Awful experience with Reedsy
I am posting this here, hoping other authors can avoid having an awful experience with Reedsy. Within the 6 weeks it took to get a final decision from them, I have a new editor because of the errors and lack of editing this editor provided. The difference was night and day.
I hired an editor through Reedsy for a line/copy editing package on my novel for $880. I was really excited to work with this editor since they had excellent reviews and offered a 2 day proofread (which despite being the most expensive of the editors I was looking at is the main reason I chose them). But the edits I was provided were nothing like the sample edits. They did a complete bait-and-switch from before to after I accepted the offer.
What I received (3 days late) was riddled with errors. There were no explanatory comments for some of their edits, even though they agreed to leave them and it's mentioned within the package, and they introduced problems that weren't in my original prose.
- When I brought up there were no explanatory comments, they said it "is not an efficient use of my time" and that they don't offer this with their services.
- Some errors introduced by the editor: There were grammatical and spelling errors. Floating dialogue that they disconnected from their tags. Stated "the Sphinx" had to be "the Great Sphinx" because it could be confused with the cat breed Sphynx that they incorrectly spelled Sphinx.
- They told me I used filter words like "I see" and "I hear" as issues in my prose, despite that not being present. It was only a few times in the character's dialogue.
- Flagged a word as a crutch word, despite it only being added by them in my prose.
- Applied contradictory italics rules across different chapters.
When pushed, the editor admitted they didn’t provide me with a full line edit in writing.
They revealed they had identified extensive recurring line/copy-editing issues in my writing but never flagged them during the edits, despite agreeing to do so. They then blamed me for not providing full edits, claiming I showed "reluctance" during the sample edit. My pre-agreement messages show the opposite: I told them multiple times to feel free to leave all their thoughts, and that I could always keep edits as suggestions if I didn't agree with them. I also told them they should never feel the need to hold back.
Communication was a recurring issue. They ghosted me three times, regarding communication preferences and reaching out after a deliverable was late.
There were other issues I won't go into here, like unilaterally changing our terms after I had accepted the offer and calling things we had agreed upon "courtesy extras."
I filed a report through Reedsy for a full refund. Provided them all documentation and communication via Reedsy. They offered a 30% refund for the canceled proofread only, despite the editor themselves openly admitting that they did not do a full line/copy edit when pushed. In their response, they did not address any of the major errors I pointed out and sided fully with the editor.
I emailed Reedsy, pointing out that they completely ignored the errors I brought up, and they only increased the refund to 40% and said no more changes would be made to the refund amount. They acknowledged only some of the errors I pointed out after mentioning I had another editor look at the manuscript and identified even more errors that I hadn’t caught. Still, they said that I reaped the benefits of her other edits. I did not.
I went with Reedsy because I thought their vetting process would prevent a situation like this. I am so disappointed that they are not making the situation right and siding with the editor who admitted to not providing what we agreed upon.
TLDR: An editor on Reedsy pulled a complete bait-and-switch. They delivered a manuscript riddled with errors, missing elements that had been agreed upon before the offer was accepted. When pushed, the editor admitted to not providing full line/copy edits. I had to hire another editor to fix what they provided me. Reedsy only provided a 30% refund for the canceled proofread and an additional 10% for all the errors introduced and missed. I am disappointed they are not making the situation right and siding with the editor who admitted to not providing what we agreed upon.