Jed Bickman
Services Offered
Developmental Editing
Developmental editing is the practice of digging in to a manuscript in its entirety; this is when you'll allow me to question your assumptions, your organization, your audience, and your approach. But that does not preclude me from engaging with the writing on a sentence and paragraph level. As I edit, I will send you queries, and I'll incorporate your answers and feedback into the manuscript as I go.
Line Editing
Wordsmithing is hard work and it is never perfect. I will help you refine your word choice, your sentence structure, your paragraph structure. I judge each work on its own terms, and I want to help your manuscript fulfill the promise that it makes to the reader.
Manuscript Evaluation
It is wonderful that you want to write a book, but how do you know if anyone will read it? It turns out that audience research is a science, not an art. I will look at your manuscript or your book idea, compare it to the existing literature in the field, read deeply into the comp (competitive and complimentary) titles that it will appear alongside in bookstores and Amazon searches. I will help you refine your book idea so that it will be sure to find the audience you want.
Research Assistance
Keeping track of all your references and sources can be a real challenge, and the task of turning them all into Chicago style can be daunting. I'll organize your research, and I'll make sure that no one is going to sue you for re-using their material without permission.
Mentoring
I consider myself a writing coach. I would love to talk to you about your process, your intentions, to commiserate with you about how hard it is, and to solve problems as they come up.
