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Trusted Editor for History Buffs, Writers, and Publishers

Questions About Editing

Editing is a process in which a text is improved, refined, and polished to ensure that it is the most effective it can be and best suits the author’s intended purpose, audience, and genre. Editing can involve several different types of services, depending on your manuscript’s needs. You can learn more about the types of editing services I offer by checking out my Services page.

Any piece of writing benefits from feedback from an objective reader. The closer you are to a project, the harder it can be to see what needs to be changed, even if you know that changes are necessary. (Even with my own writing, I always have someone else review it because I value having someone else’s perspective.) A good editor has the distance to provide this perspective, as well as the experience and judgment to know what to suggest and how to proceed.

This is definitely something we can chat about if you are unsure. However, you should always self-edit before hiring a professional editor. That will save both of us a considerable amount of time because it means I can focus more on issues besides typos.

Questions About Me

This is such an important facet of working with an editor! You should definitely choose an editor with whom you are comfortable and have a good working relationship. One reason I strongly insist  on doing a sample edit for potential clients is that it gives you a preview of my work and working style. It’s also a great way to see if you are ready for editing and if you’d like working with me.

I have a BA in English and history, with a minor in rhetoric, from College of the Ozarks. My undergraduate coursework included a number of creative writing classes and involved providing a substantial amount of peer feedback in both literature and history courses. I also studied writing center tutoring pedagogy for the 2.5 years I worked in the college writing center. My experience as a writing center tutor, conducting over 500 conferences with students about their papers, was invaluable preparation for my editing work. As an undergraduate, I also assisted with editing the college newspaper and worked as an editor on the Cave Region Review, a literary journal at North Arkansas College.

After I graduated from College of the Ozarks, I earned an MA in literature at the University of Arkansas. My academic focus was Southern literature (specifically Southern Gothic literature), but I also studied composition pedagogy there and taught freshman composition courses for two years. In addition, I was selected to be part of a grant editing pilot program and to mentor other composition teaching assistants.

I worked as a freelance editor throughout my undergraduate and graduate school career and continued to do so after graduation. I was also hired by New Leaf Publishing Group, a local publisher, to work as an assistant editor, which I left after two years to start my own business. That in-house position gave me invaluable experience with the publishing process.

Beyond my extensive experience as an editor, I also am an experienced writer. I know what it’s like to be on the other side of a manuscript! My work has  appeared in publications like the Sigma Tau Delta Review and my state newspaper, The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. I also authored a chapter on the historical and thematic implications of the Kansas setting in Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood in Salem Press’s Critical Insights book on the text.

My editing, tutoring, teaching, and writing experiences all inform my work as an editor and provide me with a wonderful background for assisting authors with their manuscripts. I also firmly believe that being a lifelong learner is integral to being a good editor. I’m a proud member of the Editorial Freelancers Association, the American Copy Editors Society, and the National Association of Independent Writers and Editors and subscriber to Copyediting-L listserv, and I love using each organization’s resources for professional development and to stay current on issues affecting writers and editors.

As is true of most American editors, I use The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th Edition, and Merriam-Webster Dictionary to guide my edits regarding usage, punctuation, citation, spelling, and hyphenation. As needed, I also consult other sources for both editing queries and fact-checking.

I sure do! You can read more about on my home page, but the short answer is that I am an advocate for both the writer and the reader. I strive to assist you in ensuring that the manuscript is most effectively communicating your desired message to the reader while also anticipating potential issues reader may encounter with the text.

I focus on editing nonfiction, especially history and true crime, though I also work with other genres. Much of my editing experience is in nonfiction texts, and nonfiction is also one of my favorite things to read for pleasure.
Yes, I do! I especially love working on genres that pair well with my nonfiction interests and are my personal favorites for reading–crime fiction, mysteries, and historical fiction–but I have enjoyed working in a range of fictional genres over the years, including fantasy and YA.
Yes, I do! In fact, short stories are actually my favorite type of fiction to read for fun, and I have experience with both writing and editing nonfiction academic articles. My rates for shorter works (under 50,000 words) are different for longer manuscripts. They are calculated by the hour rather than by the word.

Yes! I’ve worked with many authors who have self-published, and I am more than happy to team up with you as you go through the self-publishing process with your own manuscript. I also work with writers who are interested in traditional publishing.

Questions About Working with Me

Perhaps one of the most pervasive stereotypes about editors is that we shred other people’s work. I don’t make changes just for the sake of making them, but I also do not shy away from providing the suggestions necessary for improving a manuscript. That being said, I know that sharing your writing is a very vulnerable experience, and I strive to always be kind and considerate to my clients while also being honest as we work together to improve, revise, refine, and polish their manuscripts.

Usually, yes. I am often booked several weeks in advance on several projects at a time.

That depends on several factors, including but not limited to the needs and length of your manuscript, your own deadlines, and my schedule of previously booked projects. I schedule projects on a first-come, first-serve basis and am often booked full weeks or months in advance.

Part of our discussions in negotiating a contract will center around picking a deadline for you to send me the manuscript and a deadline for me to start and complete work that fit both our schedules.

As a general rule, once I start a manuscript, it will take me 4–6 weeks to complete the work. Shorter works often have a shorter turn-around time of 2–3 weeks. This is based on the agreed-upon date that I start work, not our date of first contact, the date the contract is signed, or the date you send me the manuscript.

If you are late in sending me the manuscript, we will need to renegotiate the deadlines since a delay in receiving the manuscript will cause a disruption in my workflow.

For each project, I will draw up a contract that outlines the scope of work, cost, and schedule. These contracts are based on standard editing contracts and have been reviewed by an Arkansas attorney. Please feel free to have an attorney of your own choosing also review the contract before you sign.

Again, this depends on a variety of factors, including the length of your manuscript, the extent of editing it needs, your deadline, and my schedule of previously booked projects. I may or may not be able to accept the manuscript. Rush jobs do incur an additional fee.

I offer whole-chapter samples of my work available at the same by-word rate for the service as a full manuscript. The reason for that is I prefer to work on a full chapter for samples because it gives me more material to work with and, consequently, gives you a better idea of how I work as an editor because you get more feedback. Some editors do offer free samples, but it is usually for a page or less, not a whole chapter. You can read more about the types of editing I perform and the rates I charge on my Services page.

Yes, this is something I have done with clients in the past, depending on the project and my schedule. Please reach out to me, and let’s see what we can work out.

For most of my work, I charge per word, at the rates listed on my Services page. My Rate Calculator on the Process page offers a good overview of the different services’ estimated total prices. For all manuscripts under 50,000 words and certain services (author coaching and citation editing), I charge hourly rates instead. Clients who select the developmental editing and copyediting package receive an approximately 20% discount on those services. 

My rates are determined by my own working pace, as well as the Editorial Freelancers Association’s rate chart and freelance rates posted in the most current edition of Writer’s Market.

Please send me the manuscript as a Microsoft Word document with standard formatting in one complete document rather than in multiple files.

  • 12 point Times New Roman font
  • 1-inch margins on all sides
  • Double-spaced text
  • Left justified text
  • Indented paragraphs

It’s important that the file be a Microsoft Word document because I make extensive use of the comment and Track Changes features while editing. 

Sending and receiving manuscripts via email attachment is usually sufficient, but larger files may warrant the use of Dropbox.

No, I do not work as a freelance writer or ghostwriter. Though I am more than happy to provide extensive feedback on suggested revisions, the work of implementing those changes is up to the author. It will be the author’s responsibility to review and accept or reject the feedback I provide. If you are not familiar or comfortable with using Track Changes or comments in Word, please let me know, and I can send you some resources and tutorials to help you.
Though I strive to do my best work on every editorial project (including completing multiple passes over a manuscript and checking my own work), I cannot guarantee that a manuscript will be error-free. No editor can guarantee error-free work.
Again, though I do my best on each project I work on to ensure that my work is to the highest standard, no editor (myself included) can promise that the manuscripts they work on will be accepted by a publisher or a literary agent or will sell once released.

It is inevitable that you will not agree with all my edits—that is a natural part of the editing process! Ultimately, you have final say over the changes you accept and the ones you reject. As a general rule, I try to explain the reasoning behind my edits, so that way, even if you disagree, you can see why I made the suggestions I did. Also always please feel free to reach out to me with questions about my suggestions. Some of the best chats I’ve had with clients occur when we talk through a suggested change they are hesitant to make. The more I know about your intended audience and purpose, the easier it will be for me to suggest a solution that preserves your intentions for the manuscript while remedying any potential issues.