How to find the right developmental editor for you

Dear Manuscript Workers,

When I started my editorial business seven years ago, the main service I offered was developmental editing of full academic book manuscripts. I enjoyed that work (which I felt lucky to get), and I got to assist on nearly 50 awesome book projects (some of which you can see on my website, here).

However, I’ve since pivoted to a specialization in scholarly book proposals and these days I’m mostly focused on my group programs and workshops. I still sometimes put on my developmental editor hat to help my program participants sharpen the argument and structure of their academic books, but the work takes a different form and I no longer do full edits of entire book manuscripts.

I still get a lot of inquiries from people looking for a developmental editor for their book projects. I’m always happy to provide referrals to editors whose work I’m familiar with, though, like everyone else, I sometimes get behind on my email.

I thought it might help, then, to share some general info about how to find a developmental editor and what to look for when you’re vetting someone you might want to work with. If that sounds like helpful information to you, then do check out this post from my archives on How to Find the Best Academic Developmental Editor for You.

If you’d like to get this info in a more lively format, you are welcome to attend my free webinar happening TODAY at 10am Pacific.

It’s called “How to Work with a Developmental Editor” and will cover everything you need to know, including how to identify good-fit editors for your project and what to find out before you commit to hiring someone. There will also be several working developmental editors in attendance who will be happy to share their contact info in case you’re interested in getting in touch.

In order to attend live, you must register today by 8:30am Pacific (11:30am Eastern). You’ll then receive the Zoom link via email an hour before the webinar starts.

If you can’t register in time or attend live, don’t worry. I’ll post the recording as soon as it’s available and then reopen registration so people can access it (along with the slides and handouts) after the fact.

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I’ve got another free webinar coming up next week as well. That one is more of a professional development training for people who are thinking of offering developmental editing as a paid service.

The content of next week’s webinar will overlap a little bit with today’s presentation, but will have a particular focus on how editors can find and work with academic clients. If that sounds useful to you, please do feel free to register.

Again, you won’t have to attend live in order to access the recording and slides. Just gotta register!

I also offer a full online course for those who are interested in learning how to do professional developmental editing for academic authors. I’ll talk more about that in next week’s webinar and newsletter. See you then!