Do a quick search and you’ll find thousands of editing services. When we started back in 1999, there were probably less than 100.  So how do you sort through the clutter to find the best one? By considering this comparison checklist.

Who Owns the Editing Service? Our owner is Marc D. Baldwin, PhD, whose bio, credentials, and contact information are right on the website (https://edit911.com/staff).  He also runs the Customer Service department, often answering emails and phone calls himself. The buck stops with him.  Few other editing services are up front about their ownership and fewer still have the owner himself readily available for questions and clarifications.  Dr. Baldwin puts his professional reputation and career as a college professor on the line with every single editing job his company does.

Who Does the Editing? Again, most other editing services don’t make it very clear who is editing your work, much less including staff names and bios (https://edit911.com/staff). All of Edit911’s editors are PhDs and published scholars in a wide range of fields and disciplines.  Many on the Staff have been with Edit911 for 7-10 years.

How Dependable and Responsive is Their Customer Service? Dr. Baldwin has one or two assistants, depending on the day, but for the most part he—the owner—answers emails and phone calls. He likes it that way because it ensures that his clients receive the very best treatment and service.  No client of Edit911 ever gets delayed or ignored.  All questions, concerns, or issues are immediately addressed to our clients’ complete satisfaction.

Do They Have Accountability as Members of TrustE & the Better Business Bureau of America (BBB)?  These two organizations warrant and certify that a company is reliable and trustworthy. Without their seals on the site—active and responsive when you click them—the editing service has no accountability. That is, to whom does an unhappy customer complain and report that complaint? Edit911 has perfect A+ rating with both companies, never having had one single complaint filed against it in 13 years of business.  Few other editing services are members of these organizations, much less having a flawless record of zero customer complaints.

Does the Editing Service Have a Track Record of Successful Editing? Having edited over 22,000 documents since 1999, Edit911 has hundreds of stellar Testimonials and many delighted Published Clients. Few other editing services have anywhere near the amount of enthusiastic clients singing their praises.

Do the Editors Themselves Actually Write and Publish Their Work? When you think about it, isn’t it absurd to hire an editor who doesn’t actually write anything? All of our editors are published authors of their scholarly articles, books, and novels. They also write blogs (https://edit911.com/blog), books, white papers, and articles for Edit911. Few other editing services provide any information at all about their editors, much less whether or not their editors are published authors.

Do the Editors Offer Any Mentoring and Advice as They Edit? Since almost all of Edit911’s editors are college professors, they enjoy teaching and helping their clients in any way they can. So, they explain their editing and offer constructive suggestions. These two samples of our editing reports demonstrate our editors’ level of engagement with their clients.

Is Their Editing Comprehensive? Most editing services have several different rates, depending on what you pay for. If you just pay for proofreading, they ignore all other issues, regardless of how serious they may be, because you didn’t pay for them to correct anything but basic “errors.” That’s like asking a medical doctor to just check your pulse. She may notice that your eyes are blurry and you have a fever, but she doesn’t treat those symptoms because you didn’t pay for them. We at Edit911 believe it is unethical to do anything other than everything we can possibly do for you. Therefore, we have one low rate for our full-service editing (See Services, FAQs and Order Service).

In Conclusion? The difference between Edit911 and other editing services could not be greater.