Rebecca Behrens – Editor

(Please note that for picture books, I do not currently offer editorial assessments or developmental editing. I only offer copyediting and proofreading services for picture books.)I have over a decade of in-house experience working as a production editor, copy editor, and developmental editor at major trade and educational publishing houses in New York City, including McGraw-Hill, Penguin Random House, and Disney Publishing Worldwide. As a freelancer, I’ve copyedited, proofread, fact-checked, researched, and Americanized projects for: Penguin Random House Egmont USA Adaptive Books Weldon Owen Publishing Scholastic DK Page Street Publishing Abrams Audible (Amazon)PeachtreeWith both an author’s and editor’s background, I have a deep knowledge of language, grammar, and style–and great respect for preserving an author’s voice. (In fact, I wrote my master’s thesis on the unique challenges present in the working relationship between writer and editor.) I've worked on books by New York Times best-selling and Newbery Award-winning authors, as well as many titles that have received starred reviews. Books for young readers (picture books, chapter books/early readers, middle grade, and YA) are my specialty, but my editorial experience includes adult fiction and nonfiction as well. If you hire me as a developmental editor for your book, I will provide an in-depth edit of your entire manuscript, addressing the structure, style, plotting, and characterization. I'll look for big-picture issues (such as a character's arc) as well as sentence-level edits (such as overuse of a particular phrase). I'll look for sections where your work might benefit from cuts as well as opportunities to flesh out your story or characters by adding content. I'll also prepare a detailed edit letter to summarize my thoughts about the strengths of your work as well as areas that could be further developed or improved.The editorial assessments I provide are insightful overviews of a work. While this does not include sentence-level comments and suggestions (as a developmental edit does), I will thoroughly read your manuscript and prepare a detailed and thoughtful edit letter that shares your work's strengths and weaknesses, as well as my suggestions for what can be improved. I'll also address changes you could make to help your work stand out in its marketplace. If you hire me to copyedit your book, I will meticulously read the text, using Track Changes to correct any issues with grammar, style, punctuation, and spelling. I'll also suggest places where you might want to "recast" a sentence for clarity or to avoid repetition. I'll do a bit of fact-checking, as needed, and watch for continuity and sensitivity issues throughout. My goal is always to polish your work to enhance your unique voice--never to impose a style on an author. I’ve always loved this wisdom from Ursula K. LeGuin: “A writer is a person who cares what words mean, what they say, how they say it.” The same is true of a good editor. It’s a privilege and a joy to work with words, and to help writers find the perfect ones to tell their stories. As an author myself, I know it can be daunting to share your writing and face revisions. I hope our collaboration will give you guidance and creative inspiration for your work, and that I can help make your story shine. If you'd like to discuss the editorial services I offer, please reach out! I look forward to hearing about your work.