Are You Looking for Professional Help with your Nonfiction Book?

SUBSTANTIVE/STRUCTURAL EDITING SERVICE 

for NONFICTION WRITERS

by Jodie Renner, editor & author

Are you an expert on or passionate about a topic and want to share your knowledge about it in a book? And add to your resume and make some money at the same time? 

Maybe you’ve made a good start but reached a roadblock with your project. Now's the time to find some professional help with rewriting, revising, and restructuring your book so it will appeal to your target readership and sell well.

 

I’m accepting nonfiction books for substantive/structural editing or rewriting on these or related topics, aimed at a general (not academic or scientific) audience:

 

personal growth, healthy living, self-help, wellness, lifestyles, nutrition, health, senior living or issues, relationships, or alternative healthcare and wellness.

 

I will work with you on your nonfiction book to do a detailed  substantive/structural edit, as well as a thorough copyedit and final proofread, which will include:

 

·         Helping you define your target readership

·         Clarifying your goals with this book

·         Discussing the scope of your book (maybe too narrow or too broad?)

·         Helping you, if needed, to develop a “voice” and style that will appeal to your target readership

·         Discussing the overall organization and flow of your book, and transitions between chapters

·         Helping you with an enticing opening (first paragraphs)

·         Checking for overly technical phrases and jargon your target audience may not easily understand

·         Rearranging, adding, or condensing chapters, topics, and subtopics to make the whole structure more appealing and cohesive

·         Moving, adding, rewriting, or deleting details, sentences, and paragraphs

·         Watching for any inconsistencies and discrepancies

·         Flagging and helping you rewrite any confusing statements

·         Asking for clarification and examples if needed

·         Suggesting anecdotes, interesting facts, or a bit of humor, if needed

·         Noting repetitions or redundancies within a sentence, paragraph, or elsewhere in the book

·         Flagging digressions and off-topic references

·         Rewriting overly long, overly formal, or convoluted sentences

·         Fixing spelling, grammar, capitalization, punctuation, spacing, and typos

·         Clicking through any references to make sure they lead to the intended source

·         Checking your references, using an acceptable style guide

 

I'm a former English teacher and librarian with a Master's degree. I edit American and Canadian English, and my main two reference sources are The Chicago Manual of Style and Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary.

 

Finally, I will format your book for publishing, including creating proper chapter headings, subheadings, and a Table of Contents (made clickable for an ebook).

 

Fee Structure: For info on fees, please visit the Editing page of my website.

 

My process is interactive, so the manuscript goes back and forth several times, with plenty of input by the author. 

If your manuscript, article, or webpage only needs a basic copyedit and proofread, I can do that too, at a considerably lower fee.

 

Contact me at info (at) JodieRenner (dot) (com) with your topic, target readership, projected number of words/pages, ideas and/or table of contents, and your first 10-20 pages. If your project interests me or I have time to take it on, I’ll get back to you with some ideas and a sample edit/rewrite.

Jodie Renner is a freelance fiction editor and the award-winning author of three writing guides in her series An Editor’s Guide to Writing Compelling Fiction: FIRE UP YOUR FICTION, CAPTIVATE YOUR READERS, and WRITING A KILLER THRILLER, as well as two clickable time-saving e-resources, QUICK CLICKS: Spelling List and QUICK CLICKS: Word Usage. She has also organized and edited two anthologies. Website: https://www.jodierenner.com/, Facebook, Amazon Author Page.