Author Anxiety Disorder
In the field of medicine, every doctor occasionally encounters a patient who, to put it simply, refuses to believe they are healthy. The patient will come to the doctor with some complaint (a pain, an ache, a soreness) and ask … Continue reading
When Editing a Manuscript, the Client Isn’t Always Right
I would never compare myself to a physician. Doctors care for people’s health, while I work with books. Still, there’s an analogy that I think illustrates an important point. Imagine a woman visiting her doctor because she has severe abdominal … Continue reading
“The Earth’s Strangest Mysteries: Discover Hidden Wonders, Strange Events, and Unsolved Mysteries From Our Planet”
As a professional ghostwriter, editor, and book developer, I always enjoy seeing the work of my clients appear in the marketplace. Most of these are adult nonfiction books, novels, or titles within a specific niche market aimed at a targeted … Continue reading
Should You Cite ChatGPT as a Primary Source?
Recently, I’ve participated in discussions among writers and clients alike as to whether, in a non-fiction book that provides footnotes, ChatGPT should be cited if information or text from the algorithm has been included in the manuscript. Generally, in a … Continue reading
Should You End a Sentence With a Preposition?
In English grammar, a preposition is a word that typically comes before a noun or pronoun and expresses a relationship between that noun/pronoun and another word in the sentence. Prepositions indicate location, time, direction, manner, or other relationships. Here are … Continue reading
Congratulations to Dr. Lisa-Leslie Williams on the publication of “Be FINE: Your Drug Free Prescription to Age Well, Beat Bulge, and Stop Disease”
My valued client, Dr. Lisa-Leslie Williams, has just published her wonderful and groundbreaking book, Be FINE: Your Drug Free Prescription to Age Well, Beat Bulge, and Stop Disease. It’s chock full of ideas and information that can help you live … Continue reading
Line Editing or Copy Editing? Is There a Difference?
Creating a book manuscript involves many steps, from the initial concept to the final proofreading before publication. To a new author, these steps can seem bewildering – especially when we’re talking about editing. If you go online to learn about … Continue reading
The Importance of the Topic Sentence
Writing is a form of communication. Its structure is linear, like a path. That means the reader intakes the first word, remembers it, and then intakes the next word. As the reader progresses through the words, sentences, and paragraphs, the … Continue reading
Developmental Editing: It’s All About Baby Steps!
Clients will often send me a finished manuscript of 40,000 or 60,000 words, which, for various reasons, they’re not happy with. A non-fiction manuscript may be outdated, not well organized, incomplete in its arguments, or just plain boring. A novel … Continue reading
Why Do People Who Use a Ghostwriter Need to Hire a Second Ghostwriter?
On Upwork the other day I saw a job posting entitled “Book Edit/Rewrite.” Part of the job description read, “I’m looking to hire a ghostwriter/editor to rewrite my completed manuscript. Rewrite would include add, delete, and recreate scenes. I worked with … Continue reading