Julie Porter – Editor

I am an editor, proofreader, and book reviewer with over five years of experience critiquing, editing, and evaluating books. I have a BA in English from University of Missouri-St. Louis and a Masters in Library Science from Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. I have a blog of book reviews that is frequently updated. I have experience in Editorial Assessment, Developmental Editing, Copyediting, and Proofreading. The genres that I specialized in include: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Women's Fiction, Historical Fiction, History Nonfiction, Computers and Internet, and Business and Management. The titles that I worked on include: Midlife Alchemy: A Paranormal Women's Fantasy (Paraval Book 1)
by Kate Swansea, Battle and Burning (Dragon's Destiny Book 2) by Carl Cotas-Robles, Little Blue Eyes by Rob Santana, The Unseen Path by Zlaikha Y. Samad and L'mere Younossi, Cannibalism Culture: The Bushido Horror of World War II by Paulina Hernandez, Julie Porter, and Chris Sayas, Three Years Eight Months: The Forgotten Struggle of Hong Kong's World War II by Jenny Chan and Derek Pua, and Direct Response Podcasting: Turn Listeners into Raving Fans and Your Best Clients by Jonathan Rivera.

I will read anything that I am given from beginning to end, sometimes as many as ten books back to back in one week. When I receive a book, I read it once to see if the whole book is clear, understandable, and readable. Sometimes, I will highlight if something leaps out at me that I believe needs fixing. Then I will go through and highlight concerns that I have with the text. For Fiction, that could be questions about character's motivation, whether the narrative is clear and understandable, and if there are any plot holes. For Nonfiction, I might check for historical accuracy (also important for historical fiction), if advice is repetitive or fresh each time, and if examples are provided with a proper beginning, middle, and end. Finally, I check for mechanical issues like spelling and grammatical errors or trouble in formatting. At the end of each chapter and on the final page, I summarize what I like about the book and things that I feel need changing.
The process takes about two to four weeks, but I am very thorough, concise, and detailed in my approach. I like the process to be one on one, so authors can feel free to comment, make changes, or provide answers about my questions and concerns. I want to be more than an editor. I want to maintain a good healthy relationship with honesty and understanding.