You’ve written an intriguing novel or created a fascinating work of nonfiction. But before it leaves your hands to go to an agent or a publisher (even if that’s you), you want it to be the best it can be. You want it polished. That’s what I do. I am the polisher (aka copy editor) who can make your work shine.

I have more than twenty years of experience as a newspaper copy editor, over the past ten years I have copyedited more than fifty manuscripts (fiction and nonfiction across all genres), and I am an author of five published books. As a professional copy editor, I recognize and fix mistakes in spelling and punctuation and am also well acquainted with the rules of grammar. English evolves over time and dynamic guidelines in using the language keep evolving. Help from a professional copy editor is important to make sure you’re using the correct conventions. My expertise also includes fact-checking and context-checking. (I know that your character would be fishing for halibut, not tuna, off the coast of Alaska and that a man with a CBE grade of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is not entitled to be called “Sir.”)

I am not a one-size-fits-all copy editor. I follow the publisher-preferred Chicago Manual of Style, but I also respect each writer’s tone and style. My goal is to make what you have written better, not to make it what I would have written.