Madeleine Calvi

Madeleine Calvi – Editor

Experienced editor. Specialties: self-help, psychology, spirituality, memoir, LGBTQ. You bring the content, I'll bring the polish. (Nicely!)

Overview

Freelance book editor specializing in self-help, psychology, spirituality, New Age, and LGBTQ. I’ve edited hundreds of books over the course of my career, worked for eleven different publishing houses, and worked with clients ranging from indie authors to international publishers.


I love working with authors and helping them build the best and strongest version of their books. Whether I'm fixing formatting, hunting down typos, standardizing punctuation, or helping you find the structure that best fits your content, I am confident I can work with you to help make your book as polished, professional, and engaging as possible.


I always keep your needs and the needs of your audience in mind, and the final decision on everything is always yours. After all, it's your book—I'm here to provide my experience, expertise, guidance, and support, but you're the only one who can truly write your book.


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Publishers: New Harbinger Publications, North Atlantic Books, Insight Editions, Callisto, Counterpoint Press, Sourcebooks, Rare Bird Books, Rockridge Press, Crossed Crow Books, Modern Wisdom Press, Weldon Owen International


Professional memberships: Editorial Freelancers Association, Publishing Professionals Network, Bay Area Women in Publishing


Testimonials:


"I've secured FOUR book contracts with MC's help of providing coaching and editorial support for my book proposals. I'd recommend them to anyone!" —Rahim Thawer, indie author


“Madeleine was wonderful to work with and they made my book ten times better.” —Kathy Nickerson, indie author


"Working with Madeleine was wonderful. They gave me such insightful and honest feedback on my manuscript, and everything they suggested made the book better. I am particularly appreciative of their expertise on my subject matter (mental health). Such a great value and I highly recommend them!" —Reba Buhr, indie author


"Madeleine is everything you could want in an editor: Smart, resourceful, creative, meticulous, and deadline oriented. Their honest opinions, creative problem-solving, and dry wit make working together a true joy." —Mariah Bear, editor

Services
Non-Fiction
Biographies & Memoirs Health & Wellbeing Inspirational LGBTQ Non-Fiction New Age Psychology Self-Help & Self-Improvement Sex & Relationships
Languages
English (US)
Awards
  • Nautilus Silver Book Award
  • National Indie Excellence Award (NIEA Award)
  • Independent Publishers Book Award (IPPY Award)

Work experience

Self-employed

Apr, 2020 — Present

• Edited hundreds of books across a wide range of genres, for clients that ranged from indie authors to international publishers
• Copyedited and proofread dozens of books from publishers, indie authors, nonprofits, and more.
• Helped overhaul books, starting at the structure level, to make them clearer and better.
• Collaborated extensively with authors and in-house editors.
• Formatted and cleaned up manuscripts, preparing them to move to the next step in the publishing process.

Self-employed

Jan, 2021 — Present

• Advised multiple grassroots nonprofits on the publishing process, how to self-publish their own books, and how a book would advance their specific goals and causes.
• Created a 200-page cookbook from scratch for one nonprofit, personally completed all tasks except recipe development, for a total budget of $15 (including photo assets).
• Tailored materials to be culturally appropriate and in line with community education levels, including books for adults accessible to an average fourth-grade reading level.
• Copyedited and proofread all relevant materials to book industry standards.

Weldon Owen International

Feb, 2019 — Mar, 2020 (about 1 year)

• Edited dozens of books at every level, from developmental editing to copyediting to proofreading.
• Managed and edited a series of seven books on self-care and spirituality.
• Performed stylistic extensive edits to make books more eloquent, punchy, humorous, etc.
• Worked extensively with highly visual and illustrated books.

Portfolio

Your Star Sign

Gullfoss, Per Henrik

Crossed Crow Books

Madeleine has 24 reviews

Professionalism

Quality

Value

Responsiveness

Rahim T.

Rahim T.

Apr, 2024

Pinned
I've secured FOUR book contracts with MC's help of providing coaching and editorial support for my book proposals. I'd recommend them to anyone!
Jaren K.

Jaren K.

Sep, 2023

Pinned
Madeleine was an absolute pleasure to work with. They were professional, but much more importantly in my firm opinion, they were empathetic. They are trauma informed, and with my body of work, and what I have been through, that was the top quality on my list. The editorial assessment was thorough, and they had excellent ideas that I will be employing in my book. I have several more books in the...
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Tricia S.

Tricia S.

Aug, 2023

Pinned
Wow! That's how I would describe working with Madeleine. If going above and beyond in every aspect of collaboration with you is what you look for in an editor, you cannot go wrong in choosing Madeleine. From reaching out to get to know me before we even began our work together, to helping me to define my own objectives and target audience in ways that I hadn't even thought of, to providing t...
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Elise H.

Elise H.

Nov, 2024

Madeleine did a fantastic job of editing my book. She managed to correct my multiple errors, without losing my style and this has to be a gift. It's now the book I wanted to write. I would highly recommend Madeleine to anyone. She was very professional and friendly throughout and she's been available whenever I needed to speak to her, which ended up not being that much. She made the whole expe...
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Shannon T.

Shannon T.

Sep, 2024

Madeleine presented herself well in the beginning of negotiations; however, during the time she had my manuscript I had minimal communication with her. It took over 2 weeks to get an initial response after beginning the editing process. The materials were not completely done as she described. I paid her for a service quality that I did not receive. Poor first time editor experience.
Madeleine C.
The materials were in fact done as described; in fact, you literally got an entire extra round of copyediting out of my work which I typically do not include in my services at all, for free. I met ...
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