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James N. Brook | Editorial Services
jamesnbrook-editor.com
San Francisco Bay Area
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Developmental Editing > Line Editing > Copyediting > Proofreading
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Academic | Fiction | Nonfiction | Poetry | Technical

If your book, article, story, or essay needs improved organization, if your software training is a muddle, if your sentences are unwieldy, if your translation needs a practiced eye, or if you have limited proficiency in written English—I can offer professional editorial support.

I can also help independent authors prepare query letters to publishers.

Editing is a collaboration, a dialogue between writer and editor. From the first stages of development to the final proofreading, I keep in mind that it’s always your book, article, story, essay, presentation—not mine.

My experience includes editing literary fiction, poetry, and nonfiction; software documentation and training materials; newspaper columns; technical white papers and blog posts; dissertations and master’s theses in the social and behavioral sciences; and tech industry news.

Among my specialties are editing translations into English, editing texts by nonnative speakers of English, and technical editing for localization.

In addition, I’ve written style guides and other standards documents. I’ve also coached course developers in structured authoring, instructional design, minimalist writing, and writing for international audiences and localization.

Highlights

At No Starch Press (2024– ), copyediting and proofreading of guides to IT and computer programming topics.

At New York Review Books Classics (2018– ), copyediting and proofreading of literary fiction, fiction, and poetry titles.

At City Lights (1998–2002), acquisitions editing, developmental editing, line editing, copyediting, and proofreading of literary fiction, nonfiction, and poetry titles.

At VMware (2008–2018), developmental editing, line editing, and copyediting of instructor-led training and e-learning courses. Coaching of course developers in principles of instructional design, structured authoring, and minimalist writing. Wrote a suite of standards documents, including a 100-page style guide, a structured authoring guide, and an authoring tools handbook. In core leadership of the effort to develop a DITA solution for training content.