One of the many fun aspects of being a writer with 30 years of experience is that I’ve had an opportunity to try my hand at a lot of different types of writing. I started out in journalism and have learned the conventions for government and corporate communications, marketing, PR and creative writing. While most of my work now centres around writing for businesses I’m finding that I’ve been doing a lot more editing in the past few years.

It’s interesting and very detailed work and I love working with authors. I know from experience how thrilling it is to see a manuscript you labored over become magically transformed into a book with your name on it. It’s an honor to put my skill set to work on behalf of someone else. I get a lot of questions about the editing process so I thought I’d put some of my thoughts on paper to give you an insight into what it’s like to work with an editor. Every editor works differently so if you have a manuscript that you feel would benefit from a good edit, it’s a good idea to ask a lot of questions and make sure you feel the person you are considering would be a good fit for your project.

As someone who started working as a professional writer in 1982 I can tell you that every writer has an editor. We all get close to our subject matter and sometimes it’s hard to determine if our work reads clearly and makes sense. When it comes to a book, particularly one written to support our business goals, we also want to make sure the manuscript reflects us in the best light possible. An editor is there to catch mistakes, improve the prose, clarify what doesn’t make sense and point out discrepancies in style and story line. A good editor will polish up your work so you are even more proud of what you done than you ever thought possible.

For me, editing falls into the category of necessity rather than luxury, regardless of whether you are self-publishing or aiming to get your work published by a traditional publishing house. One of the reasons my novel, “Shades of Teale,” originally attracted the attention of my publisher was that it had been professionally edited. That showed I was serious about the quality of my work and the quality of my ideal readers’ experiences.

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!