Overview
Attentiveness to the ways that small details accumulate and interact, creating meaning and beauty, is a key characteristic of writers. My goal as a proofreader is to collaborate as closely as I can with you, to supplement your natural attentiveness and help you deliver prose that conveys your message and style as clearly and accurately as possible.
My editing work is strongly influenced by my training and experience in the fields of architecture and urban design, where attention to the smallest details and to the big picture must be balanced. As an editor, I help you to navigate the rules and guidelines that define good writing, to decide when they should be applied or disregarded, and to make sure that the style and structure of your writing are supporting your overall vision.
As a freelance editor, I have worked on nearly a hundred novel-length fiction manuscripts as well as dozens of short stories and magazine and journal articles. I am looking forward to helping you make your book the best that it can be.
“Thank for being made of awesome, Michael! I think you’re brilliant. I’m grateful for the polish you put on this manuscript.”
—Amy Bartol, author of Traitor Born
My editing work is strongly influenced by my training and experience in the fields of architecture and urban design, where attention to the smallest details and to the big picture must be balanced. As an editor, I help you to navigate the rules and guidelines that define good writing, to decide when they should be applied or disregarded, and to make sure that the style and structure of your writing are supporting your overall vision.
As a freelance editor, I have worked on nearly a hundred novel-length fiction manuscripts as well as dozens of short stories and magazine and journal articles. I am looking forward to helping you make your book the best that it can be.
Praise from Clients
—Amy Bartol, author of Traitor Born
“Amazing thoroughness and concentration. [Michael] caught a couple of things that were really arcane.”
—Yuri Machkasov, translator of The Gray House
“[We] really enjoy working with you and have come to value and depend upon your advice and keen eye for detail.”
—Greg Donofrio, editor of Preservation Education and Research
“[Michael's] notes were all very good and right on the story. It was a delight to track behind him.”
—Kirk Russell, author of Signature Wounds
“Michael ... indulged my quirks, saved me from an inexplicable collective pronoun, and always put readers first.”
—Luke Jerod Kummer, author of The Blue Period
Services
Fiction
Action & Adventure
Historical Fiction
Literary Fiction
Mystery & Crime
Romance
Thriller & Suspense
Languages
English (US)
Certifications
- UW Certificate in Editing (2014)
- Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) Expert Word 2013
- Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) Expert Word 2019
Work experience
Self-employed
Sep, 2014 —
Present
Proofreading and copyediting fiction, creative nonfiction, and business materials, including projects for Amazon Publishing and Inkshares.
Portfolio
A Washington Post and Amazon Charts bestseller.“A delightful, light-as-air romance that successfully straddles the line between sweet and smart without ever being silly…The novel is simply captivating from beginning to end.” —Associated PressMarnie MacGraw wan... read more
“[A] funny, serious, clever novel.” —The New York TimesFrom award-winning Dutch author Martin Michael Driessen comes a fearlessly funny tragedy about an improbable friendship, unstable dreams, missed opportunities, and epic coincidence.In a quiet coastal town ... read more
A riveting novel about the tragic romance that nearly destroyed a young Pablo Picasso—while granting him his first flight of creative genius.From rowdy Barcelona barrooms to the incandescent streets of turn-of-the-century Paris, Pablo Picasso experiences the s... read more
“The Gray House is enigmatic and fantastical, comic and postmodern…Rowling meets Rushdie via Tartt…Nothing short of life-changing.” —The GuardianThe Gray House is an astounding tale of how what others understand as liabilities can be leveraged into strengths.B... read more
From the winner of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction comes an apocalyptic and caustically funny novel about the power of friendship in a war-torn world that NPR calls “rich and resonant.”Growing up together in the Surra section of central Kuwait, Katk... read more
Proofreading
Proofreading
Copy Editing
Copy Editing
Proofreading
Proofreading
Proofreading
Proofreading
Proofreading
Proofreading
Copy Editing
Copy Editing
Copy Editing
It’s Atlanta’s senior year of high school, and she is officially infamous. Not only has she saved herself from a predator, brought down an untouchable dogfighting ring, and battled a pack of high-school bullies, but she’s also proclaimed to the Internet her wi... read more
The Wall Street Journal bestselling sequel to Secondborn.In the Fates Republic…Firstborns reign supreme.Secondborns kneel in servitude.Thirdborns face death.And Census shadows them all.Secondborn Roselle St. Sismode was pressed into military service to battle ... read more
From USA Today bestselling author Rochelle B. Weinstein comes a moving novel of hearts lost and found, and of one woman torn between two love stories.When Charlotte and Philip meet, the pair form a deep and instant connection. Soon they’re settled in the Flori... read more
A recent abduction becomes an unexpected link to a decades-long spree of unspeakable crimes.Eight-year-old Brooklyn Mercer has gone missing. And as accustomed as FBI agents Eliza Sterling and Brandon Eddison are to such harrowing cases, this one has struck a n... read more
During one of history’s darkest chapters, one man is determined to make a difference.In the tradition of Schindler’s List comes a thrilling novel based on the heroic true story of Fritz Kolbe, a widowed civil servant in Adolf Hitler’s foreign ministry. Recogni... read more
From the bestselling author of Burying the Honeysuckle Girls comes a riveting novel about a mother and daughter separated by grief, secrets, and a conspiracy that threatens to destroy their lives.If there’s a healthy way to grieve, Erin Gaines hasn’t found it.... read more
“Johnson channels Stephen King with this summer thriller…The Darwin Variant divides families, lovers, and colleagues working toward the same goals in a nerve-wracking race to an unexpected conclusion.” —BooklistWhen the icy shards of a rogue comet fall to Eart... read more
An urgent, compact manifesto that will teach you how to protect your rights, your freedom, and your future when talking to police.Law professor James J. Duane became a viral sensation thanks to a 2008 lecture outlining the reasons why you should never agree to... read more
“Black Hills is a fast paced and very entertaining read full of unpredictable twists and turns.” —New York Daily NewsWhen Brooklyn private investigator Alice Riley reluctantly travels to Whitehurst, South Dakota, to investigate an assault charge against her ex... read more
Lucy Resnick’s nerves are as tight as a tea cozy. Her new goats, Hot Lips and Gidget, keep making a break for the town square, her truck is dying, and her boyfriend’s gorgeous ex-wife is in town for the holidays. Worse, someone’s digging holes on her land…and ... read more
An ordinary outing takes Greta, Alex, and four-year-old Smilla across Sweden’s mythical Lake Malice to a tiny, isolated island. While father and daughter tramp into the trees, Greta stays behind in the boat, lulled into a reverie by the misty, moody lake…only ... read more
In the Outback gold-mining camps of Kalgoorlie, Australia, life is as gritty and harsh as the orange sand blasted from the pitted, scorched earth. For men, it can be lonely, but for women, in a land where little is protected, danger lurks in every leering glan... read more
While in Las Vegas on his way to a family Fourth of July celebration, FBI bomb expert Paul Grale hears a deep blast and sees the smoke rising. In an unfolding nightmare, Grale discovers his sister, brother-in-law, and many friends were caught up in the explosi... read more
All his life, Viggo Larssen has been haunted by the same troubling dream, which he calls the Omen—a vision of a woman beckoning to him from the surface of a churning sea. Now, as he broods over his shipwrecked existence in a remote lighthouse off the outermost... read more
Isabelle Labrie keeps her past concealed, like the treasure she hides under the Golden Hotel. The year is 1853, and it s the heyday of the California Gold Rush."
Together New York City surgeon Paul Branson and his wife, Nicki, had a dream: to help the people of the African bush. After Nicki’s untimely death, Paul decides to honor her memory and carry on alone. In South Sudan, he channels grief into hope, caring for vil... read more
Murder is killing the mood at a yoga tourist destination.As dawn breaks on the Canary Islands, a fisherman discovers a woman lying dead on the rocks nearby, her body arranged like a piece of art. To solve the case, Chief Inspector Diego Quintana gets unexpecte... read more
Things aren’t going well for private investigator and mom Margie Peterson. Her husband, Blake, is claiming his taste for drag queens is “just a phase.” Her first-grade daughter isn’t fitting in at her new posh elementary school, Holy Oaks Catholic School. And ... read more
Katalina Winter was prepared for life to change when she turned eighteen—but she never expected to actually change.Learning that her birth parents were purebred wolf shifters is shocking enough. Now she’s expected to take her place in their unfamiliar world. C... read more
Andy Carter was happy. He had a solid job. He ran 5Ks for charity. He was living a nice, safe Midwestern existence. And then his wife left him for a handsome paramedic down the street.We’re All Damaged begins after Andy has lost his job, ruined his best friend... read more
What would you do if you suddenly found yourself twenty-five years in the past? For the nine billion people living in the year 2042 it’s no longer a question…it’s a reality.When a seemingly simple experiment goes disastrously wrong, James Baston finds himself ... read more
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