Send me a thousand words. You'll get them back marked up, free.

Ask what your last reader said — "I got a bit lost in the middle" is developmental. "It's a bit of a slog" is a line edit. "I spotted three typos" is a proofread. One sentence usually settles it
If it isn't finished, it isn't ready — A copy-edit on a draft you are still going to restructure is money set on fire, and then set on fire again when it needs doing over
The order matters, downwards only — Polishing sentences that are going to be cut is the most common expensive mistake in this whole trade. Never work up the list
You may only need one — Plenty of manuscripts need a line edit and nothing else at all. An editor who tells you that you need all four is selling rather than diagnosing
Nobody minds being told — Being told you asked for the wrong one costs you nothing and saves you a great deal. It is not an awkward conversation from this side
The sample settles it in writing — Send a thousand words and you get told which of the four this book needs and why, whether or not you go on to book anything

A thousand words, free — From anywhere in the manuscript, and please not the polished opening. The chapter you're worried about tells us both a great deal more
It comes back marked up — Tracked changes plus margin notes explaining why rather than only what. The reasons are the part you can apply yourself to the other ninety thousand words
Not in red — Markup here is violet, which is a small thing that turns out to matter. A page of red reads as anger even when every note on it is kind
With a straight diagnosis — Which of the four this book needs, roughly what it would take, and whether it is ready for any of them yet
No obligation, and no follow-up — One email with the sample in it. If you don't reply, that is the end of it — there is no second email and no list
About a week — Sometimes less. If it is going to be longer than that you'll be told before you send anything rather than after
Why it's free — Because a paid sample only selects for people who have already decided, and the ones most worth hearing from haven't yet

It won't get you an agent — "Professionally edited" means nothing in a query letter — it can't be verified and mostly isn't read. The manuscript being better is what helps. The label isn't
It won't make a book sell — Nothing an editor does is a marketing plan. A well-edited book with no readers is still a book with no readers
It won't finish an unfinished book — Editing improves what exists. If the ending isn't written, no amount of paid attention will write it for you
It isn't a verdict on whether to give up — Ask for one and you'll get an honest answer, but that is a conversation rather than an edit and it doesn't cost anything
It doesn't make the book mine — Every change is a suggestion you can reject, and you will reject some. The ones you reject deliberately are usually your voice doing its job
Be wary of anyone promising otherwise — "Editing that gets you published" is a claim nobody is in a position to make. Where you see it, look carefully at what else that page is selling

Per word, not per hour — An hourly rate rewards a slow editor and leaves you unable to budget. A per-thousand rate is a number you can multiply before you commit to anything
The quote is fixed after the sample — And it doesn't move, including when a manuscript turns out to be harder than it looked. That risk is mine and it should be
A deposit, not the whole fee — A quarter to hold the slot and the rest on delivery. Nothing is withheld — the file reaches you before the final payment does
If you can't afford it — Say so plainly. There are two reduced slots a month, no proof of anything is asked for, and the work is identical

Three to five months ahead — Which is normal for anybody you would want. An editor who is free next week is either new or something has gone wrong, and both are worth asking about
A slot is a date, not a guess — You get a start date and an end date in writing, and if either moves you hear on the day it moves rather than the week it matters
What to do while you wait — Nothing at all to the manuscript. Genuinely — put it in a drawer. The distance will do more for it than another pass would
Cancellations happen — There is a list, it is short, and it costs nothing to be on. Say if a nearer date would actually help you
Rush work — Exists, costs more, and is usually the wrong answer. Ask what the deadline really is before paying extra to meet one that isn't real