Rachel King

Rachel King – Editor

Dedicated and astute developmental, line, and copy editor with over a decade of experience. Specializes in literary fiction.

Overview

I am an excellent developmental and line editor who specializes in literary fiction. In-house, I have worked as an editorial and production assistant at West Virginia University Press, as a project editor at Perseus Books Group, and as the managing editor and editor of Ruminate Magazine.

I enjoy making sentences sound better as well as pinpointing and fixing a manuscript's structural issues. The author Karen Osborn says, “Rachel's attention to detail was unsurpassed. In addition, she had a thoughtful and accurate grasp of the larger intentions of the novel, and that grasp informed each of her smaller suggestions and notes, so that the result was a tighter, leaner, more powerful, and more focused manuscript.”I would love to work with you on your manuscript!

Services
Fiction
Literary Fiction
Languages
English (US)

Work experience

Ruminate Magazine

Apr, 2018 — Mar, 2021 (almost 3 years)
I oversaw the editorial and production operations of Ruminate Magazine, a quarterly print publication. I established and maintained the editorial and production schedules; answered daily email queries from submitters and contributors; evaluated and accepted or declined manuscripts in the Submittable queue; performed developmental and line edits on all prose pieces; laid out the magazine in InDesign; applied for and received The Literary Arts Emergency Fund grant award; wrote cover copy, marketing copy, and promotional emails; hired and managed the team of genre editors, volunteer queue readers, and other contractors; jointly planned the nonprofit’s annual fundraiser; represented Ruminate Magazine at conferences; and oversaw the publication’s editorial and production policies and procedures.

Perseus Books Group

Oct, 2012 — May, 2015 (over 2 years)
I managed the production process of eight to fourteen books simultaneously. For each book, I evaluated the manuscript and requested a copy editor, created a design extract and submitted it to composition, reviewed the copyedit, communicated with the author while s/he reviewed the copyedit, prepared the files for layout, reviewed the files once they were laid out, sent the galley file to the author and proofreader, combined corrections from the author and proofreader and submitted them to the designer, proofread the designer’s work, submitted the final file to the manufacturing department, and reviewed the ebook.

Self-employed

Sep, 2012 — Present
I copyedit/line-edit fiction and nonfiction for West Virginia University Press, Counterpoint/Catapult/Soft Skull, Melville House, and Perseus Books Group. For each manuscript, I make sentences grammatically correct and meanings clear, I create a detailed style sheet specific to the project, I write a letter to the author before his/her review, and I clean the manuscript by accepting or rejecting edits after the author’s review.

West Virginia University Press

Aug, 2010 — Aug, 2012 (about 2 years)
I managed the editorial production process of eight to fourteen books simultaneously. For each book, I established and maintained the editorial production schedule, answered daily email queries from a variety of stakeholders, evaluated the manuscript and requested a copy editor, created a design extract and submitted it to composition, reviewed the copyedit, prepared the files for layout, reviewed the files once they were laid out, sent the galley file to the author and proofreader, combined corrections from the author and proofreader and submitted them to the designer, proofread the designer’s work, submitted the final file to the manufacturing department, and reviewed the ebook.

Rachel has 2 reviews

Professionalism

Quality

Value

Responsiveness

Judith D.

Judith D.

Feb, 2022

Rachel provided many, many helpful edits including word choices and consistencies. It was valuable to me to learn that she did not get one important aspect of the story, so I was able to revise to make that aspect clear to a reader. She did "get" the ending, which I was afraid might be too subtle...
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Jiri K.

Jiri K.

Dec, 2020

For a month Rachel King assumed the role of a Queen over my manuscript to my absolute satisfaction. Her personality matches her professionalism and our collaboration was top-notch.

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