Freelance editors usually use the less expensive option of the general crit to highlight their skills and entice clients into purchasing more expensive services.

Whereas a full crit of a book-length manuscript might cost you a couple hundred dollars (depending on whether they charge a flat rate, or on a per-page or per-hour rate — and not $800 as Plummer suggests on her website), the general crit would be cheap by comparison — some editors may even do it for free as part of the intitial consultation.

Another thing you have to realize is that freelance editors offer all kinds of services — everything from proofreading and light copyediting to comprehensive book-doctoring. Some even do ghostwriting — (although, I personally frown on this and would be highly suspicious of an editor offering this service who doesn’t have a genuine track record publishing their own work in a particular genre).

Fees vary according to the service and vary depending on the editor. Scammers generally charge more for editorial services than legitimate editors with real creds. So, you really have to shop around and know what you are looking for in an editor and whether or not that editor is good at what they do and is a good fit for you before you lay down any coin for the service. There are a lot of con artists out there and they target novice writers.

The reason her “secrets” sound familiar is because they’re not really secrets. That’s the beauty of the scam. Tease the unsuspecting aspiring amateur with generic writing tips that are available lots of places — tips that are really just common sense. Tips that aren’t wrong just not terribly helpful, but just attractive enough to trick these dumbasses into thinking there’s more “there” there. So, the poor deluded jackasses pony-up for one of these courses thinking it’ll lead them, somehow, to the promised land. And it won’t. All of these so-called systems are just variations of one another.

However, if I’m understanding your implication correctly, I’m actually surprised you-know-who hasn’t yet gone this route — She could title her own E-book course, Master Steps to Conjure Creativity or some such nonsense.

So the complaint is that I should write a different kind of blog to appease the few of you guys who complain? Who’s being “confrontational”? You people seriously need to get a life.