Overview
I started out as an assistant editor at Oxford University Press, editing textbooks for middle and high school. I also worked for Penguin, editing trade fiction and non-fiction. I've held several other positions outside the publishing industry, all of which involved editing. At a translation agency I was editing medical literature translated into English. At two startups I was the de facto communications manager, either writing or editing web content, legal documents, instruction manuals, product descriptions, business requirement specs, MOUs, press releases, blog posts, patent applications—you name it.
Over the last few years I've been freelancing as a ghostwriter and an editor. In the latter role I've worked primarily on academic literature (over 250 journal articles and master's theses) but also on book-length works for clients ranging from the World Trade Organization to self-published authors trying to complete their first spy thriller.
So, does this make me a jack of all trades and a master of none? I prefer to think of myself as versatile—someone who can edit absolutely anything thrown at him, whether it's a software manual or an erotic novel. More importantly, I've learned that all texts share the same basic requirement: the narrative must be laid out in a way that's logical and effortless for the reader to follow. It's like forging a path through the jungle so that others can trudge along easily, without a map or a machete.
That's my specialty and what excites me about book editing—helping authors structure their story so it's readily digestible even by the laziest of readers. Hence my motto: structure is everything.
Services
Non-Fiction
Languages
Work experience
Self-employed
I've been freelancing for a few years now. Here are the highlights:
For Cambridge Proofreading LLC: Completed 250+ editing assignments (academic journal articles, theses, and corporate white papers) totalling 750,000+ words. Average client rating: 4.88/5.00.
For Third Dimension Trust, New Delhi: Ghostwriter for the Trust’s 600-page policy proposal, The Next Enlightenment: Reimagining Consciousness, Wealth, and the Future of Humanity.
For the World Trade Organization (WTO): Edited two books on trade multilateralism and trade dispute settlement.
For LUZ, Sàrl: Six-month, in-house project in the marketing department of this language services company to create a series of solution briefs promoting the firm’s B2B services (translation, linguistic validation, e-learning).
For Arastan: Wrote 11 online articles on craft heritage, artisanal production, and sourcing travel to create and maintain a strong narrative identity for this luxury e-commerce firm.
Independently: Under the pseudonym John Stryder, wrote a novel (psychological suspense / conspiracy theory) titled The New Lease.
Penguin India
As a full-time contractor for Penguin India, I edited, proofread and appraised fiction, non-fiction and reference books. My favorite was Doordashan Days, a tell-all exposé by a senior administrative officer who had been in charge of Doordarshan (India's public television broadcaster) for several years.
Oxford University Press
At OUP India I developed maths and science textbooks for secondary school curricula. My greatest achievement was the publication of a middle-school mathematics series called Countdown. The marketing department had decreed that each volume in the three-year series could not exceed a cover price of 60 rupees (about $2 in those days), so the challenges were enormous. Despite this limitation, we created an innovative product that, shockingly, endeavored to make middle-school math fun. I had to rewrite large parts of these books to make them more entertaining and came up with hundreds of puzzles, stories, trivia and cartoon illustrations to populate the all-important sidebar.
Portfolio
Rolando has 5 reviews
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