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Book Editing and Writing Support

When it comes to producing a high-quality professional book, editing is not an option – it’s critical to your book’s success. Even the most experienced authors need a trained reader to spot flaws and blind spots that would compromise their book’s impact on the audience. So whether you’re looking for an editor to polish your final draft or completely retool your manuscript, hiring a well qualified book editor is a wise investment. At the very least, you want to make sure to get rid of any pesky grammar flaws that would spoil the reading experience and hurt your credibility as an author.

Here are some of the ways I can assist you as your book doctor (beyond the nuts and bolts of editing) to make your book a success:

  • Clarify the big picture of your book concept (purpose, message, audience)
  • Organize your book’s content for maximum impact
  • Bring out your core message/theme throughout your book
  • Ensure that your claims are supported with convincing evidence
  • Balance and integrate the parts of your book to make it function as a whole
  • Unscramble dysfunctional areas by shifting and realigning content
  • Unbury and highlight hidden gems
  • Nail your ideas with greater force and precision
  • Eliminate repetitious, superfluous, or misleading information
  • Transform your style from dull and generic into lively, engaging prose
  • Utilize white space and topic headings to make your book reader friendly
  • Bring out your authentic voice to deliver your message more powerfully
  • Adjust your point of view, tone, and diction to resonate with your target audience
  • Co-write or ghostwrite your book in a way that captures your voice and matches your personal style

If you’re an aspiring career writer, I can give you personal guidance and support to make your writing shine. You’ll find plenty of excellent handbooks on the craft of writing, but the real art of writing can’t be explained in a how-to book. Here are some of the things we can work on:

  • Break through to your next level as a writer by developing awareness of your strengths, weaknesses, blind spots
  • Cut through writer’s block with clearing exercises used by energy healers, life coaches, and counselors
  • Enliven your descriptive narrative passages to captivate the reader
  • Craft your memoir/narrative portraits or fictional characters to make them memorable
  • Create compelling and plausible dialogue
  • Bring out the finer shades of meaning with subtly nuanced language, metaphors, imagery
  • Transform your manuscript from the work of an amateur into a polished and professional book
  • Reshape your book to enhance its marketability

Description of Editing Levels

Book Evaluation (Basic to Comprehensive)

Basic Assessment. Before starting editorial work on a manuscript, I read it through and write a review with basic suggestions for revision. This service is available for clients independently of signing a contract with me to work on a full-scale book revision.
Comprehensive Assessment. For authors who want a more complete manuscript assessment, I offer a comprehensive line-by-line review with detailed analysis of strengths and weaknesses and recommendations for revision.

Proofreading (extra-light editing)

Proofreading (orig. from the printer’s “proof” or trial printing of pages used for making corrections before the final printing) is the final step an editor performs to prepare a book manuscript for typesetting and production. The proofreader corrects minor issues such as typos, misspelled words, and incorrect punctuation. In traditional publishing houses, an in-house editor will take care of the final proofreading. Authors that self-publish will be responsible for hiring a freelance proofreader.

Copyediting (light to medium-level line editing)

Straightforward editorial cleanup to eliminate basic grammar flaws, sharpen word choices, and clear up any inconsistencies in style or format to assure that your book content reads clearly and smoothly. This service is designed for authors with a completed book manuscript. Copyediting does not touch on big picture content, treat structural problems, or make refinements in style.

Substantive Editing (heavy line editing)

Detailed line-by-line editing with extensive comments and author queries. Recommended for manuscripts that require major revision to clarify and enhance content. This level of editing (unlike copyediting) provides additional support by resolving internal structural issues, such as discontinuity due to transposed material or missing transitions. At the author’s request, I write transitional elements and develop content where needed, and make refinements in style to improve the overall flow of the book.

Developmental Editing

Conceptual and structural development of a book manuscript: the big picture. Recommended for authors who want support in developing a new book project as well as authors who want to significantly transform a book manuscript. This level of editing starts at the ground level with preliminary work in clarifying the author’s book concept in relation to message, vision, and audience. As a developmental editor, I also help authors to structure the book content to achieve the greatest effect. I can help authors with substantive-level issues as the draft progresses, such as sharpening focus by clearing up ambiguity and making adjustments to bring the book as a whole into balance.

Ghostwriting/Co-Writing

Professionals of all kinds, from inspirational speakers, life coaches, and counselors to CEO’s  – even bestselling novelists, hire ghostwriters to help write their books. As a ghostwriter, I can step in to write parts of a book for an author or write the entire book from notes and recorded interview material. When I collaborate with authors, my ghostwritten/revised content is designed to match the author’s voice and style so that it blends in seamlessly.

Free 30 Minute Author Consultation

Contact me for a 30-minute consultation, free of charge, to discuss a book project and explore our potential for a successful author-editor partnership.

Author Questionnaire

Please complete this online author questionnaire after you schedule a consultation.