Overview

Before you send your book into the world forever, make sure it's as good as it can be. That means first receiving editorial feedback to improve the story and characters. And then putting it through a professional copy edit that will eliminate typos and other errors that distract readers. For over ten years, I have helped authors bring their manuscripts to the next level. As an author-friendly developmental editor and an expert in the Chicago Manual of Style--the gold standard for book-length works--I have applied my editing and copy editing expertise to a vast range of fiction and nonfiction titles for Big Five and indie authors alike.

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Copy editor with over ten years experience in the publishing industry. I work with a diverse range of publishers on both fiction and nonfiction titles.

Edited and copy edited a diverse list of fiction and nonfiction titles

The Age of Consequences: A Chronicle of Concern and Hope

Courtney White

Our planet is approaching a critical environmental juncture. Across the globe we continue to deplete the five pools of carbon – soil, wood, coal, oil, and natural gas – at an unsustainable rate. We’ve burned up half the planet’s known reserves of oil – one trillion barrels – in less than a century. When these sources of energy-rich carbon go into severe decline, as they surely will, society wi... read more

Our planet is approaching a critical environmental juncture. Across the globe we continue to deplete the five pools of carbon – soil, wood, coal, oil, and natural gas – at an unsustainable rate. We’ve burned up half the planet’s known reserves of oil – one trillion barrels – in less than a century. When these sources of energy-rich carbon go into severe decline, as they surely will, society wi... read more

The Joy of Killing: A Novel

Harry MacLean

In his classic works of true crime, Harry MacLean examined the dark side of America and its fascination with violence. In The Joy of Killing, he builds upon this expert knowledge to create a page-turning literary thriller — an exciting combination of love story, mystery, psychological suspense, and meditation on human nature and the origins of violence.This fever dream begins on a stormy fall ... read more

In his classic works of true crime, Harry MacLean examined the dark side of America and its fascination with violence. In The Joy of Killing, he builds upon this expert knowledge to create a page-turning literary thriller — an exciting combination of love story, mystery, psychological suspense, and meditation on human nature and the origins of violence.This fever dream begins on a stormy fall ... read more

Hop Alley: A Novel

Scott Phillips

Cottonwood (2004) was a huge step forward for the burgeoning king of noir Scott Phillips, and his dark and gritty take on the western earned him starred reviews and praise from crime masters Michael Connelly and George Pelecanos. That novel featured the Kansas town beginning in 1872 when it was just a small community of run down farms, dusty roads, and two-bit crooks. Saloon owner and photogra... read more

Cottonwood (2004) was a huge step forward for the burgeoning king of noir Scott Phillips, and his dark and gritty take on the western earned him starred reviews and praise from crime masters Michael Connelly and George Pelecanos. That novel featured the Kansas town beginning in 1872 when it was just a small community of run down farms, dusty roads, and two-bit crooks. Saloon owner and photogra... read more

The Boundaries of Desire: A Century of Good Sex, Bad Laws, and Changing Identities

Eric Berkowitz

The act of reproduction, and all of its variants, have been practiced in roughly the same ways since the beginning, but our ideas about the meaning and consequences ¬of sex are in constant flux. At any given point in time, some forms of sex have been encouraged, while others have been punished without mercy. Jump forward or backward a century, or cross a border, and the harmless fun of one soc... read more

The act of reproduction, and all of its variants, have been practiced in roughly the same ways since the beginning, but our ideas about the meaning and consequences ¬of sex are in constant flux. At any given point in time, some forms of sex have been encouraged, while others have been punished without mercy. Jump forward or backward a century, or cross a border, and the harmless fun of one soc... read more

Cementville

Paulette Livers

Cementville has a breathtaking set up: 1969. A small Kentucky town, known only for its excellent bourbon and passable cement, direct from the factory that gives the town its name. The favored local sons of Cementville’s most prominent families all joined the National Guard hoping to avoid the draft and the killing fields of Vietnam. They were sent to combat anyway, and seven boys were killed i... read more

Cementville has a breathtaking set up: 1969. A small Kentucky town, known only for its excellent bourbon and passable cement, direct from the factory that gives the town its name. The favored local sons of Cementville’s most prominent families all joined the National Guard hoping to avoid the draft and the killing fields of Vietnam. They were sent to combat anyway, and seven boys were killed i... read more

Goddess of Love Incarnate: The Life of Stripteuse Lili St. Cyr.

Leslie Zemeckis

Lili St. Cyr was, in the words of legendary reporter Mike Wallace, the “highest paid stripteaser in America.” Wallace was so fascinated by Lili that out of all the presidents and celebrities he interviewed over a long career, towards the end of his life, she was the one he remained fixated on. Her beauty had that kind of effect.Lili St. Cyr, the one time queen of burlesque, led an incredible l... read more

Lili St. Cyr was, in the words of legendary reporter Mike Wallace, the “highest paid stripteaser in America.” Wallace was so fascinated by Lili that out of all the presidents and celebrities he interviewed over a long career, towards the end of his life, she was the one he remained fixated on. Her beauty had that kind of effect.Lili St. Cyr, the one time queen of burlesque, led an incredible l... read more

The Last Days of Video: A Novel

Jeremy Hawkins

The video stores are dying. But most of you don’t care. You’ve got your Netflix and your Redbox and your DVR, so why deal with VHS tapes or scratched DVDs? Why deal with the grumpy guy at the worn-down independent video store?Well that grumpy guy is Waring Wax, and he’s usually too drunk to worry about his declining business at Star Video, let alone his quickly evolving extinction in popular c... read more

The video stores are dying. But most of you don’t care. You’ve got your Netflix and your Redbox and your DVR, so why deal with VHS tapes or scratched DVDs? Why deal with the grumpy guy at the worn-down independent video store?Well that grumpy guy is Waring Wax, and he’s usually too drunk to worry about his declining business at Star Video, let alone his quickly evolving extinction in popular c... read more

Creating the Future: Art and Los Angeles in the 1970s

Michael Fallon

Conceived as a challenge to long-standing conventional wisdom, Creating the Future is a work of social history/cultural criticism that examines the premise that the progress of art in Los Angeles ceased during the 1970s—after the decline of the Ferus Gallery, the scattering of its stable of artists (Robert Irwin, Ed Kienholz, Ed Moses, Ed Rusha and others), and the economic struggles throughou... read more

Conceived as a challenge to long-standing conventional wisdom, Creating the Future is a work of social history/cultural criticism that examines the premise that the progress of art in Los Angeles ceased during the 1970s—after the decline of the Ferus Gallery, the scattering of its stable of artists (Robert Irwin, Ed Kienholz, Ed Moses, Ed Rusha and others), and the economic struggles throughou... read more

This River: A Memoir

James Brown

Award-winning author James Brown gained a cult following after chronicling his turbulent childhood and spiraling drug addiction in The Los Angeles Diaries. This River picks up where Brown left off in his first memoir, describing his tenuous relationship with sobriety, telling of agonizing relapses, and tracking his attempts to become a better father.This is the heartbreaking and at times uplif... read more

Award-winning author James Brown gained a cult following after chronicling his turbulent childhood and spiraling drug addiction in The Los Angeles Diaries. This River picks up where Brown left off in his first memoir, describing his tenuous relationship with sobriety, telling of agonizing relapses, and tracking his attempts to become a better father.This is the heartbreaking and at times uplif... read more

Calf: A Novel

Andrea Kleine

The year was 1981. The US was entering a deep recession, Russia was our enemy, and John Hinckley, Jr.’s assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan shocked the nation. It was also the year author Andrea Kleine learned her close childhood friend had been violently murdered by her socialite mother, Leslie DeVeau. Both events took place in Washington, DC. Hinckley and Deveau were both sent t... read more

The year was 1981. The US was entering a deep recession, Russia was our enemy, and John Hinckley, Jr.’s assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan shocked the nation. It was also the year author Andrea Kleine learned her close childhood friend had been violently murdered by her socialite mother, Leslie DeVeau. Both events took place in Washington, DC. Hinckley and Deveau were both sent t... read more

Heidegger's Glasses: A Novel

Thaisa Frank

Heidegger’s Glasses opens during the end of World War II in a failing Germany coming apart at the seams. The Third Reich’s strong reliance on the occult and its obsession with the astral plane has led to the formation of an underground compound of scribes—translators responsible for answering letters written to those eventually killed in the concentration camps.Into this covert compound comes ... read more

Heidegger’s Glasses opens during the end of World War II in a failing Germany coming apart at the seams. The Third Reich’s strong reliance on the occult and its obsession with the astral plane has led to the formation of an underground compound of scribes—translators responsible for answering letters written to those eventually killed in the concentration camps.Into this covert compound comes ... read more

The Gumshoe and the Shrink: Guenther Reinhardt, Dr. Arnold Hutschnecker, and the Secret History of the 1960 Kennedy/Nixon Election (NONE)

David L Robb

The Gumshoe and the Shrink is a tale of political intrigue—a detective story and medical mystery set against the backdrop of the closest and most storied presidential election in American history. It’s the never-before-told account of how the craziest private detective in the country uncovered Richard Nixon’s most closely guarded secret—that he was seeing a psychotherapist—and how that discove... read more

The Gumshoe and the Shrink is a tale of political intrigue—a detective story and medical mystery set against the backdrop of the closest and most storied presidential election in American history. It’s the never-before-told account of how the craziest private detective in the country uncovered Richard Nixon’s most closely guarded secret—that he was seeing a psychotherapist—and how that discove... read more

In the Course of Human Events: A Novel

Mike Harvkey

Clyde Twitty could use a break, a helping hand. He's a young man lost - in his finances, in his family - and stuck deep within the fast-settling muck of a dwindling rural Missouri town that has, in every way, given up hope. The hand that reaches down, pulls him up, and leads him forward is that of Jay Smalls, a fiercely charismatic patriarch, a man who exerts a kind of gravitational force and ... read more

Clyde Twitty could use a break, a helping hand. He's a young man lost - in his finances, in his family - and stuck deep within the fast-settling muck of a dwindling rural Missouri town that has, in every way, given up hope. The hand that reaches down, pulls him up, and leads him forward is that of Jay Smalls, a fiercely charismatic patriarch, a man who exerts a kind of gravitational force and ... read more

51/50: The Magical Adventures of a Single Life

Kristen McGuiness

51 dates. 50 weeks. That was the social experiment Kristen McGuiness—single, living in LA, and entering her thirties newly sober—embarked upon. McGuiness thought facing her struggle with alcoholism would be the hardest part, with love coming easily afterwards. It didn’t. Rethinking her previous dating strategy, she embarks on the ultimate social experiment: 51 dates over the course of 50 weeks... read more

51 dates. 50 weeks. That was the social experiment Kristen McGuiness—single, living in LA, and entering her thirties newly sober—embarked upon. McGuiness thought facing her struggle with alcoholism would be the hardest part, with love coming easily afterwards. It didn’t. Rethinking her previous dating strategy, she embarks on the ultimate social experiment: 51 dates over the course of 50 weeks... read more

Last Days in Shanghai: A Novel

Casey Walker

Luke Slade, a young Congressional aide, begins this business trip to China like all other international travel he’s endured with “Lyin’ Leo”: buried under a slew of diplomatic runarounds, non-functioning cell phones, and humiliation from the Congressman at every turn. But on day two, a new challenge rears its ugly head: Leo goes on a drunken bender and disappears into the night. Unsure what du... read more

Luke Slade, a young Congressional aide, begins this business trip to China like all other international travel he’s endured with “Lyin’ Leo”: buried under a slew of diplomatic runarounds, non-functioning cell phones, and humiliation from the Congressman at every turn. But on day two, a new challenge rears its ugly head: Leo goes on a drunken bender and disappears into the night. Unsure what du... read more

Under the Blue Flag: My Mission in Kosovo

Philip Kearney

Seeking to escape the monotony he had come to endure in his job as assistant District Attorney in San Francisco, Philip Kearney needed a change. His solution came one day in a casual email from a friend: “UN has opening here for an international prosecutor doing war crimes stuff. You should apply, gotta go.”“Here” meant Pristina, Kosovo. And “stuff”—Kearney soon finds out, after landing the jo... read more

Seeking to escape the monotony he had come to endure in his job as assistant District Attorney in San Francisco, Philip Kearney needed a change. His solution came one day in a casual email from a friend: “UN has opening here for an international prosecutor doing war crimes stuff. You should apply, gotta go.”“Here” meant Pristina, Kosovo. And “stuff”—Kearney soon finds out, after landing the jo... read more

No Stopping Train

Les Plesko

No Stopping Train is the magnum opus and final novel of the late writer Les Plesko, a powerful, swirling novel of memory and violence set during the Hungarian Revolution.The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was a spontaneous nationwide revolt following World War II that spread quickly across the destabilizing country. A new government pledged to re-establish free elections until a large Soviet for... read more

No Stopping Train is the magnum opus and final novel of the late writer Les Plesko, a powerful, swirling novel of memory and violence set during the Hungarian Revolution.The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was a spontaneous nationwide revolt following World War II that spread quickly across the destabilizing country. A new government pledged to re-establish free elections until a large Soviet for... read more

Our Town: A Novel

Kevin Jack McEnroe

Our Town is the debut of a striking literary voice, one that captures the disillusion at the fringes of Hollywood as seen through a haze of drugs, alcohol, abuse, and fallen aspirations. An unseen narrator guides us through the dark fairy tale of Dorothy White, an aspiring actress who “never quite figured how to get out of her own way.” Her perfect marriage to an equally golden actor, Dale, qu... read more

Our Town is the debut of a striking literary voice, one that captures the disillusion at the fringes of Hollywood as seen through a haze of drugs, alcohol, abuse, and fallen aspirations. An unseen narrator guides us through the dark fairy tale of Dorothy White, an aspiring actress who “never quite figured how to get out of her own way.” Her perfect marriage to an equally golden actor, Dale, qu... read more

This is Why I Came: A Novel

Mary Rakow

A woman sits in prayerful meditation, waiting to offer her first confession in more than thirty years. She holds a small book on her lap, one that she’s made, and tells herself again the Bible stories it contains, the ones she has written anew, for herself, each story told aslant, from Jonah to Jesus, Moses to Mary Magdalen. Woven together and stitched by hand, they provide a new version, virt... read more

A woman sits in prayerful meditation, waiting to offer her first confession in more than thirty years. She holds a small book on her lap, one that she’s made, and tells herself again the Bible stories it contains, the ones she has written anew, for herself, each story told aslant, from Jonah to Jesus, Moses to Mary Magdalen. Woven together and stitched by hand, they provide a new version, virt... read more

The Theoretical Foot

M. F. K. Fisher

When her long-time agent and friend Robert Lescher died in 2012, the manuscript of M.F.K. Fisher’s unpublished first novel was discovered packed tidily away in one of Lescher’s signature red boxes.Following on the success of Serve It Forth and written when she was in her early 30s, the novel employs Fisher’s characteristic sharp-eyed wit to sketch themes so outré they may have seemed too chall... read more

When her long-time agent and friend Robert Lescher died in 2012, the manuscript of M.F.K. Fisher’s unpublished first novel was discovered packed tidily away in one of Lescher’s signature red boxes.Following on the success of Serve It Forth and written when she was in her early 30s, the novel employs Fisher’s characteristic sharp-eyed wit to sketch themes so outré they may have seemed too chall... read more

Loving Mailer

Carole Mallory

Carole Mallory's life has been filled with colorful people, events and sexual encounters. As one of the original supermodels, she graced the covers of Vogue, Cosmopolitan and Esquire and as an actress she appeared in films such as The Stepford Wives and Looking for Mr Goodbar. She has dated a litany of A-list actors and rock stars including Robert De Niro, Warren Beatty, Robin Williams, Rod St... read more

Carole Mallory's life has been filled with colorful people, events and sexual encounters. As one of the original supermodels, she graced the covers of Vogue, Cosmopolitan and Esquire and as an actress she appeared in films such as The Stepford Wives and Looking for Mr Goodbar. She has dated a litany of A-list actors and rock stars including Robert De Niro, Warren Beatty, Robin Williams, Rod St... read more

End of Secrets

Ryan Quinn

Though her specialty is foreign cyberterrorism, CIA agent Kera Mersal finds herself plunged into a bizarre domestic case. Singers, writers, and artists are disappearing, leaving no trace in a world where everyone leaves a digital footprint. Posing as a journalist, Kera attempts to track the artists’ last-known movements.On a hunt that takes her from the underground art scene to a rogue domesti... read more

Though her specialty is foreign cyberterrorism, CIA agent Kera Mersal finds herself plunged into a bizarre domestic case. Singers, writers, and artists are disappearing, leaving no trace in a world where everyone leaves a digital footprint. Posing as a journalist, Kera attempts to track the artists’ last-known movements.On a hunt that takes her from the underground art scene to a rogue domesti... read more

The Fall

Ryan Quinn

Award Winning Finalist in the 'Fiction: Gay & Lesbian' category of the 2013 International Book AwardsThe new school year at Florence University, nestled in the Pennsylvania countryside, dawns bright with the possibilities that only a fresh start can bring. For three students in particular, it will be a year unlike any other, one that will alter the courses of their lives forever. There is Ian,... read more

Award Winning Finalist in the 'Fiction: Gay & Lesbian' category of the 2013 International Book AwardsThe new school year at Florence University, nestled in the Pennsylvania countryside, dawns bright with the possibilities that only a fresh start can bring. For three students in particular, it will be a year unlike any other, one that will alter the courses of their lives forever. There is Ian,... read more

Grace: A Novel

Natashia Deon

For a runaway slave in the 1840s south, life on the run can be just as dangerous as life under a sadistic Massa. That’s what fifteen-year-old Naomi learns after she escapes the brutal confines of life on an Alabama plantation. Striking out on her own, she must leave behind her beloved Momma and sister Hazel and takes refuge in a Georgia brothel run by a freewheeling, gun-toting Jewish madam na... read more

For a runaway slave in the 1840s south, life on the run can be just as dangerous as life under a sadistic Massa. That’s what fifteen-year-old Naomi learns after she escapes the brutal confines of life on an Alabama plantation. Striking out on her own, she must leave behind her beloved Momma and sister Hazel and takes refuge in a Georgia brothel run by a freewheeling, gun-toting Jewish madam na... read more

Every Kind of Wanting: A Novel

Gina Frangello

Every Kind of Wanting explores the complex intersection of three unique families and their bustling efforts to have a "Community Baby." Miguel could not be more different from his partner Chad, a happy-go-lucky real estate mogul from Chicago’s wealthy North Shore. When Chad’s sister, Gretchen offers the couple an egg, their search for a surrogate leads them to Miguel’s old friend Emily, happil... read more

Every Kind of Wanting explores the complex intersection of three unique families and their bustling efforts to have a "Community Baby." Miguel could not be more different from his partner Chad, a happy-go-lucky real estate mogul from Chicago’s wealthy North Shore. When Chad’s sister, Gretchen offers the couple an egg, their search for a surrogate leads them to Miguel’s old friend Emily, happil... read more

The Good Traitor

Ryan Quinn

The US ambassador to China is killed in a suspicious plane crash just days after a news article links Chinese spies to US business interests. The American intelligence community is left scrambling to investigate possible connections between the crash and a series of other high-profile deaths.On the other side of the world, ex-CIA operative Kera Mersal returns to the United States determined to... read more

The US ambassador to China is killed in a suspicious plane crash just days after a news article links Chinese spies to US business interests. The American intelligence community is left scrambling to investigate possible connections between the crash and a series of other high-profile deaths.On the other side of the world, ex-CIA operative Kera Mersal returns to the United States determined to... read more