Don Reneau – Editor

About me:

I love ideas and I love words and writing, so I begin every project deeply curious about what the author wants to say. Editing for me is about having a sharp eye and knowing the necessary rules, but more fundamentally it’s about optimizing the clarity, vitality, and readability of the prose while keeping the author’s substantive scholarly commitments intact. My freelance experience ranges broadly in the humanities and social sciences, from political science and history to anthropology and cultural and literary studies. Nearly a decade working as a copy editor at the University of Chicago Press means I'm also up to speed on the practical ins and outs of academic publishing.

What I do:

I specialize in developmental editing, in which I assist authors with conceptual and organizational issues from early on in the writing process. But I’m more than happy to join projects in later drafts, suggesting edits to polish the prose so that it flows smoothly and helps make your text more compelling to readers. In particular, I’ve had a lot of success working with academics who write in English as a second language, revising as necessary to achieve natural, idiomatic communication. The result in all cases is a clear, professionally copy-edited manuscript, fully ready for successful submission to publishers.

Recent award-winning book projects:

The Future of Immortality: Remaking Life and Death in Contemporary Russia, by Anya Bernstein. Won the William A. Douglass Book Prize in Europeanist Anthropology from the Society for the Anthropology of Europe.

Authoritarian Apprehensions: Ideology, Judgment, and Mourning in Syria, by Lisa Wedeen. Awarded the Gordon J. Laing Prize from the University of Chicago Press for “the book published in the previous three years that brings the Press the greatest distinction.”

I love the work! And authors find me prompt, reliable, and easy to work with.

Testimonials:

“Thanks so much again for working with my text. It is such a joy seeing it come alive and sparkle.”

AB, Anthropology, Harvard University

“I accepted 98 percent of your changes, and where I didn’t, your suggested edits frequently helped me see exactly what I wanted to say.”

CW, German Department, University of Chicago