just tell us what you want and we'll do our best to accommodate you.
For budgeting purposes, industry standards of pace are:
- Proofreading – Comparison: 10 pages per hour
- Proofreading – Editorial: 8–10 pages per hour
- Copyediting: 5–7 pages per hour
- Substantive Editing: 3–5 pages per hour
(A page is usually defined in one of two ways: for hard copy, one page double-spaced; or for electronic documents, approximately 300 words.)
- What file formats does Creative Solutions support?
We are ready and able to work in many standard formats that are convenient for you. Most of our clients use Microsoft Word, either for PC or Mac. We also work in Adobe PDF, Microsoft PowerPoint, FrontPage, and Excel.
- How do I review the edits made to my document?
It depends upon the application you used to create your document and the method you choose to receive Creative Solutions' corrections and recommendations. For Microsoft Word documents, we use Track Changes mode, which allows you to review and accept or reject changes made to your document. This method saves you time and lessens the possibility of introducing new errors caused from retyping changes marked on a hard copy.
For PDF files we can use the annotations tool in Adobe Acrobat to correct formatting errors, grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Alternatively, we can print out
PDF and web site pages and mark up the hard copy, returning the marked-up pages to you or calling in changes. And, of course, we can always edit on hard copy, using standard editorial marks.
- What documents are appropriate for Creative Solutions?
Any written communications that are intended for clients, prospects, management, or any other significant person will likely benefit from having Creative Solutions work on
them. Documents can be anything from an interoffice communication to an entire web site, a press release to a product package, an advertisement to a sales proposal. We work with web site designers, CD-ROM producers, speechwriters, authors, trainers—the list is endless. If something is written and it reflects you, you want it to be the best it can be. That's where Creative Solutions comes in.
- What information do I need to provide when requesting a service?
When you contact us, we will get the details of your needs, including information such as:
- What services you need: Writing? Editing? Proofreading? Design? Don't know? We can help you determine that!
- What kind of turnaround time you are looking for.
- What form the material is in: Hard copy? Electronic file? Although most of our clients use Microsoft Word, we can write, edit, and proof in any common word processing software.
- How you would like changes returned: Via email? Phone? Delivery service? This will depend on the kind of work being done and the format of the document.
- What if my document is confidential?
We pride ourselves on our strict adherence to client confidentiality. Creative
Solutions aggressively protects the privacy of every client's work, treating
it as proprietary information. Every Creative Solutions team member must sign a lifetime agreement that continues in effect even if they no longer work with us.
Click on the Policies tab to view our Confidentiality Agreement.
