David Yontz, Editor in Athens, GA, USA

Overview

Hello! My love for working with writers and the written word set me on the trajectory to becoming the managing editor of Creators Publishing. There, I worked with dozens of high-profile writers and cartoonists, including a Pulitzer Prize winner and Reuben Award winners. I left Creators to grow my freelance career, maintaining many of the excellent relationships I had with accomplished writers and continuing to edit their books. My work on a booklet on maternal morbidity and mortality for the National Institutes of Health received a Communicator Award of Excellence.

I have edited feature scripts, fictional books, memoirs, political opinion columns, advice columns, comic strips, scientific journal submissions, and more.

I believe that the copy editor should be invisible. It is the writer's voice that matters. When you work with me, all of my recommended edits are there to help you and your message shine. As an editor, I follow the "first, do no harm" policy. Your words will never be over-edited, and I firmly believe that we are partners, working together to get you the best book possible.

Testimonial:

I used to be smug about my ability to write grammatically correct prose in my science-based syndicated column and books. My smugness ended when David Yontz started copyediting my syndicated column for Creators. He catches errors in logic and grammatical errors that few editors would. (I think of him as a grammar ninja!)

My publisher of my previous two books has copyeditors on staff, but I begged them to hire Dave, which they did, because he has my back in ways no other copyeditor would.

My column and books are measurably better because of David Yontz’s copyediting, and he’s a sweetheart of a guy, with great integrity, and he’s really fun to work with, to boot. In short, I love the guy, I’m lucky as hell to be copyedited by him, and I strongly, STRONGLY recommend him. Feel free to contact me and ask me about him. (My contact information is on my website.)

-Amy Alkon, science-based syndicated columnist and author