Fact-checking
Looking for guidelines on how to best annotate just about anything for fact-checking? Download my guide here! (Note: link goes to thewriterscooppod.com, which I also own)
I fact-check magazine articles, podcasts, documentaries, and nonfiction books.
As your fact-checker, I am a peer reviewer for factual accuracy and a consultant on how to adjust your narrative work to ensure that it’s 110% correct.
Most recently, I have fact-checked the award-winning seasons of This Land, Unsealed: The Tylenol Murders, Damages, and beyond. I contributed fact-checking to David Quammen’s Breathless, which was a finalist for the National Book Award.
Over the last decade that I’ve been working as a fact- checker, I’ve noticed an evolution: many clients are no longer treating fact-checking as an intern-level task; they’re realizing that there’s a real (dollar) value for materials to be accurate. And in a media environment where lies are readily propagated, many are realizing that for work to be taken seriously, fact-checking is no longer a nice-to-have, but a necessity.
I specialize in fact-checking narrative work across all mediums. I usually am working on projects with a focus on science and society, but, really, give me a juicy story and I’ll be excited to dig my teeth in. Every chapter or installment of a project that lands in my inbox feels like the newest episode of a TV series I am binging. I bring my research and investigative chops in understanding scientific papers, scouring historical and court records, dealing with confrontational sources — and more — to every project.
Books
Podcasts
Fact-checking services
Consultations: Do you need to provide a production network with a fact-checking budget? Are you an author looking to apply for a grant to cover the costs of fact-checking, but are unsure of how to price it? Or do you just… need an estimate for fact-checking? That’s what this consult is for! My consultation process entails (often) a 30-min discovery call, my time in reading over a sample chapter that’s annotated, and providing feedback (often in Google Docs or MSWord) on annotations. After these steps, I will send a reasonable upper and lower range for having a book fact-checked. Booking me for a consultation is no obligation for you to hire me as your fact-checker. | Investment: $300
Fact-checking: (of course!) You can hire me to help check for your publication, production network, or creative project of your choice. This entails a 30-min discovery call, my time in reading over a sample chapter that’s annotated and providing feedback on how to best annotate drafts for fact-check before contractually agreeing to a project fee for an agreed-upon scope of work. If you’re a magazine, I will follow your publication’s fact-checking protocols. Otherwise, I provide clients two rounds of fact-checking for a predetermined flat fee in which I attempt to verify all the facts and provide suggestions for accuracy as needed. Additional rounds of fact-checking are billed at my hourly rate.
Dying to hire me? Get in touch below!
FAQs for book authors seeking fact checkers.
Q: How early should I involve a fact-checker in the process?
A: As early as possible! I have seen requests from authors who want an entire 50,000 word nonfiction book checked within a month before it’s due back to his/her publisher. This simply isn’t feasible. Getting on a checker’s calendar once you know the editorial schedule is best, because good checkers often get booked up months in advance.
Q: To what standards do you require annotations?
A: As detailed as possible. After we sign a contract for fact-checking, I send all my direct clients a copy of my guide, HOW TO ANNOTATE JUST ABOUT ANYTHING FOR FACT-CHECKING free of charge. If you have not yet committed to hiring me, you can purchase a copy here.
Q: How much is it going to cost?
A: Just remember…
In all seriousness, though, it depends! That’s why I like to talk with inbound clients over the phone to get a sense of the complexity of the project. I do not bill hourly for fact-checking, unless it is out of scope. The question I ask my clients is: what dollar amount would you put on having an accurate podcast series/book/documentary? As some benchmarks, I typically charge at least $8000 for an 8-episode narrative podcast series, and $1000 per chapter for a narrative nonfiction book. Out of respect for my time and yours, please do not send a fact-checking inquiry if these rates are out of your budget.
Q: I can’t afford you!
A: Not everyone can, and that’s ok. If you think I might know someone who can help you for the job, feel free to email me. Please note that I charge a one-time $50 referral fee for individuals, and $100 for organizations/newsrooms/production networks.
Q: I’m a book author and I’m still blown away by how much it might cost to get a chapter checked. That’s a lot of money that’s likely coming from my own pocket and not the publisher. I want to pay my checker fairly but that is out of my budget. What can I do?
A: I totally empathize and believe that publishers need to start taking on a burden of the fact-checking fee! Some things you can do to offset the cost: if your book relies heavily on the narratives of people who are still living, have them read over those chapters. If your book relies heavily on a niche field of expertise, have a trusted expert comb through those chapters. If there are chapters that are less fact-dense or tricky, maybe you can fact-check them yourself. Perhaps that will help you whittle down the chapters that require the highest priority when it comes to fact-checking. And definitely send your fact-checker a sample of a chapter so they get a sense of what to expect.
And, know that it’s ok to find a fact-checker with less experience. They will likely be much more affordable than me, and taking on someone earlier in their career to help with your fact-checking project can also help them and their career.