Erin is available for sensitivity reading for any medium. Not sure what sensitivity reading is? Scroll down for an explanation!

Areas of experience and perspective that Erin can offer from his own life experience include:

• Transgender (trans man, experience both with HRT and with being denied HRT for years, has been involved in trans community for a very long time)

• Disability (severe chronic illness, powered wheelchair user, previously a walking stick and walking frame user, has experience as both a relatively mobile person and a bedbound person, has been involved in disability pride and community for a very long time)

• Queer (bisexuality and pansexuality)

• Fat (particularly life as a “superfat”)

• PTSD

• BDSM / Leather

• Australian life (regional and urban)

• Discrimination and bigoted violence

Pricing

This is a guide only. Rates may change depending on medium and content. A rush fee may be added if a report is required in less than 14 days. Listed in Australian dollars.

1000 words or less: $30
1000 to 5000 words: $100
5000 to 20000 words: $200
20000 to 60000 words: $300
60000 words+: Contact for a quote

What is sensitivity reading?

As a writer, you will often need to write outside your own experience. "Writing what you know" will only get you so far, and does little to improve diversity in media.

However, when you do write outside your experience, sometimes you might get things wrong, or you might accidentally use outdated or offensive terms, or you might be accidentally writing a stereotype without knowing.

Sensitivity reading is a process to help you avoid mishaps in diverse representation. By having members of the marginalized groups you have written about go over your work before publishing, you can avoid any particularly upsetting mistakes that might upset readers or reinforce negative biases.

A sensitivity reader is not an editor. They're not there to check your spelling, your grammar, your story structure, or anything like that. They are there to help check your biases, your language use, and your presentation of marginalized experiences.

You can take on a sensitivity reader at any point in your production. You can involve one from the beginning, asking questions before even penning your first draft, or you can wait and simply have one look over a finished draft instead. How you engage with a sensitivity reader changes from work to work, depending on how much support you need, and can often affect how much your reader should be paid. Someone being a consultant on your work from the beginning deserves a higher fee than someone who simply looks over a completed draft to spot anything that might have slipped through.

What can you expect from your sensitivity reader? The length and detail of the report, the frequency of reports, and whether you need to have consultation sessions will differ depending on the size and content of the work. If it's short and no large mistakes are obvious, it may only be a few sentences in an email. If it's a novel manuscript a long way out of your own experience, you may need multiple meetings and you can expect something a little longer - especially if you have made some mistakes.

Speaking of mistakes - before you contact a sensitivity reader, be willing to be wrong about things and to be told that you are wrong. No one will be helped if you ask for opinions and then disregard them!

Keep in mind that having a sensitivity reader -- or even multiple sensitivity readers -- does not guarantee that your work will not be criticized. There are billions of people in the world and while there are many similarities between marginalized experiences, there's a lot of difference too.