My last blog post looked at why you might hire an editor to polish up your manuscript. As a writer and editor with 30 years of experience in many different aspects of writing and editing I work with other authors to help them bring out the best in their work. It takes a great deal of effort to write a book and I am very respectful of the heart and energy my clients have invested in their manuscripts.

There are a lot of different levels involved in editing and I ask clients to tell me ahead of time how much involvement they want me to have in their manuscript – the more input I provide, the slower I go and thus the ultimate cost is higher.

Some of the manuscript issues I can address include:

1. Grammar and General English Usage. This is pretty basic and very important.
2. Flow. I am extremely good at elisions, i.e. the flow of language from one sentence to the next, one paragraph to the next and one chapter to the next.
3. Order and Overall Structure. Has the document been put together in a logical manner that is easy to follow and absorb?
4. Information Omissions. Has anything been left out of the story that maybe should be there?
5. Work Around Presuppositions. We often assume that what we know is what everyone else knows and we get so close to our work that we sometimes don’t catch ourselves at that particular game. I can identify presuppositions and correct for audience awareness so you are truly talking a language your audience will understand.
6. Thematic Unity. Personally I work thematically with every document I write as I find it is a powerful way to engage audience attention and I can work a theme (yours or one of my own development) into your text as a touchstone to help carry your readers from start to finish in a consistent and satisfying manner.
7. Metaphors. These are powerful ways of engaging audience support for your story and I can work them smoothly into your writing if desired.
8. Audience Inclusion. I am trained in many techniques for writing to develop audience rapport and can incorporate these techniques into your text if you wish.
9. Story Telling. Stories are the most powerful way to teach and I can embellish or refine your story to make it as inspirational as the occasion demands.
10.  Subtle Promotion. I can very elegantly position my client as an expert authority on a topic at key points in the document.
11. Keyword Inclusion If Requested

If you would like to get in touch about a book project you feel I can help bring to life, I would be honored to hear from you. Alternatively, if you’d like to know more about the first of my books that Manor House Publishing released on my behalf, please feel free to check them out.