Julie MacKenzie - Editor
Jacksonville, FL, USA
Your editor, not your enemy. I won’t hijack your work. My only goal is to help you bring to life the story you had in mind from the start.
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Overview
I hold a B.S. in Journalism from Boston University and have been an editorial professional for more than twenty years, including ten as a copy editor at LexisNexis, part of RELX Group. I am a fan of mysteries, thrillers, fantasy, and science fiction. My Kindle overflows with the work of dozens of independent authors.
With my editorial assistance, you can concentrate on telling your story and bringing your characters to life. It’s your world, and I won’t try to change that.
My job is to be your final reader before publication. One last set of eyes checking for and correcting oversights in spelling, grammar, syntax, word usage, and punctuation. I will also check for consistency and continuity.
I offer two levels of service: Standard and Enhanced.
In Standard Copy Edit I will fix everything I find that is wrong: misspelled words, incorrect tenses, misused words, nonstandard punctuation, etc. I will also note in the margins words or sentences that aren’t as clear as you would probably like. If there’s a continuity problem, I’ll let you know. I will point out repetitive language but leave the heavy lifting to you.
In Enhanced Editing you’ll get everything I offer in Standard as well as fact checking, substitutions for overused words and phrases, and minor rewriting for clarity, nuance, and flow. I have a knack for imitation, and my clients often can't tell where I've intervened.
I am very comfortable working with translated material and the work of non-native English speakers thanks to a long-term relationship with a foreign book packager and promoter.
Services
Languages
English (US)
Fiction
Crime & Mystery
Fantasy
Humor & Comedy
Literature
Mashups
Romance
Science Fiction
Thriller
Young Adult & Teen
Non-Fiction
Law
Work experience
Copy Editor
Free Range Editorial
April, 2014
–
Present
(almost 5 years)
In April 2014 I launched a freelance copy editing business called Free Range Editorial. Since then I have edited over sixty books, with clients across the United States and around the world. I work on fiction and nonfiction, short stories and novels, YA and adult. If you can write it, I can edit it.
Through my affiliation with an international ebook company, I have developed a specialty in transforming foreign language translations into American English. I welcome more of this type of work.
Copy Editor
LexisNexis (Reed Elsevier)
May, 2006
–
May, 2016
(about 10 years)
I prepared court opinions for official publication by editing for grammar, style, spelling and punctuation. I also fact checked and verified quotations and legal citations. I had an audited accuracy rate of over 99%.
Portfolio (25 selected works)
Stealer
A.M. Yates
A Thief. A Portal. A New World. But can she get back home again?Home alone over spring break, Dee looks forward to a week free from worries about her sliding grades, her lack of friends, and her mom’s overbearing boyfriend. But when she chases a thief out of her house, she ends up with a whole new set of troubles . . . in a whole new world. The Crescent. Where everyday objects possess extraord... read more
From a #1 bestselling author: A fresh and funny romantic mystery series about a witty, down-to-earth heroine with a job you've never seen before... Being an undercover poison taster for the rich and famous might sound glamorous, but for Isobel Avery it means stomaching bad clients and even worse coffee. The one side of the job that lives up to expectations is the money. Which is just as well f... read more
Private detective Eric Beckman can read minds. Although he reads only the conscious thoughts of the people he interviews, it usually gives him enough of an edge to overcome his inexperience as a PI. But mind reading is hell on relationships. Trusting comes hard when you know what people are really thinking.The case of his life lands in his lap when a beautiful woman materializes during a telev... read more
They’ll challenge what it means to be human and test the limits of love.Amanda is a scientist for the military’s cyborg program. Programming and repairing once-human soldiers is a lot easier than trying to date, so she buries herself in her work. She’ll never admit that the cyborgs often seem like more than machines to her - especially the handsome AD-214.Even though Cyborg Sector has erased h... read more
When Leaves Fall: A Spiritual Novel
Andres Pelenur
Cancer turned 38-year-old Dr. Laura McDermott's life upside down until a chance encounter with a mysterious priest changed her life forever... When Dr. Laura McDermott is diagnosed with stage IV melanoma, her perfect world is plunged into chaos. Resting between treatments on a Boston city bench, she is overwhelmed by an unexpected peace that appears to be emanating from an old stone church beh... read more
The CEO of a promising start-up company is found dead in a luxurious hotel room. Two men who underwent what were supposed to be simple surgical procedures died on the operating table in two different hospitals. Are the deaths related? Ronnie Saar, a newly promoted partner in a leading venture capital fund, is unexpectedly nominated to chair the board of a successful pharmaceutical startup comp... read more
Missing: A Crime Thriller
Adiva Geffen
They’re back…Internationally best-selling suspense master Adiva Geffen in going to launch you on a whirlwind adventure with Israel's mostly hotly pursued private detectives. And this time the good guys might not win.How far will they go?After finding and securing Daria, a young runaway, Sammy and Dikla are left slack-jawed upon discovering her dead body. Local police determine the case to be a... read more
In 1849, Anne Brontë died a devout and innocent virgin. Three days later, she rose from the dead. Now from the jagged wilderness of the Blue Ridge Mountains, to a glittering lair deep beneath the Biltmore Estate, a lonely Nightwalker fights her eternal hunger as she strives for salvation amidst temptation and blood. Gea Haff weaves Brontë biography through this modern gothic tale in Book One o... read more
From the author of Becoming Magic.Genevieve has wasted her life. She's stuck in a dead end job, divorced and in debt. For her, every day is much like the last. But things are about to change. Dramatically.So, how does a lonely, overweight, depressed 40-something woman go from poverty, debt and despair to a life of fulfilment, happiness, wealth and spiritual awakening? Does she rob a bank, win ... read more
Taken by the Tide
Cora Avery, Lily Glen
They were worlds apart, but destiny brought them together.Signe is a grief-stricken shieldmaiden, consumed by her desire to avenge the mysterious death of her son.Merric is a selkie, a proud magical race. He's taken on human form to protect his nephew from powerful dark forces set on curtailing the boy’s destiny. Together they fight to save a young boy’s life, the worlds of magic and mortals, ... read more
Book Three in The Horizon CycleSeventeen-year-old Aes has lived his entire life in backwater-central, Horizon Banks, Nebraska. Where nothing new happens. Ever. Until a couple of mysterious strangers show up. Now the drowsy streets of his small town are vanishing, literally, before his eyes. And he's haunted by dreams about living another life, in another world. The hot-and-cold daughter of the... read more
A Pink Pearl
Ann Jacobson
A novel that exposes a new and unexplored worldAnne Jacobson had a forbidden romantic encounter with a Hispanic teenager who worked in her parents’ garden. In the eyes of the religious Jewish Hasidic community in which she was raised, this kind of act was unpardonable. She was sent away to a boarding school for girls in Israel, so she wouldn’t harm the chances of her brothers and sisters to fi... read more
In the Wrong Hands, a thriller full of unexpected twists and intriguing characters, delves into the real-life world of DNA editing, where science and science fiction are about to meet and change the face of medicine foreverTwo unrelated bodies...A homeland security agent is found dead. Shocking evidence reveals the cause of death is the simultaneous collapse of the man’s blood vessels. When a ... read more
Eric Beckman, a mind-reading private investigator, is spending Christmas in snowy Vermont with his wife and daughter. He needs a break from solving cases, but the townspeople convince him to look into the village mystery: Every holiday season, someone switches the baby Jesus with one of the other figures in the town's nativity scene.With the help of his ten-year-old daughter, also a mind reade... read more
Feeling a patriotic duty to defend his country after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, seventeen year old, Angelo J. DiMarco, enlists in the U.S. Army. Severely short of frontline fighters, the Army rushes Angelo through Ranger training and sends him to Italy as part of the 1st Ranger Battalion. Their objective: stop the German invasion. Fighting on the front lines in Italy, the German’s teach Angelo... read more
Futuring the Future: A Futurology Book
Michael F. Kaufmann
How will the future look like?How does science, technology and human society look like when they are exhausting their full potential? An unexpected encounter changes the face of humanity and its destiny.A smart, innovating and rewarding novel that will challenge your mind.Futuring the future is an original masterpiece, which goes beyond traditional genre conformities. It brings together fictio... read more
His Grandfather's House
Ron Fritsch
The neighbors tell Kurt his grandfather, who has been his guardian since he was four years old, committed a series of crimes to acquire his farm. In this coming-of-age novel, Kurt needs to know if the neighbors' stories are true. The crimes they say his grandfather got away with include fraud, forgery, arson and murder.
Fred Trellis went home to Laconia, New Hampshire to meet with childhood friends, but found a dead man. Fred almost became the next victim. His daughter Carolyn and husband, Henry Atkinson came to help, and found that an eighty-year-old photograph was the key to the present evil.
The Cured (The Farmed Trilogy Book 3)
Lisa Caskey
Winifred Kimball was happy living in Kansas City…until the Council killed her best friend and kidnapped the only father she’s ever known. Now, the girl with superstrength and lightning speed is determined to return to San Francisco and make the government pay for what they’ve done.But the Council has other plans. Armed with secret weapons of their own, they are set out to destroy Winnie, and T... read more
The Bluestocking (The Tipperary Series Book 3)
Susanne O'Leary
Don’t judge a book by its cover—or a woman by her appearance. What you see is not always what you get.Audrey Killian loves her job running the local newspaper in a small Tipperary town. But when a fire destroys the office, her peaceful life is torn apart. Her boss, sexy London publisher Christopher Montgomery, arrives in town with plans to close the paper down, making her an offer she can’t re... read more
Elizabeth Daleiden on Trial
Ron Fritsch
"I used to have one son I loved with all my heart. Now I have two." In this LGBTQ courtroom thriller set in the late 1970s, a politically ambitious state’s attorney charges Elizabeth Daleiden with the murders of her father and two elderly neighbors in the 1950s. Her trial threatens to blow the lid off her Illinois farming community’s darkest secrets.
A Post-Apocalyptic WesternIn the years following the zombie viral outbreak, those who risked their lives to seek out treasure among the wastelands became known as the REAPERS.Gus and Oscar are back! After a successful Reaping run to the Los Angeles ruins, they set out to bring their scavenger spoils to market, a journey that takes them across the desert plains of the post zombie apocalypse fut... read more
Grey Areas - The Saga (Books 1-4)
Brad Carl
Get all 4 books in the Grey Areas Saga at a 45% discount."There's something here for all readers: suspense, intrigue, mystery, revenge and who done it! Highly recommended!" - John PodlaskiYes, people make mistakes. But sometimes those mistakes have a far greater reach of consequences than anyone could've anticipated.When Henry Fields arrives in Gable, Iowa, there is nothing suspicious about th... read more
To Live the Future: A Historical Fiction Novel
Hayuta Katzenelson
She saves many families, while losing her own Poland 1938. Eve of the Second World War. Rivka sends her husband and three beloved children to the United States, where they will find safe shelter from the war. She realizes that she will probably never see them again, but a strong commitment urges her to stay behind. To her family, she says she must stay to support her elderly parents who are to... read more
Craft Beer Burning
Brad Carl
Is there anything you wouldn't do to help your best friend of thirty years? How far would you go to eliminate a threat to your business?Moving back to his hometown of Silver Hollow, South Dakota, gives Oscar the opportunity to reconnect with Doug, his childhood friend. He soon becomes fascinated with Doug's home brewed beers and, when Doug finds himself unemployed, convinces him to open a craf... read more
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Deborah Blake
Experienced fiction editor and proofreader specialising in contemporary romance, literary fiction and crime/thriller.
Bexley, Kent, United Kingdom
John Clegg
I have been editing legal manuscripts for almost a decade now for major publishers such as Taylor & Francis and Oxford University Press.
Wakefield, UK
