Raya P. Morrison – Editor

Hi, I’m Raya! As a professional editor, I bring over 14 years of experience to every project I touch. I've started out as a web developer, but transitioned to copywriting, editing, and then music journalism after realizing that HTML was not my preferred languages to work with. Since my days in the music magazine, I've been honing my craft as an editor. Nowadays, I'm a freelancer working with publishing houses, like Nimbus and ECW Press, and self-published authors, specializing in line and copy editing for literary fiction, YA, fantasy, non-fiction (occult, history, local interest) and poetry. Because of my experience in the music journalism, I'd love to also edit books on music history, culture, or criticisms and artist biographies. I run my own literary journal, Blood & Bourbon. I also am a proofreader for corporate clients, like TD.

If you are looking for a copy or line edit of your manuscript, poetry, articles or professional documents–you have come to the right place! I will take you and your writing on a journey to discover the best, most comprehensive version of your text. I will be there to safeguard your voice like a treasure chest, but also to battle through all the grammatical, punctuation, and stylistic mishaps. I will be a champion for your work from the time we set sail until we anchor at a beautiful place. That said, depending on the type of editing we're working on, I will add all of my comments in the Word doc, but will also highlight the major points of discussion in an email. I prefer to work on the full manuscript at once, instead of chapter by chapter, because it is easier to be consistent that way. However, if you don't have the whole manuscript ready, I can work on parts of it and then do another round of edits when it's complete. I recommend doing at least two rounds of edits for any manuscript. I'm straightforward, but open to discussion, will usually provide one or two alternatives for line edits.

Testimonials:

"Raya was always clear – and that means a lot when you're working with words. She understood my writing style, and kept it intact through the editing process. She was responsive to my feedback, and never tried to shape me into something I’m not. If I had my pick of editors, I'd choose her every time!" -- Steve Skafte, The Dead Die Twice

"I enjoyed working with Raya as an editor. Her suggestions seemed well thought-out and were backed with good reasoning. She really listened to any concerns I had with proposed changes, and we had lots of interactive dialogue to work through difficult portions of text. Overall, I really like her collaborative editing style; she supported my work and accentuated my voice. Given the opportunity, I would definitely work with her again.” -- Lina Marques, author