Kate Herman Johnson, Medical and Scientific Editing: Developmental / structural editing, heavy copyediting, rewriting, proofreading, fact-checking

KATE JOHNSON (BA, psychobiology, Yale University) has thirteen years of experience as a professional copyeditor, developmental editor, and proofreader. She has edited nonfiction books, textbooks, encyclopedia and journal articles, technical manuals, conference proceedings, newsletters, and online publications in a wide range of topics for professional, academic, and lay audiences. In addition to helping students and professors (including many for whom English is a second language) refine their medical, biological, and other natural science manuscripts, Kate enjoys working on materials in the humanities as well as cookbooks, travel guides, and do-it-yourself books. She is literate in scientific and medical terminology, well-versed in various style requirements (such as Chicago, AMA, and GPO), and adaptable to authors' or publishers' preferences.

Specialties
Copyediting (light, moderate, or heavy)
Developmental/structural editing
Rewriting
Proofreading
Fact-checking

Sample Topics: Agriculture, alternative medicine, anatomy, biology, botany, conventional medicine, cooking, ecology, geology, health care, hiking adventures, homeopathy, marine biology, medical software, natural history, nutrition, oncology, psychiatry, psychology, rehabilitation, sexual dysfunction, sleep research and disorders, spine disorders and treatment, technical design, travel, urology, weight loss, women's studies, zoology

Sample Titles
Amphibians of Rhode Island (Rhode Island Natural History Survey)
Beetle Fauna of Rhode Island: An Annotated Checklist (Rhode Island Natural History Survey)
Builder's Greywater Guide (Oasis Design)
Create an Oasis with Greywater (Oasis Design)
Cue Cards: PENChart, Provider Central, and Front Desk (Total Healthcare Solutions, Inc.)
Digestive Wellness for Children (Basic Health Publications)
Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopedia of Sleep and Dreaming (Macmillan)
Encyclopedic Dictionary of Hydrogeology (Academic Press)
Fundamentals of Polysomnography and Sleep Disorders (Intellisleep)
The Guide to Pressing Seaweed (Cryptogamic Botany Company)
Healthy Travel (Basic Health Publications)
Introduction to Polysomnography – A Manual for Research Apprentices (Brown University/E.P. Bradley Hospital)
I Want Healthy Kids (Mediagenic)
Journey to the High Southwest (Globe Pequot Press)
Kansas: Off the Beaten Path (Globe Pequot Press)
Myelopathy, Radiculopathy, and Peripheral Entrapment Syndromes (CRC Press)
The Natural Pharmacist (Prima Publishing)
Overcoming Sleep Disorders Naturally (Basic Health Publications)
Rawsome! (Basic Health Publications)
Rhode Island's Foliose and Fruticose Lichens (Rhode Island Natural History Survey)
Scavenger Hike Adventures: Great Smoky Mountains National Park (Globe Pequot Press)
Sexual Health and Dysfunction: A Comprehensive Guide (in press)
Style Manual, Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development (Veterans Administration Office of Research and Development)
Weight Success for a Lifetime (Basic Health Publications)

Selected Projects

2007 I Want Healthy Kids

Currently editing layperson's guide to healthful nutrition for children, to be published by Mediagenic.

2007 Fundamentals of Polysomnography and Sleep Disorders

Developmental and copy editor of training and reference manual for sleep research technicians, to be published by Intellisleep.

2007 Kansas: Off the Beaten Path

Proofreader of in-depth travel guide, Globe Pequot Press.

2007 Sexual Health and Dysfunction: A Comprehensive Guide

Developmental and copyeditor of text for clinicians and general public, in press.

2007 Scavenger Hike Adventures: Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Proofreader of family hiking guide, Globe Pequot Press.

2007 Builder's Greywater Guide

Copyeditor and fact-checker of technical manual on "green" plumbing, Oasis Design.

2006 Journey to the High Southwest

Proofreader of in-depth travelogue, Globe Pequot Press.

2006 Create an Oasis with Greywater

Copyeditor and fact-checker of educational do-it-yourself manual, Oasis Design.

2006 Digestive Wellness for Children

Developmental and copyeditor of book on understanding and treating children's digestive disorders, Basic Health Publications.

2005 Healthy Travel

Developmental and copyeditor of book on health and safety while traveling, Basic Health Publications.

2005 Weight Success for a Lifetime

Developmental and copyeditor of book on diet, health, and a year-long weight-management program, Basic Health Publications.

2004 Overcoming Sleep Disorders Naturally

Developmental and copyeditor of self-help book on sleep disorders and treatment, Basic Health Publications.

2004 Rawsome!

Copyeditor (and unofficial developmental editor) of raw foods encyclopedia and "cookbook," Basic Health Publications.

2004 Beetle Fauna of Rhode Island: An Annotated Checklist

Copyeditor of coleopterological reference text, Rhode Island Natural History Survey.

2003 The Guide to Pressing Seaweed

Co-developmental editor and copyeditor of natural history and craft guidebook, Cryptogamic Botany Company.

2003 Rhode Island's Foliose and Fruticose Lichens

Manuscript adaptor and copyeditor of botanical reference text, Rhode Island Natural History Survey (inaugural online publication for the RINHS Web Publications Program).

2002 Encyclopedic Dictionary of Hydrogeology

Developmental editor and principal copyeditor of hydrogeological reference text, Academic Press.

2000 – 2001 Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development

Co-author of style manual for peer-reviewed biomedical research journal, copyeditor and liaison to authors in management of editorial revisions and proofs, Veterans Administration Office of Research and Development.

2000 – 2001 Encyclopaedia Britannica

Copyeditor and fact checker of articles on oncology, organismal biology, molecular genetics, and earth sciences for core revision of Encyclopaedia Britannica.

2000 Myelopathy, Radiculopathy, and Peripheral Entrapment Syndromes

Principal copyeditor of biomedical textbook, CRC Press.

1999 – 2000 The Natural Pharmacist (series)

Copyeditor of online and printed monographs, articles, and reference books for physicians and the public in fields of nutrition and medicine, Prima Publishing.

1998 Introduction to Polysomnography A Manual for Research Apprentices

Co-editor of technical training manual, Brown University/E.P. Bradley Hospital.

1997 Cue Cards: PENChart, Provider Central, and Front Desk

Co-creator, co-author, designer, and editor of medical software user's guides, Total Healthcare Solutions, Inc.

1993 Encyclopedia of Sleep and Dreaming

Assistant to the editor-in-chief, and co-author of several articles, for a psychobiological reference volume, Macmillan (currently in its second printing).

Employment:

2003 – 2006 Developmental Editor, Basic Health Publications

Editor of books in fields of health, psychobiology, conventional and alternative medicine, and self-care. Primary liaison between authors and publication staff. Copywriter of associated catalog and cover text. In collaboration with authors, responsible for developing rough manuscripts through organizing, querying, and rewriting into fully edited and polished books formatted for typesetting.

2001 – 2003 Associate Editor, Office Manager, Science Editors Company

Editor of over 100 technical publications (books, chapters, journals, articles, grant proposals, and Website content) in diverse fields of science. Liaison between researchers and science writing staff. Copyeditor, developmental editor, and consultant on projects communicating science to the public. Copywriter of marketing materials for company projects.

1999 – 2001 Copyeditor, Biology Editors Company

Proofreader, copyeditor, and fact checker of science publications for professional and public audiences. Working knowledge of style manuals, advanced techniques in word processing (document author/revision tracking), and document composition tools.

1988 – 1998 Research Assistant, Brown University Sleep Research Laboratory

Coordinator of studies on sleep/wake physiology and behavior. Clinical data manager. Collaborated on encyclopedia and training manual publication.

Education

1986 BA, Psychobiology, Yale University

Feedback

Dr. Robin Gordon
Assistant Professor/ Director of Secondary Education, Mount St. Mary’s College, LA

Kate has been awesome. She asks the questions I need and gives thoughtful and careful feedback. I hope to continue to work with her as I try to birth this book!

Laurel Vukovic, M.S.W.
Re: developmental and copyediting of Overcoming Sleep Disorders Naturally, 2004

"Just want you to know that your suggestions are most helpful."

"It [the new outline] looks great. Very thorough, and well thought out. It definitely provides a good framework for the additional material that I'll be adding…. Thanks so much for your excellent work!"

"Just wanted to send you a quick e-mail to let you know that I think that you're an excellent and very thorough editor. I don't have concerns about the book staying in my voice; what I've seen so far sounds great to me."

"I really appreciate your encouragement. You're great!"

"It looks like you've done a very thorough and wonderful editing job (as I expected)."

"Thanks so much, Kate. You've been wonderful to work with! I really appreciate your efforts, and think the book is much better as a result of your work."

"You're so good at what you do."

"You're a great book midwife!"

"The book looks good (thanks again for all of your input).… Please feel free to use me as a reference. You know I think very highly of your work."

Carol Simontacchi, C.C.N., M.S.
Re: developmental and copyediting of Weight Success for a Lifetime, 2005

"Thanks for your notes, Kate. Good thoughts. You editors always make us authors look so good."

"Thanks so much for your careful attention, Kate."

"I appreciate that level of editing."

"Thanks for your careful reading and editing."

"This is good. Thanks…. I think you're doing a good job and appreciate working with you…. Thanks for everything."

"Kate, this [the revised front matter] reads very well. You are magical!"

"Kate, I think it [the book] reads really well. You've done a stellar job!"

"Kate, you've done an excellent job. Thank you!"

Lisa Iannucci
Re: developmental and copyediting of Healthy Travel, 2005

"I couldn't have done that book without you."

In the Acknowledgements for Healthy Travel: "There are several people that I’d like to thank for helping me get this book off the ground: … and mostly “Ollie”—my editor Kate Johnson—who kept me on track, does a job well done, and makes this whole process fun."

Elizabeth Lipski, Ph.D., C.C.N.

Re: developmental and copyediting of Digestive Wellness for Children, 2006

"Thanks for your very thoughtful suggestions. Two heads are definitely better than one. I have zero objections to your going for it."

"I like the way you think. Although it's a bit scary that you think in word counts! (Just kidding.) The rearrangements are a great idea. Let's go for it."

"All in all, your comments were much appreciated. I just okayed or made the changes."

"Thanks for all of your great editing and attention to detail. I'm a 'wild and often unruly' writer and it helps to have someone to carefully look over everything. I wish you would come and clean off my desk too."

"You are a blur of activity! I like your idea about moving the family dining section to this chapter. Works for me."

"Great idea for the Appendix—will probably cut the pages we need to cut. Thanks for [compiling] that—it's a huge chunk of work."

"I feel really comfortable with your editing."

"Thanks for all of your work. Together, I think we'll have a really good book."

"Thanks for your great attention to detail. Your comments and critique will really make the book much better."

"I really appreciate your attention to details, and for telling me to rewrite something that's poorly written!"

"It amazes me how you keep the details in your head. Thanks for being so meticulous."

"Looks totally awesome. You're the best."

"I do want you to know that the only person I REALLY wanted to acknowledge was you. But that doesn't make an acknowledgement page…"

Submission

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