VIRGINIA CLARK

• Copyediting
• Proofreading
• Developmental editing
• Literary fiction, popular fiction, detective or crime fiction, true-crime, history, biography, music, film, television, visual arts, self-help, show business, humor, social science, psychology

VIRGINIA CLARK has been an editor and proofreader of fiction and nonfiction for many years, working on more than 200 titles. She specializes in literary and popular fiction, detective/crime fiction, biography, self-help, history, music, and the visual arts, especially film. She was a staff copyeditor for Simon & Schuster in New York starting in 1989 for five years and has continued to freelance for them ever since, as well as for other presses including Algonquin; Duke University; Farrar, Straus, & Giroux; and the University of California. Fiction she has copyedited includes Richard Condon, The Emperor of America; Quinn Dalton, High-Strung; David Freeman, A Hollywood Life and It's All True; Kem Nunn, The Dogs of Winter; Kate Walbert, The Gardens of Kyoto and Our Kind; and Meg Wolitzer, Surrender, Dorothy. Detective/crime authors include Jan Burke, George C. Chesbro, Nick Gaitano, Alison Glen, Philip Harper, David Osborn, Ian Rankin, and Jan Roberts. She has copyedited autobiographies including Miles Davis, Miles; Faye Dunaway, Looking for Gatsby; Charlton Heston, In the Arena; and Neil Simon, Rewrites: A Memoir; as well as biographies such as Joseph McBride, The Catastrophe of Success: Frank Capra and McBride's Steven Spielberg. She has also worked on large collections including The Companion to 20th-Century Music, Parker's Wine Buyer's Guide, and The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll. In addition, she has been proofreader/copyeditor for October Magazine since 1989, as well as for various other magazines such as for Condé Nast publications.

Virginia holds a Ph.D. in English and has taught writing, literature, and film at the University of Maryland, Frostburg State University, and University of Maryland University College. Her own writing includes several books on film (Aldous Huxley and Film; What Women Wrote: Scenarios, 1912-1929); numerous articles on film history; and several screenplays, one of which won a scriptwriting contest sponsored by HBO, Aaron Spelling, and John Truby, and another which was optioned by Hollywood producers.

With a broad historical and cultural background, mastery of grammar and punctuation, and great sensitivity to style, Virginia very much enjoys the editing process, helping authors to say more precisely and evocatively what they really mean to say at their very best.

** Literary fiction, popular fiction, detective or crime fiction, true-crime, history, biography, music, film, television, visual arts, self-help, show business, humor, social science, psychology

	"Virginia Clark . . . saved me from egregious errors of spelling and syntax." --Charlton Heston, In the Arena: An Autobiography
	"I want to thank . . . my wonderful copy editor Virginia Clark." --Faye Dunaway with Betsy Sharkey, Looking for Gatsby: My Life
	"For . . . encouragement and care in guiding me through the dangerous shoals of writing prose, I wish to thank . . . Virginia Clark." --Neil Simon, Rewrites: A Memoir

Additional feedback

Virginia Clark: Books Copyedited (for Simon & Schuster, unless noted)

FICTION:
Karl Ackerman, Dear Will
Jonathan Ames, The Extra Man
asha bandele, The Prisoner's Wife
Michael Blumenthal, To Woo and to Wed
Jeannie Brewer, A Crack in Forever
Susie Bright, ed., Best American Erotica 2003 and 2004
John Buckley, Statute of Limitations
Bonnie Comfort, Denial
Richard Condon, The Emperor of America
Quinn Dalton, High-Strung
Lawrence Donegan, California Dreaming
Helen Ellis, Eating the Cheshire Cat
Richard Paul Evans, The Christmas Box
Steve Fishman, Karaoke Nation
Emma Forrest, Namedropper
David Freeman, A Hollywood Life
David Freeman, It's All True
Sandi Glauser, Solving for X (iUniverse)
Tom Grace, Twisted Web
Laura Lee Guhrke, Not So Innocent
Denise Hamilton, The Jasmine Trade
Brooks Hansen and Nick Davis, Boone
McDonald Harris, Hemingway's Suitcase
Erin Hart, Lake of Sorrows
Ted Heller, Funnymen
Ted Heller, Slab Rat
Lorian Hemingway, Walking into the River
Amy Hempel, The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel
Amy Hempel, The Dog of the Marriage
Craig Holden, The Jazz Bird
Sheneska Jackson, Caught Up in the Rapture
Ellen Jones, Beloved Enemy
John Keene, Pettibone's Law
Baine Kerr, Standard of Care (Scribner)
Norma Khouri, Honor Lost
Nancy Lemann, Malaise
David Long, The Daughters of Simon Lamoreaux
Allison Lurie, Now You See It
Brian Lysaght, Eye of the Beholder
Regina McBride, The Nature of Water and Air
Joanne Mechery, A Gentleman's Guide to the Frontier
Debra Monroe, A Wild, Cold State
Victoria Christopher Murray, A Sin and a Shame
Blake Nelson, Girl
Kem Nunn, The Dogs of Winter
Jennifer Paddock, A Secret Word
Jodi Picoult, Second Glance
Charles T. Powers, In the Memory of the Forest
Roxanne Pulitzer, The Palm Beach Story
Barbara Rogan, Rowing in Eden
Jervy Tervalon, All the Trouble You Need
Lynne Tillman, Motion Sickness
Betsy Tobin, Bone House
Kate Walbert, The Gardens of Kyoto
Kate Walbert, Our Kind
Persia Walker, Harlem Redux: A Novel
Lana Witt, The Heart of a Thirsty Woman
Meg Wolitzer, Surrender, Dorothy
Guy A. Zona, The Soul Would Have No Rainbow If the Eyes Had No Tears and Other Native American Proverbs

MYSTERY/DETECTIVE:
Gayle Bartos-Pool, Media Justice (Spygame Press)
Jan Burke, Dear Irene,
Jan Burke, Remember Me, Irene
Jan Burke, Sweet Dreams, Irene
George C. Chesbro, Dream of a Falling Eagle
Rex Dancer, Bad Girl Blues
Nick Gaitano, Mr. X
Nick Gaitano, Special Victims
Alison Glen, Trunk Show
Philip Harper, Final Fear
Haughton Murphy, Murder Saves Face
David Osborn, Murder in the Napa Valley
Ian Rankin, Let It Bleed: A John Rebus Mystery
Jan Roberts, A Blood Affair

ART/LITERARY CRITICISM:
William A. Cohen, Sex Scandal: The Private Parts of Victorian Fiction (Duke Univ. Press)
Nancy Glazener, Reading for Realism: The History of a U.S. Literary Institution, 1850--1910 (Duke Univ. Press)
Charles A. Perrone, Seven Faces: Brazilian Poetry Since Modernism (Duke Univ. Press)
Worlds Envisioned: Alighiero e Boetti and Frédéric Buly Bouabré (exhibition catalog, Dia Center for the Arts, NY)

CINEMA/SHOW BUSINESS:
Nick Clooney, The Movies That Changed Us: Reflections on the Screen
Wheeler Winston Dixon, Visions of Paradise: Images of Eden in the Cinema (Rutgers Univ. Press)
Faye Dunaway with Betsy Sharkey, Looking for Gatsby
Scott Eyman, Ernst Lubitsch: Laughter in Paradise
Scott Eyman, The Speed of Sound: Hollywood and the Talkie Revolution, 1926--1930
Gary Fishgall, Gregory Peck: A Biography
Suzanne Lloyd Hayes, 3-D Hollywood (Harold Lloyd photos)
Brian Henderson and Ann Martin, eds., Film Quarterly: Forty Years—A Selection (Univ. of California Press)
Charlton Heston, In the Arena
Nora Johnson, Coast to Coast: A Family Romance
Klaus Kreimeier, The UFA Story: A History of Germany's Greatest Film Company,
 1918--1945 (Hill & Wang)
Irving Lazar with Annette Tapert, "Swifty"
Spike Lee, Mo' Better Blues (film script and essays)
Stan Lee and George Mair, Excelsior! The Amazing Life of Stan Lee
Jeffrey Lyons, Jeffrey Lyons' 101 Great Movies for Kids
Nevin Martell, Dave Matthews Band
Joseph McBride, Steven Spielberg
Joseph McBride, Frank Capra: The Catastrophe of Success
Susan Michaels, Sightings (reality-based TV series)
Danny Peary, Cult Movie Stars
David Rosen with Peter Hamilton, Off-Hollywood: The Making and Marketing of American Specialty Films (Grove Weidenfeld)
Neil Simon, Rewrites: A Memoir
Eric Smoodin and Ann Martin, eds., Hollywood Quarterly: Film Culture in Postwar America, 1945--1957  (Univ. of California Press)
Karen Swenson, Greta Garbo: A Life Apart (Scribner)
John Waters, Crackpot: The Obsessions of John Waters
John A. Williams and Dennis A. Williams, If I Stop I'll Die: The Comedy and Tragedy of Richard Pryor (Thunder's Mouth Press)

MUSIC:
Anthony Bozza, INXS: Story to Story, The Official Autobiography
Ian Copeland, Wild Thing: The Backstage, On the Road, In the Studio, Off the Charts Memoirs of Ian Copeland
Miles Davis with Quincy Troupe, Miles
Gavin Edwards, 'Scuse Me While I Kiss This Guy
Theodore Gracyk, Rhythm and Noise: An Aesthetics of Rock (Duke Univ. Press)
Jacob Hoye, ed., VH1: 100 Greatest Albums
Pamela Clark Keogh, Elvis Presley: The Man, The Life, The Music
Norman Lebrecht, A Companion to 20th-Century Music
Roger Love, Sing Like the Stars
Donald S. Passman, All You Need to Know About the Music Business, Fifth and Sixth Editions
R. Gary Patterson, Take a Walk on the Dark Side: Rock and Roll's Myths, Legends, and Curses
The Rolling Stone Album Guide
The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll
Karen Schoemer, Great Pretenders: My Strange Love Affair with 50s Pop Music
Alan Siegel, Breaking into the Music Business
Tony Turner with Barbara Aria, Deliver Us from Temptation: The Tragic and Shocking Story of the Temptations and Motown (Thunder's Mouth Press)

PSYCHOLOGY/RELIGION/SELF-HELP:
Anita Billi, Afterlifefromabove: Healings of a Paranormal Nature (Transpersonal Publishing)
Dorothy Bullitt, Filling the Void: Six Steps from Loss to Fulfillment
Michael Burkett, The Dad Zone
Barbara Ferraro and Patricia Hussey with Jane O'Reilly, No Turning Back: Two Nuns' Battle with the Vatican Over Women's Right to Choose
Philip J. Hilts, Memory's Ghost: The Nature of Memory and the Strange Tale of Mr. M.
Mary Muryn, Water Magic: Healing Bath Recipes for the Body, Mind, and Spirit
Wayne Myers, Shrink Dreams
Vicky Therese Davis, William Patterson et al., The Baron Son: Vade Mecum 7 (Long & Silverman)
Louise Rafkin, Dust to Dust: A Cleaning Odyssey (Algonquin Books)
Terrence Real, How Can I Get Through to You?:  Reconnecting Men and Women
Eugene A. Sloane, Sloane's New Bicycle Maintenance Manual
Tama Starr, The "Natural Inferiority" of Women
Judith Viorst, Imperfect Control: Our Lifelong Struggles with Power and Surrender
Betty A. Walker and Marilyn Mehr, The Courage to Achieve: Why America's Brightest Women Struggle to Fulfill Their Promise

HISTORY/SOCIAL SCIENCE/HUMOR:
Mary Kay Blakely, Red, White, and Oh So Blue: An Autobiography of a Political Depression
David Bodanis, The Secret Garden: Dawn to Dusk in the Astonishing Hidden World of the Garden
Andrew Carroll, War Letters: Extraordinary Correspondence from American Wars
David Comfort, Just Say Noel!: A History of Christmas from the Nativity to the Nineties
John Cronin and Robert Kennedy Jr., The Riverkeepers
Hugh Downs, My America: What My Country Means to Me
Dinesh D'Souza, The End of Racism
Malcolm Forbes, Women Who Made a Difference
Bob Garfield, Waking Up Screaming from the American Dream
Nancy L. Green, Ready-to-Wear and Ready-to-Work: A Century of Industry and Immigrants in the Women's Garment Trade, Paris and New York (Duke Univ. Press)
Bernard Grun, The Timetables of History, 3rd rev. ed.
Eddy L. Harris, South of Haunted Dreams: A Ride South Through Slavery's Old Backyard
Diana B. Henriques, The White Sharks of Wall Street: Thomas Mellon Evans and the Men Who Invented the Takeover Game
Aaron Karo, Ruminations on Twenty-Something Life
Chuck Klosterman, Fargo Rock City: A Heavy Metal Odyssey in Rural North Dakota
Chuck Klosterman, Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto
Peter Maas, In a Child's Name
Amanda McCall and Albertina Rizzo, Hold My Gold: A White Girl's Guide to the Hip-Hop World
William Neely, Pilots
Louise Rafkin, Dust to Dust: A Cleaning Odyssey (Algonquin Books)
David Rieff, Los Angeles: Capital of the Third World
salon.com, eds., Afterwords: Stories and Reports from 9/11 and Beyond
Zeev Schiff, Intifada: The Palestinian Uprising—Israel's Third Front
Michael Sorkin, Variations on a Theme Park: Scenes from the New American City (Hill & Wang)
Lewis Sorley, Thunderbolt: General Creighton Abrams and the Army of His Times
Robert Smith Thompson, The Missiles of October: The Declassified Story of John F. Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis

WINE BOOKS:
Anthony Dias Blue, Pocket Guide to Wine 2007
Robert M. Parker Jr., Parker's Wine Buyers Guide, Sixth Edition
Robert M. Parker Jr., The World's Greatest Wine Estates: A Modern Perspective
George M. Taber, Judgment of Paris: California vs. France and the 1976 Wine Tasting That Revolutionized Wine

CHILDREN'S BOOKS:
Anne Leo Ellis, The Dragon of Middlethorpe (Henry Holt)
Ellen Kindt McKenzie, The King, the Princess, and the Tinker (Henry Holt)

Feedback "I am blessed to have found you! Last night I read through every word of your critique of Leading Citizens and found inspiration and knowledge on how to improve it. . . . Virginia, my profound gratitude for your expertise and generous praise. I only wish I'd found you sooner." --Patty Hutchins, Leading Citizens "She has an impressive résumé and is very skilled. For anyone who is looking to have some editing work done, she should definitely be your first choice." --Don Stewart, The Slackers' Guide to U.S. History "I was extremely pleased with expedience of the network. Everyone was friendly, helpful, accommodating, and supportive. There was not one bit of the network I was displeased with or uneasy about from the first day I found the site." --Joshua Miller, Mine Anomie    "Virginia was most helpful and I look forward to working with her again. She is extremely professional and her attention to detail is astounding. I would highly recommend her to anyone looking for editing services. Thanks so much to the network for putting me in touch with such a competent consultant." --Sandi Glauser, Solving for X     "Virginia Clark provided a superb job of copyediting the final manuscript." --Wheeler Winston Dixon, Visions of Paradise: Images of Eden in the Cinema     "The manuscript benefited from the careful and thoughtful copyediting performed by film scholar Virginia Clark." --Joseph McBride, Frank Capra: The Catastrophe of Success "Virginia Clark's copy-editing defined and refined the book even further." --Scott Eyman, Ernst Lubitsch: Laughter in Paradise     "Copy editor Virginia Clark . . . once again enhanced my writing with her film scholarship." --Joseph McBride, Steven Spielberg: A Biography     "Virginia Clark did her usual painstaking copyedit, on which I rely." --Scott Eyman, The Speed of Sound: Hollywood and the Talkie Revolution, 1926-1930     "Proofreader/copy editor Virginia Clark['s] . . .work was, as usual, impeccable." --Brian Henderson and Ann Martin, Film Quarterly: Forty Years—A Selection

Submission Please fill out this form to request a quote OR Cut and paste the questions and answers into an e-mail: 2008@book-editing.com Required: Submit a sample of your book manuscript or story (Word/DOC or RTF attachment preferred). The sample should be 5-50 pages. Large files should be zipped. Attachment not required if writing has not started (e.g., because you're looking for a ghostwriter). Along with a sample, the following information is required. Ignore questions that do not apply to your project (e.g., footnotes). (01) Word count of complete project (under "Tools" in MS Word): (02) Put your 100-word (approx) synopsis/description here (or attach): (03) Describe your genre and topic (e.g., nonfiction/self-help, science fiction, horror, romance, mystery, Western, young adult, children, poetry, Christian, creative nonfiction, literary): (04) Deadline date, if any, for return of complete project. (Please be realistic. Remember that professional editors usually have a project in process.): (05) If you have no immediate deadline, when do you want to start the editing process?: (For instance: within 30 days, within 60 days, within 90 days, 4-12 months) (06) Level of editing desired/expected -- Copyediting / Proofreading / Line Editing (e.g., English corrections, typos, paragraph and sentence structure, word use) Developmental (e.g., help with the big picture, such as flow/pacing, telling the story, characterization, structure, style) Rewriting / Ghostwriting Critique / Evaluation (07) Number of charts/tables/pictures (if any): (08) Writing style/format manual (e.g., Chicago Manual, APA, MLA), if applicable: (09) Number of footnotes/references: (10) Do you have a contract with an agent or publisher?: (11) Do you plan to self-publish?: (12) What is your budget for the entire project? $ ________________ (13) Your name: (14) E-mail addresses: (15) Day/evening phone numbers (required -- in case the response to your e-mail bounces or the editors need clarification regarding the scope of service needed, deadline, etc.): (16) City, State, Country (or time zone): (17) The name(s) of the editor(s)/writer(s) you'd like to contact. (If no names are selected, your e-mail will be sent to several consultants chosen by the coordinator): (18) How did you learn about our service?: (19) Attach writing sample(s) (e.g., prologue, chapter 1, proposal, query) Notes: No hidden charges We won't quote you one price and charge you another. When possible, we'll provide you with a per-word or per-page rate so you'll know up front exactly how much your project will cost. (Of course, we ask that you fairly represent the scope of your project.) To learn more about the rates charged by professional editors, please see: Editorial Freelancers Association It is a mistaken notion that freelance editors work "on spec" (speculation) with no payment to the editor. It is basically asking the editor to work for free. There's no guarantee that a book will see a profit (or even be published). The editors posted here do not work on spec. LIVE AGENT Note: Price quotes and time estimates for individual editors cannot be given over the phone or via chat. This is a network of freelance editors with varying prices and work schedules (see our FAQ). To obtain a price quote please follow the procedures listed on our quotes page. Contact live support if you do not receive a response within three hours. It is possible that your submission was not received. You may also page the network coordinator by leaving voicemail or sending a fax to 469-789-3030. Please be as complete as possible in representing your project's scope and size so you will receive the most accurate estimate. Disclaimer: Your agreement, whether oral or written, is with your freelance editor / proofreader / writer, not with the freelance network as a whole or its coordinator.