Book Editing & Proofreading

Journalism

Editors

DEANNA BRADY is a highly versatile freelance writer and editor with more than two decades of experience. She ghostwrites, rewrites, and edits self-help books, novels, biographies, cover and query letters, proposals, articles, essays, scripts, textbooks, business communications, Web content, and literary fiction. Deanna taught in the Continuing Education Department at California State University for a dozen years. In addition to writing several children's textbooks, she is an award-winning author of short fiction and poetry.

For more than two decades, Deanna has written and edited virtually every type of nonfiction literature, including advertising and marketing copy, prospectuses, and training materials, for major corporations, magazines, and publishing firms. She also works with most genres of fiction, including young adult, romance, historical, autobiographical, mystery, adult, horror, and science fiction. She is adept at editing ESL text, dialects, and British language variation and also specializes in subjects concerning spirituality, ecology, alternative healing, and American Indian culture.

Developmental editing
Copyediting
Ghostwriting, rewriting
Query letters, cover letters, synopses
Fiction: literary fiction, children's / young adult literature, genre fiction, historical, romance, science fiction, fantasy, mystery suspense, psychological, crime, supernatural, action/adventure
Nonfiction: business, marketing, advertising, web copy, proposals, self-help, self-improvement, how-to, children's textbooks, memoir, personal essay, biography, medical, alternative health, diet, nutrition, religion, spirituality, ethnic, journalism, legal, technical, scientific, screenwriting, novelization, film and television, music, art, query letters, cover letters, synopses

More >>

The award-winning writing of KAREN DAVIS prompted one of many loyal clients to call her his "secret weapon in attaining communications supremacy." She earned magna cum laude degrees in English and history and world-class journalism credentials from the London Times and Regional Newspapers. Since 1976 she has been an international correspondent and author of hundreds of magazine and newspaper articles; publishing house editor (several books won American Library Association Outstanding Reference Source awards); acclaimed advertising writer (First Place in the Pacific Northwest, direct mail campaign) and technical writer ($10,000 First Place in North America, engineering paper); director of publications and marketing; author of style manuals; university lecturer in writing; and published lyricist and poet. She brings clarity and conciseness to confusing language and organization to chaos..

Copy Editing & proofreading
Technical editing
Business, marketing, and advertising writing
Screenplays
Journalism and reporting
Writing instruction
Fiction: historical, mainstream, literary
Nonfiction: history, creative, literary, business

"You are a magician with language. The ms. reads much better now, which is amazing because it had already been revised at least thirty times and professionally edited. I've learned a great deal from you and it's been a pleasure working with someone so pleasant, extremely talented, and knowledgeable.... Now I don't think I'd want my agent to see anything you haven't seen first! Thank you for doing such a marvelous job. Don't be surprised if you get some referrals. You're brilliant."— Linda Dennis Richmond, author

More >>

CAROL HEGBERG is an internationally published, award-winning writer and content editor. Her novel is entitled Pen Pals. Her poetry, scripts, short stories, and articles have been published in many magazines and books. Carol knows the endurance, tenacity, and patience a writer must possess to become published. Beginning writers, published authors, agents with needy clients, and publishers who need developmental editing for their writers use her services. She helps rewrite speeches, short stories or collections, articles, essays, and manuscripts. She helps develop inspirational, Christian, and picture-book manuscripts, children and young-adult fiction and nonfiction. She's available for writing help with manuscript submissions, query letters, and book proposals.

Developmental editing, rewriting, mentoring
Juvenile & young adult fiction/nonfiction, Christian topics

"Carol breathed life into my top-selling children's story with her wonderful way with words." Nancy S. Mure, author of Irregular Joe

More >>

STAVRA KETCHMARK has edited more than 200 fiction titles while working for major publishing houses, as well as numerous medical, technical, and scientific trade, academic, and professional titles. She specializes in a variety of fiction genres, including romance, historical, mystery, suspense, crime, horror, fantasy, science fiction, and young adult. Her nonfiction specialties include all medical disciplines, nursing, allied health, alternative health, political science/politics, history, journalism, religion, parenting, and cooking.

Stavra has also helped a broad range of corporate clients fine-tune their annual reports, advertisements, websites, and other marketing materials to achieve the image they are seeking.

Her edited manuscripts have been published by Wadsworth, Mosby, Signet, Roc, NAL Trade, Thompson Delmar Learning, and Onyx.

Developmental editing
Line editing
Rewriting
Copyediting, proofreading
Critiques
Submission materials (query letters, synopses, cover letters)
Fiction: romance, historical, mystery, suspense, crime, horror, fantasy, science fiction, literary
Nonfiction: Medical, nursing, alternative health, politics, history, journalism, religion/spiritual, parenting, business, cooking

"Simply put, Stavra is a PRO! She has been editing my work for over a year and I find her professional, accurate and easy to work with. Quite frankly, I don't know what I would do without her." —John Bishop, Executive Director, Accent On Success, www.TeachingMoments.com

More >>

Pulse-pounding high adventure, painstaking attention to detail, carefully drawn characters who step off the page and into your life ...
STEPHEN and ANNE MacEACHERN are the authors of over 81 internationally published novels (with sales in the tens of millions of copies) and numerous short stories. As a science fiction author, Stephen is best known for his postapocalyptic series, The Survivalist. Their books have been published in English (USA, Canada, Great Britain), French, Japanese, Spanish, German, Serbo-Croatian, Russian, and Portuguese, as general fiction, adventure, and science fiction and fantasy. They were commissioned by Dino DeLaurentiis to write two screenplays (unproduced). Their Horror Writers Award nominated short story, “Silent Pace,” was twice optioned as a film property and—the third time the possible charm—they have just inked another option deal for this property. Stephen has also written over a thousand articles, columns, features, and interviews for magazines and newspapers. He is considered a leading expert on concealed-carry techniques, personal small arms, and personal-edged weapons. He has lectured extensively before general audiences, police, civic and writing groups on these and various other topics. His articles have appeared in magazines such as Gun World, Satellite Orbit, Writer’s Digest and over 20 more.

As book editors, they look at the book as a whole and as a series of inter-related parts. It’s not uncommon for a writer to be strong in one area (e.g., character development) and weaker in another (e.g., setting).

Is the hook at the beginning?
Is the action shown/lived rather than told?
Is the dialogue realistic?
Is each character's motivation logical?
Are you engaging the senses?
Is the point of view consistent and clear to the reader?
Is the plot moving well or do you have places that drag?
Does each chapter end with a page turner?

The MacEacherns' goal is the same as the writer's: to get the manuscript inside the publisher's door and to get the royalty check in the writer's hands.

When they are not editing books, writing books or writing magazine articles, they are reading books, from biography to science fiction and everything in between. They have interacted with some of America’s most well-known authors and been published with many of New York’s top houses. They’ve been around the block, you might say—but always with a book!

Specialties: science fiction and fantasy, action/military/adventure, speculative fiction, thrillers/espionage, horror/vampires, detective/crime.

More >>

RON MARMARELLI is a specialist in nonfiction, especially biography, history, and literary journalism, with expertise in scholarly writing and documentation (MLA, Chicago/Turabian, APA). He also is experienced in editing fiction manuscripts, especially historical fiction and literary fiction, and can assist in preparation of book proposals, synopses, and queries. He is a published biographer and historian, a former newspaper journalist, and a university professor who also has been a freelance editor since 2000. He has taught university courses in writing and editing for more than 20 years, has written more than 20 biographical articles for reference works, and has written articles, essays, and book reviews for anthologies and journals. He has bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism and has done doctoral work in American studies.

Developmental editing, copyediting, writing instructor
Published biographer
Historian
Journalist
Formatting: MLA, APA 5th Edition, Chicago Manual of Style, Turabian
Academic/scholarly writing (thesis, dissertation, term paper, essay)

"I read the book once more before sending it to the publisher. It really looked VERY good. Thank you for your wonderful work!" - Emanuelle Oliveira, Writing Identity: The Politics of Contemporary Afro-Brazilian Literature

More >>

Submission

Cut and paste the questions and answers into an e-mail:

EditMyBook@Gmail.com

Alternates:
2010 at book-editing.com
help2010 at airmail.net

Required:
Submit the first 50 pages of your manuscript (Word/DOC or RTF attachment preferred). 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?
$ ________________
(Note: The editors will quote their regular rates, but having an idea of your budget allows the editors to tell you what services they can provide to stay within that budget.)

(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) Do you want the coordinator to reroute your submission if you requested editors/writers who (a) are not available by your deadline date, (b) do not handle the type of material you submitted, and/or (c) do not perform the service(s) you want?

(19) How did you learn about our service?:

(20) Attach the first 50 pages of your manuscript (include prologue/preface, 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.