Writing and editing are two separate skills. Many a smart and articulate person’s message has been lost or disregarded for want of the skills of an editor. I have years of experience editing both professional and nonprofessional writers. I have edited material ranging from news articles to grant proposals, poetry manuscripts to technical-assistance manuals.

Whether you have a book, a short op-ed piece, or a disjointed Web site, I can help you make it readable, well-organized, grammatically correct, and consistent in style. I am familiar with both AP style and The Chicago Manual of Style. My specialties include making academese accessible to the lay reader and trimming down overly wordy documents to concise and powerful language.

I offer:

Copyediting. Line-by-line editing focused on grammar, punctuation, clarity, consistency, style, and fact-checking.

Structural editing. Big-picture editing focused on organization, reaching your audience, length, and transitions.

Editorial project management. Coordination of group writing projects, incorporation of feedback from multiple sources into consensus documents, research and writing as needed.

For a quote on a project, send me an e-mail message describing the scope of work and the time frame to mjoywords (at) mjoy (dot) org.