My Offerings

Services

Copyediting of academic books and papers, mostly in the sciences. I also take on nonfiction that interests me. Copyediting includes correcting spelling, typos, punctuation, and grammar; fixing awkward wording and word choices; and revising text for clarity and readability. I edit Microsoft Word documents and mark up PDFs in Acrobat Reader DC. I also edit papers in LaTeX.

Proofreading, which involves correcting spelling, typos, punctuation, and grammar.

Strong information technology skills, which are a prerequisite for efficient on-screen editing. My IT background has proved to be a godsend. I use PerfectIt (a consistency checker), Editors Toolkit Plus (a package of macros), Agent Ransack (makes multi-document text search a breeze), FastKeys (an AutoHotKey-based Windows automation tool), Zotero and CSL (Citation Style Language; to automate bibliography creation), and Word macros and wildcards. These tools help speed up and smooth the editing process.

Intimate familiarity with common styles such as Chicago, APA, Wiley, and CRC, and less common ones such as AGU.

Vast experience of working with ESL (English as Second Language) authors, who may produce world-class research but lack the skills to express themselves clearly in English. Working on their manuscripts requires special skills and tons of experience: a misused word could mystify, and the text could sometimes be so garbled as to defy comprehension. It's not for everyone.

If you want me to edit your book or paper, this is what you need to know. I edit mostly academic books and papers, and I do not work on fiction. You'll have to send me your manuscript so that I can check if I'll be comfortable working on it, estimate how much work it'll require, see if I can fit your timeline into my schedule, and calculate my fee. I'll need an advance before beginning work.

I will work closely with you, sending edited drafts regularly so you can see what I'm doing to your manuscript. On your part, you will respond to my queries and review my edits; I will use this feedback as I work my way through your manuscript. In this way, we will work as a team until the job is done. I'm open to as many rounds of editing as will satisfy both of us—within reason.