Lisa Howard - Editor
Every sentence matters! My passion is helping your words shine, whether you're at the beginning of your project or you need a final polish.
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Overview
I'm a freelance editor, writer, and book coach who enjoys using all aspects of my language background—writing, editing, teaching, translating, presenting, and language-learning—to help authors express their ideas with clarity and style. As someone who's been on both sides of the page, I'm sensitive to the needs of authors as they hone their ability to communicate clearly and effectively with their target audiences, whether that involves creating accessible and thought-provoking nonfiction or crafting novels with characters and plots that will keep readers up all night.
Areas of expertise:
NONFICTION
• Food & cookbooks (from culinary arts to food politics and everything in between)
• Health & wellness
• Personal development
• Relationships
• Travel
• Culture & anthropology
• Sustainability & environment
• Book proposals
• Book coaching
FICTION
• Science fiction
• Fantasy
• Historical fiction
• Women's fiction
• Adventure (especially novels set abroad)
Areas of expertise:
NONFICTION
• Food & cookbooks (from culinary arts to food politics and everything in between)
• Health & wellness
• Personal development
• Relationships
• Travel
• Culture & anthropology
• Sustainability & environment
• Book proposals
• Book coaching
FICTION
• Science fiction
• Fantasy
• Historical fiction
• Women's fiction
• Adventure (especially novels set abroad)
Languages
English (US)
Non-Fiction
Career Guides
Cooking, Food, Wine, & Spirits
Health & Wellbeing
Home & Garden
Self-Help & Self-Improvement
Travel
Fiction
Fantasy
Science Fiction
Work experience
Freelance Editor & Writer
Self-employed
January, 2009
–
Present
(about 14 years)
I'm a freelance editor and writer with degrees in Cultural Anthropology and German Language & Literature and a minor in Art History. During college, I studied at the Universität Oldenburg in Germany; later, I studied Spanish at Intercultura in Sámara (Costa Rica) and French at Lyon Bleu International in France. In addition to my foreign-language studies, I'm a certified ESL (English as a Second Language) instructor and have taught and translated in the US and abroad.
My editorial experiences include editing a variety of fiction and nonfiction projects as well as ghostwriting for individuals and and writing copy for marketing firms. Along with providing editorial assistance to individuals and publishers, I'm the author of two traditionally published books and dozens of magazine articles. I also regularly present health-centered programs at libraries and community centers and speak at writing conferences about the conjoined arts of writing and editing.
Portfolio (49 selected works)
Despite what many people might think a gluten-free diet can be just as unhealthy as the standard American diet (also known as SAD). This is due to the fact that most store-bought gluten-free items—as well as many recipes in gluten-free cookbooks—include refined sugar starches fillers and other nutrient-dead foods. You’re likely familiar with some of these ingredients already: White rice flour ... read more
Coconut oil and other alternative oils are a hot topic these days in the cooking world, especially after the news of extra-virgin olive oil fraud broke out, as described in Extra Virginity. More and more people are becoming wary of the typical processed and refined cooking oils on the market, and they are beginning to use unprocessed, unrefined alternative oils for their cooking and baking. Ho... read more
In this powerful and informative guide, Holistic Food Therapist Kelly Genzlinger, CNC, CMTA explains how sugar and refined carbohydrate dependency is not your fault, but stems from impaired biochemistry. She insightfully provides a series of steps to naturally improve neurotransmitter imbalances and to finally change your eating habits, feel better emotionally and physically, and get free from... read more
Modernist Bread: The Art and Science
Nathan Myhrvold, Francisco Migoya
Modernist Bread: The Art and Science is a revolutionary new understanding of one of the most important staples of the human diet. Created by the team that published the award-winning Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking, this massive treasury of practical knowledge and groundbreaking techniques captures over four years of independent research and collaborations with leading indust... read more
Health is in the Spirit: We are all We need (01)
Claudia Burdick
Enlightened and insightful, Health Is in the Spirit by Claudia Burdick is essential reading for anyone that wants to take control of his, her, or their family’s health. It is a landmark indispensable guide that offers sound out-of-the-box thinking based on the author’s twenty-year career as an alternative healthcare practitioner. In two sections and forty chapters with titles such as ―Respirat... read more
The Skinny on Fats
Dr David Brownstein and Sheryl Shenefelt
The Skinny on Fats was written to educate you about the importance of consuming good sources of dietary fats. This book will teach you why we need fats and why we can't live without them. We will also show you that the reliance on a high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet is the root cause of the obesity and chronic illness epidemic that we are facing. It's time for new dietary advice. This book will ... read more
The Guide to Healthy Eating 2nd Edition
David Brownstein, Sheryl Shenefelt
What do I eat? How do I cook healthy food? How do I shop for healthy food? The Guide to Healthy Eating will show you which foods are healthy and which food you should avoid. Furthermore, this book will help you make the best food choices for you and your family. Food is our best medicine. Relying on the media, diet associations, and food corporations will lead you astray when it comes to provi... read more
Selected Shorts and Other Methods of Time Travel
David Goodberg
In 2051, commercial time travel became a global reality. Opportunities abounded for curious history buffs, futurists, and corrupt entrepreneurs. Selected Shorts and Other Methods of Time Travel is a spellbinding collection of 37 tales that explore time travel tourism and its repercussions. In various settings ranging from Earth to deep space, Selected Shorts presents tales of those brave (or f... read more
NO MORE MEDS
Dr. Corinne Weaver DC
Are you stressed out because your child keeps getting sick and you don’t know what steps to take?Are you sick of not getting answers from your doctor and always needing to drug your child?Is your child unable to speak or make eye contact?Are they having trouble learning and concentrating?Are they emotional unstable and in pain?Do you feel overwhelmed with daily responsibility to take care of y... read more
Ari's new book is the culmination of a lifetime of learning and thirty four years in business, the last three of which have been spent intensively studying, reflecting on, and writing about the critical role of beliefs in the businesses and organizations of which we're a part. The fruits of that labor are now available in this new 600-page book.
DISCOVER places for:•Brilliant sunsets•Pivotal third dates•Ice-breaking first dates•“Making up after a fight” dates•Where to go if you don’t want the evening to endANDTHE MOST ELEGANT, SEDUCTIVE RESTAURANT WITH GREAT WHISKY, WINE, FOOD AND VALUE!Together with seventeen noteworthy whisky shops and twenty outstanding cheap dates, you’ll lose yourself in a joyful voyage of enchantment and flavor.... read more
Passage 99
Janie Emaus
When Pleasure Sister, Caitlin, breaks a fundamental passage in The Manual, she is forced to examine her beliefs and make a choice which will forever change her life’s direction. Passage 99 is a science fiction story exploring the themes of family values, love and self-preservation.
Feeling stuck? Anxious? Stressed out? You’re not alone. In today’s fast-paced world, we’ve gotten used to feeling tense and overwhelmed. We want to enjoy our lives more, but many of us unconsciously embrace unresolved mental blocks that lead to burn-out and frustration. Here’s the good news: the scienced-backed and practical tools you’ll find in Breathe, Repeat will help you build mental resil... read more
This quick, portable guide features more than 200 practical, effective ways to calm the mind, reduce stress, and erase tension in your body in less than five minutes.In 5-Minute Calm you’ll learn to relax your anxious mind and release tension in your body through quick and easy mindfulness exercises and techniques. Through guided breathing, meditation, visualization, and more, you’ll find a pl... read more
Discover simple ways to be happier in your everyday life with these hacks that encourage positive thinking to improve your mood and outlook in any situation.Everyone wants to be happier, but often many people don’t know where to start. In Happiness Hacks, you’ll find 300 quick and easy ways to increase happiness in every area of life, including improving relationships, finding joy in your care... read more
If Your Testosterone is Low, You're Gonna Get Fat
Dr. Charles Mok
Hormone imbalances impact men as well as women. Beginning at age 30, testosterone in men declines at a rate of 1%-3% per year. Accompanying this reduction are numerous health concerns ranging from weight gain and decreased sexual ability to an increased risk of heart attacks and strokes. The solution seems simple. Since testosterone is an essential hormone, and since testosterone replacement t... read more
Passion For Wine: The French Ideal and the American Dream
Jean-Charles Boisset, Marnie Old
Finally, an introduction to wine that takes the stiffness out of wine and puts the joie de vivre back in. You don't need to memorize reams of data to feel in control when shopping or deciding what to drink with dinner. All you need to learn are the handful of powerful ideas that help capture and explain wine's extraordinary variations of style. By instilling the confidence to make educated gue... read more
Real Estate industry is overflowing with competition. There are 5 million agents nationwide and most are marketing themselves in common ubiquitous means. Every real estate agent gets phone calls from all the Internet companies and marketing companies offering a basic formula that is repeated thousands and thousands of times and there is no way to distinguish your business from every other real... read more
Arts Honor is a handbook written for those of you in the arts to help nourish your gift of creativity and to help you stay true to your muse. The promise to continue being creative is an honorable one.
Passion Reveals Purpose: Discovering the All-Round You
Tosin Adewumi
Passion is what drives us to do our best work. Without it, we lack the motivation to get things done, let alone persist and succeed. When passion is channeled through the right pursuit, however, passion breeds purpose…and inevitably, success for you and everyone around you. For most people, survival dictates our work, and we pursue money at the expense of self-fulfillment. Small wonder that so... read more
Cannabis and the Art of Infusion: An Elevated Cookbook
Chef Ricky Flickenger
Cooking and baking with cannabis used to be a guessing game. How much cannabis should you use? How strong will your edible be? What are the secrets to making great savory foods as well as sweets? And is there any way to make it taste less like cannabis and more like something you'll actually enjoy eating? In Cannabis and the Art of Infusion: An Elevated Cookbook, Chef Ricky Flickenger will ans... read more
SELF-HELP/Personal GrowthEveryone needs a few key abilities to obtain success--seven, to be exact. The good news is that these abilities are available to us all. The 7 Key Abilities is a proven formula you can use to seriously succeed.It equips you with tools and techniques that will allow you to protect your peace of mind while increasing the bottom line...in all areas of your life! We're tal... read more
The Navigator: Life as I know it... and how I'm playing it.
Christopher Register
So we’re born here on earth right? We arrive with a complete lack of knowledge. There is no manual that we receive on how to operate life best or even what it’s all about. The knowledge we do receive and rarely question comes from those before us… whether that be a parent, guardian, teacher, or even society. There’re a few things we may pick up from our experience along the way, but all in all... read more
This debut book inspired by real life follows Mia and J, two struggling tech co-founders, as they hit the road with J's disabled and aging dogs for a California road trip. Narrated by Mia, an avid outdoorsy-type, the story follows two very different women as they travel through Yosemite, Napa Valley and Big Sur. During the women's journey together, they not only experience a variety of enterta... read more
Finding Me in the Midst of Chronic Pain: My Story of Healing
Vanetta Call Servoss
Chronic pain affects millions of people every day and is an invisible companion in households and workplaces across the country. It affects our sleep, our interactions with families and loved ones, our work, our play, and how we feel about ourselves. It crushes our dreams of having an active, joyful lifestyle and instead leaves many people dependent on medications just to get out of bed in the... read more
From the East Side of Detroit Michigan to a 20 year Air Force veteran, Seth has genuinely flipped the script in explaining the art of strategic thinking in the Black Collar Mindset. In this, his debut book, Seth offers a powerful and inspirational plan to help people overcome any obstacle in their lives and to attain whatever they want. This book illustrated with thought-provoking examples and... read more
The Art of Silence
Fatima Alexander
The Art of Silence is a masterpiece of contradictions. The title itself belies any advocacy of, any merit to, quiescence. The book is simultaneously a work of fiction and fact. The characters and the plot are products of both the author’s and readers’ imagination yet represent innumerable, all-too-real, issues throughout contemporary society that confront us all. Stoic endurance is proven to b... read more
We make things complicated. You hate your job? Stop doing it. Know you need to exercise and eat right to lose weight? Start doing it. Scared to leave the country and explore? Do it anyway. I have found that much of life’s “hard” questions can be answered in three words or less. Stop overthinking it. Just do it. It’ll be okay. You are enough. It’s that simple.
What is a "good" man, today? Find out with these short chapters of insightful, witty, and research backed takeaways that define the characteristics, actions, and priorities of what makes a good man in our current world clouded with extended adolescence and absence of positive male influences. Women and men alike will laugh out loud while learning what psychological research, one on one intervi... read more
Have you ever felt frightened or intimidated when out walking alone? Have you ever wondered what you should do if approached by an attacker? Have you ever worried about becoming yet another home invasion statistic? Personal safety has become an issue of importance for everyone, but especially for women.In this day and age, you have to prepare yourself for whatever may come your way. The tips a... read more
Quick, who comes to mind when I say “jerk”? Your ex? Your current partner? You? Letters to a J.E.R.K. - The No-Bullsh*t Guide to Relationships and Living a Life Meant™ is the straight-talk advice that women need to hear.In this book, you’ll learn how to look past your physical reflection to see the inner you. A mirror is more meaningful than you think, especially when it comes to relationships... read more
Young And Driven: Overdrive
Dr. Cortlan J. Wickliff Esq.
Young and Driven: Overdrive is a collection of Dr. Cortlan J. Wickliff, Esq.'s secrets to academic and professional success, including the lessons, exercises, and tools that have allowed him to consistently break academic and professional records. Young and Driven: Overdrive is a follow-up edition to the 2017 release of Young And Driven. The overdrive edition contains more than 80 pages of add... read more
The voice behind the popular grief podcast Coming Back: Conversations on Life After Loss puts pen to paper in her first book to create a powerful permission slip for anyone facing the devastating heartbreak that comes with death, divorce, diagnosis, and so much more.When loss steamrolls through, there’s a lot of hidden and not-so-hidden “rules” about the way you’re “supposed” to grieve: “You s... read more
A GIRL FROM THE MIDDLE EAST
Alachkar, Nada
Grief Girl Boss: How to Rebuild a Life of Joy After Loss
Lawson, Julia
Take Charge: How To Achieve Lasting Health
Edison MD, Raymond C.
Get the Girl: Dating the High-value Woman
Larosa, Andrea
Both Sides of the Street: Choices & Consequences
Whitley, Marcus
Your College Experience: A Step by Step Guide to Tackling College Head On
Vansaghi, Allison Kathleen, Howard, Lisa
Lisa has 80 reviews
Professionalism
Professionalism
Quality
Quality
Value
Value
Communication & Punctuality
Communication & Punctuality
Hello, I am a health and wellness consultant. When I approached Lisa to take on my manuscript, she was punctual, and she explained her process and timeline when the project would be completed. I love her efficiency and professionalism. She was knowledgeable about health, wellness and nutrition, these skills allowed her to thoroughly fact check my sources, and she provided good suggestions and...
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Jinelle Williams, March 2023
Lisa has knocked it out of the park AGAIN! This is my second time working with Lisa and she continues to go above and beyond with her professionalism, level of detail, care, and quality of her work. This time Lisa proofread my book and I am over the moon with the attention she gave to this process. I could not have asked for better partner in this process! Each time I had a question, Lisa was p...
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Yasmin Nguyen, February 2023
Working with Lisa was a wonderful experience. Lisa is straightforward, tells you what you need to know (not what you want to hear) and really nice to work with. I talked with 5 individuals and looked at nearly 100 editors before we agreed to work with each other.
Lisa took a lot of time to explain the entire book process to me (I'm new at this) and we Zoomed to get a better understanding and ...
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Jeff Lichtenstein, February 2023
I loved working with Lisa. The communication was great. The edits were thorough. Overall, I would recommend her to anyone!
Julie Jarnagin, January 2023
I totally hit the jackpot collaborating with Lisa!!! My book is about joy and I wanted to make sure that whoever I was working with was not only professional and experienced but also aligned with the message of my book and could elevate my voice.
HOLY COW did Lisa do a phenomenal job! Here's how:
- She was always prompt and thoughtful in here communications and responses. I felt like I had a ...
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Yasmin Nguyen, January 2023
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