“You have been highly recommended over and over and over. Several of [my colleagues] describe your services as the best money they have ever spent on anything, ever.”  Russ H.

~ EDITING ~

Think about a sound engineer. He doesn’t change the voice of the singer, but rather enhances it so the best parts of that voice reach the ears of the audience. As an editor, I preserve the author’s voice while helping the best parts of that voice shine through. Types of editing I provide include:

Developmental editing:  A developmental editor makes sure the content is appropriate for your genre and readership, that the book has a narrative arc, that your chapters flow, and determines whether text needs to be moved, revised, or cut. Have you dropped a character or story line that leaves the reader hanging (or yawning)? Is your nonfiction dry and unengaging?

In fiction and creative nonfiction the plot, pace, dialogue, and character development will be examined. In nonfiction, the editor will also analyze the effectiveness of lists, graphics, and illustrations. In photography and art books, a visual story line will be analyzed.

It is appropriate to enlist the help of a developmental editor even at early stages of your writing. If you hit an impasse, need a nudge to get over a hurdle or to keep going, the developmental editor will be the best cheerleader you’ve ever had. Does not include line editing, proofreading, or formatting.

Line editing: The editor makes a meticulous line edit to correct language usage, grammar, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, typos, and consistency issues such as character speech patterns. Editor and author collaborate together to create a style sheet to refer to, if appropriate. Does not include content revisions, proofreading, or formatting.

Proofreading: Proofreading is done once a “proof” copy of the book is printed by the publisher (even if it’s self-published). Editing and proofreading are, unfortunately, skipped by many self-published authors, which can, at the very least, hurt readability of the book and credibility of the author.

Formatting: Formatting a document to meet the submission guidelines, publishing guidelines (Kindle, Amazon, print-on-demand), graduate school requirements, etc. Does not include developmental or line editing, or proofreading.

Manuscript evaluation and critique: Reading the manuscript and making notes regarding both strong and weak points and making suggestions for improvement. Having this done gives the author a feel for what the editor looks for and how they work with a manuscript. This is not developmental or line editing, proofreading, or formatting.

Query evaluation and critique: Reading the query (for magazine or book) and making notes regarding both strong and weak points and making suggestions for improvement. The editor will not re-write the query for the author when asked to evaluate and critique it. (The writing of a query falls under my writing services.)

Copyediting: Similar to line editing, but may include editing of graphics placement and consistency of message, etc. This is used with marketing materials, which may include case studies and white papers, not with literary works.

Web content evaluation/editing: Reviewing and evaluating website content for message impact/consistency and potential SEO, suggesting and implementing revisions as appropriate.

Academic (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.): Graduate student theses, dissertations, and scholarly projects utilizing appropriate style guides. This may include developmental or line editing, or formatting, or, for some projects, all three. Other academic editing would include articles for journals, curriculum, etc.