Editing is expensive. When I edit a book, the cost often exceeds $10,000. You might think I’d go out of my way to promise extra value at that price. It’s sort of the opposite. I never want to overpromise, because that makes trouble later. This is what I promise: But I also make sure people…
If you hire me as an editor and your work has problems, I’m going to tell you. And I’m not going to sugarcoat it, either. These are the kinds of comments I frequently make: I sometimes wonder why people don’t fire me, but so far, with more than 100 clients, no one has told me…
If you’re a professional writer — say, a writer writing for an editor, or a ghostwriter writing for a client — you need to understand the psychology of book drafts. You may look at your drafts one way, while your editor or client sees them another. You’ll have less angst in your life if you…
If your book stinks, I can’t make it great. But if your idea is awesome, maybe I can. I get hired as an editor by all sorts of people. They bring me a manuscript — or sometimes, just an idea and a chapter or two — and say “Help me.” I have all sorts of…
An editor has a challenge. They must know everything about writing and, essentially, nothing about anything else. The power of remaining naïve Of course, I’m exaggerating. Editors tend to know a little bit about a lot of things, because they have to read so many things in detail. And editors in a specific genre need…
You are an expert on your topic and your ideas. I will never know as much about your topic as you do. I am expert on nonfiction books. You hired me because I know more about books than you do. This is the basis of our collaboration. It’s our greatest strength. It’s also our greatest…
I write. I edit. I ghostwrite. I also use AI — carefully — to help me with ideation and summarize research content. But I don’t substitute AI for own abilities. Unfortunately for the quality of the text I work on, my clients have made different choices. Here are two examples — an author that used…
At my previous employer, Forrester, there was a dedicated commitment to both quality of analysis and quality of writing. This meant that your editor took what you wrote and critiqued the crap out of it, and you had to learn to make it better to meet that high bar. My boss at the time, Emily,…
If you’re considering hiring me as a writer or editor, we’ll have to discover a few things about each other. You’ll likely interview me. And you might send me some samples of your writing and your ideas. I’ve been through this so many times that I no longer worry about the impression I’m making. I…