Editing
Rules need to work the first time a player reads them.
Whether you’re a designer, a self-publisher, or a publisher, rulebooks need their text to be right before it goes to print. Get your rulebook proofread, edited, or a first draft written from scratch by an award-winning published designer:
I’m a native American English speaker that’s been making board games since 2016. I work to understand what the rules are trying to say, not just whether the sentences are grammatically correct.
What’s available
Proofreading: Spelling, grammar, punctuation, internal consistency, and formatting. The final pass that catches what everyone else stopped seeing.
Editing: Everything in proofreading, plus unclear or redundant directions, awkward phrasing, Americanisms (or their absence, depending on your market), gendered language, cultural references, and anything that slows a new player down unnecessarily.
Deep editing and structural restructuring: For rulebooks that need more than a polish – reorganizing the flow of information, rewriting sections for clarity, and making sure the learning curve matches how the game actually plays.
Rulebook writing: From your notes and a video chat or playtest of your game, I write the first draft of your rulebook for you. You get a formatted Google Doc that serves as a jumping point for your future iterations.
How it works
Editing and proofreading: Send your file. Google Docs or Microsoft Word preferred – on request I can work in Suggestions mode or Track Changes throughout, so you can see every change and why it was made. PDFs need to be converted to an editable format first; text embedded in images cannot be edited.
Rulebook writing: We start with a virtual session to talk through the game. If you have it in Tabletop Simulator or Screentop, we’ll play. I review whatever notes you have, produce a first draft, meet a second time to go through it line by line, and deliver a final version after your review.
By default I write in American English. If you prefer another variant of English (British, Canadian, etc.) just say so.
Rates
Proofreading: £0.035/word (about €0.04/word or $0.05 USD/word)
Example: a 3,000 word rulebook would cost £105 / €121 / $141.
Editing: £0.055/word (about €0.06/word or $0.07 USD/word)
Example: a 3,000 word rulebook would cost £165 / €190 / $223.
Restructuring / rewriting: £0.075/word (about €0.09/word or $0.10 USD/word)
Example: a 3,000 word rulebook would cost £225 / €260 / $304.
Rulebook writing: £0.105/word (about €0.12/word or $0.14 USD/word)
Example: a 3,000 word rulebook would cost £315 / €363 / $425.
Minimum fee: £25. Most work returned within one week.
Payment can be handled Wise, bank transfer, or Paypal. For larger jobs, a 50% deposit may be requested before work begins, with the balance due on delivery.
Testimonials from publishers
“We worked with Chris on season 1 of All Time Wrestling – over 20,000 words of text. Chris was great in his review, not only proofreading the content but making suggestions on the overall storyline and providing valuable ideas. I would recommend publishers to work with Chris.”
– Mohamed Alqadi, Cation Arts
“Chris was very communicative, easy to work with, and most importantly stood by his estimation. We would love to work with him on future projects.”
– Milan Tasevski, Archona Games (Small Samurai Empires)
“He quickly developed an understanding of what was required. Questions were asked quickly and everything was finished far ahead of the deadline. We will stay in touch for future cooperation.”
– Andrey, Hack The Publisher (Dwarven Skykeep)
Testimonials from designers
“I’ve reviewed all of your edits and I’m really pleased. The detail work around punctuation is a godsend, but more importantly I enjoyed seeing how you used sentence structure to make the language more accessible. And you weren’t afraid to make judgment calls to make things smooth.”
– Hailey Cooperrider, designer of The Adaptation Game
“Just reviewed all of your comments and made the requisite changes. Thank you so much. You brought a lot of clarity to the rule set and helped me pare down some sections that I knew were verbose but I struggled to rephrase. You brought up interesting points concerning the layout and definitions as well.”
Jack Dunbar, designer of New Kingdoms
“I can’t believe how much better it sounds. Rule writing has been one of the toughest jobs – it’ll be exciting now to get them to a graphic designer and finish the last step.”
– David Mason, designer of Eldimont
“It was like he got into our heads and could see the game through our eyes. We look forward to working with him on future games.”
– Michael Keays, Petros Games
A few notable projects
Simon and Caezar from Alley Cat Games have re-mastered Tinners Trail, a Martin Wallace classic, and I was honored to serve as a proofreader for the project.
Chronicles of Crime, from Lucky Duck Games – this was a fun project to work on! I mainly worked on proofreading the rulebook to ensure every ‘i’ was dotted and every ‘t’ crossed.
Tanares Adventures is an amazing RPG that raised $1.6 million on Kickstarter. I came on board to edit and proofread the expansion to this incredible world.
Get a free, no-obligation quote
Tell me about your project, and when you need it done. I’ll come back to you quickly with a quote.