GOOD ENGLISH IS GOOD BUSINESS

 Substantive editing and/or copyediting
and/or proofreading

Academic Journals: Editing academic journals requires close communication with contributors to verify meaning, argument, and documentation. This kind of editing includes substantive editing, copyediting, and proofreading. It also requires knowledge of style manuals such as MLA, CMS, APA, and AP, and an application of specific house style. To editing the work of professionals I bring eleven years’ editorial experience, an MA in Linguistics with a specialization in the Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), a BA in Language Arts, more than twenty years teaching English, and more than five years teaching English as a Second Language (ESL).

B2B Websites and Publications: Good advertising and good English are one and the same. Businesses selling to other businesses, online and/or brick-and-mortar, depend on razor-sharp copywriting and editing to move consumers to buy products and services. Just the right word in just the right place on a page draws in or drives away a customer. Publications that target specific audiences depend on advertising to pay the bills. They depend on writers to win and keep readers. Editors aid that effort by tightening sentence structure, trimming excess words, and cutting jargon.

Christian Publications: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 1:7).
Like apples of gold in settings of silver is a word spoken in right circumstances (Proverbs 25:11).

Academic Manuscripts:  To editing the work of professionals I bring eleven years’ editorial experience, an MA in Linguistics with a specialization in the Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), a BA in Language Arts, more than twenty years teaching English, and more than five years teaching English as a Second Language (ESL).

Fiction: The elements of fiction include not only plot (initial incident, rising action, crisis, climax, dénouement, resolution), character, and setting, but also point of view, timelines, chronology, tone, and mood. Aristotle was right: unity of action, time, and place make or break a story. Good editing ensures a saleable short story or novel.

Nonfiction: I know from experience that writing a monthly column is a tall order. It means stitching together information from multiple sources to explain an idea; convincing readers of a point of view; describing products, services, and new technology; and letting competitors and clients tell their stories. Columnists need editors!

Poetry: Editing poetry invites a light hand that neither embellishes nor misrepresents meaning. Rather, editing poetry ensures that intended meaning is conveyed by correcting punctuation, spelling, grammar, and inadvertent omissions — but not unconventional usage.

MBA Essays: Editing includes specific frameworks for school/s chosen; short-, mid-, and long-term goals; prompts such as a time of failure and your reaction; greatest accomplishment and/or influences; resumes; letters of recommendation, etc. Editing ensures essays at or under prescribed word counts and as many drafts as necessary to satisfy editor and client.

Personal Essays: To help candidates craft unique essays I bring the following experience:

• Ten years’ experience strategizing, developing, and editing personal essays required for four-year institutions

• Twenty years’ experience teaching high school English

• Forty years’ experience reading and grading high school and university frosh compositions and research papers

• Five years’ experience teaching English as a Second Language (ESL)

PhD Essays: Post-graduate graduate degree candidates must show specific knowledge of their field as well as what they can contribute to an institution’s reputation for academic rigor in the field’s R&D. Programs want to know “why you at this school in this study?” A good editor works with applicants to facilitate strategy; fit format to message; and develop, edit, and improve the flow of content.