Louise Stahl – Editor

A freelance proofreader with over 30 years of experience in proofreading and basic copyediting, I have worked on fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, essays, and interviews in the context of a literary magazine. Among other things, I have proofread a 100+ page anniversary book for a private school, a compilation of essays and stories by MFA students in Creative Writing at Fairleigh Dickinson University ("Gateways," Serving House Books, 2018), and numerous pieces by graduate students before and after their graduation for publication (which I continue to do). I was the final proofreader for a book in translation ("Happiness, as Such," by Natalia Ginsburg, translated by Minna Proctor, New Directions Press, 2019), and a book of personal essays by Renee Ashley ("Minglements," Del Sol Press, 2019). I assisted in the final editing of the book "The Muse Upon My Shoulder," edited by Sylvia Skaggs McTeague for The Fairleigh Dickinson University Press (2004). Most recently, I proofread an Indie Book Award winner ("Duplicity," by Peter Selgin, 2020), a fictionalized memoir (published Summer 2021), and numerous manuscripts through Reedsy.

Authors I have worked with include Walter Cummins (short story writer and editor), the late Thomas E. Kennedy (novelist, essayist, and literary critic), Rene Steinke (author and finalist for the 2005 National Book Award), and Minna Zallman Proctor, (2026 Pen Translation Prize winner).

I pride myself on being efficient, and, as one of my editors once told me, being "able to spot an italicized comma from across the room."

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"Louise is an asset to any project. She is meticulous, thoughtful, and intelligent. Also important, she is an absolute pleasure to work with." —Minna Zallman Proctor, Editor, The Literary Review

"Louise does fabulous work. She’s a nit-picker—the best of all possible qualities for a proofreader/editor. She’s knowledgeable, reliable, and great to work with. Totally my go-to source for freelance jobs."—Renee Ashley ("Basic Heart," "Because I Am the Shore I Want to Be the Sea," "The View from the Body," and others.)

"I have worked with Louise on many editorial projects over the years, including a number where she was one of several proofreaders of a manuscript. She never failed to impress with her close attention to details, often catching errors that others missed. She is precise and scrupulous. ... Most recently, she proofread a 700-page novel and caught one or more errors of punctuation, spelling, usage, and more on just about every page. She is extremely thorough."—Walter Cummins, Co-publisher, Serving House Books

"Louise served as Editorial Coordinator for Fairleigh Dickinson University Press for nearly thirty years. Among her responsibilities was to communicate with book authors, to edit promotional materials, including the press website, and to copy-edit our annual catalog. She has a keen eye for typos and other editorial issues, and helped assure that our materials fully met professional standards." —Harry Keyishian, Professor Emeritus of English and Past Director, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press