Hire the Best Book Editors in Texas

Thank you for taking the time to review my profile. A Little About Me - I have been editing on and off Upwork for the last four years, and I have been provided the chance to work with many authors, both new and experienced, from around the world as they aimed to get their stories and ideas ready for publishing. What I Offer - Content/Developmental Editing: The main focus is ensuring there are no inconsistencies or unclear areas within the story. Additionally, ensuring the characters and plot develop properly as the story progresses. I will also thoroughly review for dialogue structure, consistent world-building, story pacing and structure among other aspects. - Line/Copy Editing: The main focus is ensuring your material is grammatically sound. I adhere to the Chicago Manual of Style while editing to maintain editing style and integrity throughout. - Proofreading: The main focus is catching any minor errors that might have slipped the cracks to make sure your work is publishing ready. - Beta Reading: The main focus is reviewing your book from a reader's perspective. I thoroughly go through your book and note strong areas as well as areas that may need strengthening. *Additional Services - Ghost Editor/Writer: The main focus is cleaning up what the author already has to help convey the message of the material in a clearer and more concise manner. *Plot Outlines: The main focus is taking the general idea behind the story, and creating a cohesive structure writers will be able to follow. Genres I Edit/Proofread - Action Adventure - Autobiographies - Business/Entrepreneurship - Children's Books - Coming of Age/Young Adult - Fantasy - Memoirs - Mystery - Personal Development/Self Help - Romance of various heat levels (clean or spicy), tropes (lovers to enemies, age gap, billionaire romance, etc.), and subgenres (sports romance, mafia romance, romantic mystery, etc.) - Thriller I value communication above all else, as I regularly check my messages at least twice a day. I value your time meaning if a deadline is agreed upon, I will work diligently to ensure all work is completed in a timely fashion. If you've managed to read through all that, I'd like to express my gratitude for doing so. Should you have any inquiries, please don't hesitate to reach out to me, and I will do my best to respond quickly. In the meantime, thanks once again!

No AI; all work is 100% human! I have a love for the written word and a razor-sharp eye for errors! I’m the indie author and small publisher’s best friend, because my editing is a valuable combination of copy, line, and developmental. I look at the manuscript's ENTIRE scope, the viability of the storyline as well as the writing. I also offer storyline/plot evaluations. Romance publishers, in particular, need this service to prevent spending hundreds of dollars on stories that contain implausible and inaccurate situations that render them un-publishable. Romance is my specialty; however, I also edit nonfiction, business, and medical documents, as well as other fiction genres. I treat each client’s document as if my name were going to be publicly listed as the author. Contact me, and let's discuss what I can do for you! Here’s a brief summary of the services I offer: EDITING. In addition to making developmental suggestions regarding structure, pacing, plot, and characterization (the latter two for fiction), I check the entire document for typos, overused/misused/missing words, incorrect facts, inconsistencies, redundancies, contradictions, implausibilities, confusing narrative, pronoun misuse, adverb overuse, point-of-view (in fiction) errors, tense, transitions, clarity, syntax, and of course, grammar, punctuation, spelling, and sentence structure. PROOFREADING. Commonly believed to be the same as editing…it’s not. Proofreading should be done after editing is complete and before publishing or submission. This includes correcting missing or incorrect punctuation, incorrect word usage, misused homonyms, missing words, doubled words, irregular word or line spacing, inconsistencies in statements and formatting, typos, misspellings, and grammatical errors. PLOT/STORYLINE EVALUATIONS. Are you a small publisher who has spent hundreds, or even thousands, on stories that turn out to be worthless? Let me evaluate your ghostwriter’s storyline before you pay to have it written, potentially saving you hundreds of dollars. I’ll tell you what’s wrong with it and make suggestions for resolution (or inform you that it’s hopeless). I’ll also review the first 500 words of the manuscript. GHOSTWRITING. Anything I write for you is guaranteed to need little editing. However, I only consider ghostwriting if a) the client provides a story outline, b) there is a reasonable weekly output of 6-8k words, and c) I am paid at least 3 cents per word. TRANSCRIPTION/TYPING. Dictated or handwritten: random thoughts/notes, correspondence, medical reports, fiction or nonfiction manuscripts, and one-on-one interviews or conversations (I do not transcribe reports with more than two speakers). My experience: • Professional writer for over 20 years, nonfiction (newspaper columnist) and fiction (40+ novels of romance and women's fiction published under my pen name(s), plus ghostwritten titles). • Professional proofreader who worked for pharmaceutical giant Abbott Labs in that capacity. • Experienced editor with an 11-year history on Upwork. Top Rated. • Retired multispecialty medical transcriptionist; qualified to edit medical documents. • Romance specialist. With so many published romance novels to my name, I possess a thorough understanding of the genre and know what works and what doesn't. I am a book doctor who can clean up plots that contain outlandish elements and revise them into a plot that is both engrossing and *believable.* • Owner/operator of Red Pen Edits by BLU.

Hi! Welcome to my profile. For more than 30 years, I have been a professional fiction and nonfiction editor and proofreader. In addition to six in-house years with a publisher, I have more than twenty years of freelance experience and have worked with publishers, companies, and writers all over the world. As a Chicago style expert, I edit and proofread fiction (all genres, children's, YA, and adult) and nonfiction (educational and marketing materials, business books, and self-help books). With a strong background in fiction editing, I am--unlike many editors--an expert at dialogue punctuation and paragraph breaks. I edit MS Word documents using track changes, PDF files using Adobe's highlight/note function, and hard copy using the old-fashioned red pen. If you hire me, you'll get a detail- and deadline-oriented editor and proofreader who is easy to work with.

𝐒𝐞𝐥𝐟-𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐭 | 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐂𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧 & 𝐋𝐚𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐭 I help authors and independent publishers turn manuscripts into professionally designed, formatted, and published books, in print and ebook, distributed across Amazon KDP, Barnes & Noble, Baker & Taylor, and 40+ retail and library platforms, while you keep full rights and royalties to your work. 𝐌𝐘 𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐕𝐈𝐂𝐄𝐒 𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐋𝐔𝐃𝐄: ✅ Book Cover Design & Custom Illustration ✅ Manuscript Formatting & Layout, Paperback & eBook (Kindle Format) ✅ Interior Typesetting & Desktop Publishing (Adobe InDesign) ✅ Proofreading & Copy Editing ✅ Amazon KDP Publishing & Configuration ✅ Global Distribution Setup, B&N, Baker & Taylor & 40+ Retailers ✅ Metadata Optimization, Category & Keyword Selection ✅ ISBN Assistance ✅ Amazon Listing Optimization ✅ Ebook Marketing & Launch Support ✅ Full Rights & Royalties, Your Book, Your Income, Always ✅ Priority Support Throughout Your Project I work with fiction and nonfiction authors who want one reliable partner to handle the entire publishing process, design, formatting, and distribution, not five different freelancers, so their book reaches readers on every major platform, correctly formatted and ready to sell from day one. Have a manuscript ready for formatting and design, or a book that needs to go wide across retailers? Message me and I'll map out exactly what your project needs. Looking forward to collaborating with you soon! Best regards, Zain

"...[Samuel] consistently goes above and beyond on every project. He’s reliable, thoughtful, easy to communicate with, and always brings a high level of care to his work." I help authors, publishers, and content teams turn drafts into clean, publication-ready manuscripts. My work is precise and voice-conscious, focused on clarity, consistency, and readability. I’m extremely detailed and I always go above and beyond, check out my reviews! For over ten years, books have been my career. From editing, to formatting, to audiobooks, I’ve made a career supporting businesses, brands, and authors. I’ve worked alongside Disney, 60 Minutes, Penguin Random House, and Google, and with actors, astronauts, and NYT Bestsellers. I offer a complimentary Zoom meeting and sample edit (before beginning a contract) so you can make sure I’m a good fit!

I specialize in editing novels of most types (though dystopia, sci-fi, and urban fantasy are my favorite genres) and coaching authors through every part of the writing process, from concept to outline to draft to revision. Let me help you take your novel from good to great. COACHING SERVICES - Plot - Character development - Dialogue - Action scenes - Organization - Checking the timeline - Evaluating/fixing believability - Finding/fixing holes, inconsistencies I take particular pride in helping people break through writer’s block and develop writing discipline. EDITING SERVICES - Error-checking - Effective sentence structure and variation - Paragraph organization and development - Identifying/fixing ambiguities and logical errors - Improving style EXPERIENCE See my Upwork reviews for an overview of my freelancing experience. Before becoming a freelancer, I edited professionally for over 15 years in the following roles: - 10 years as an English teacher (high school and college) - 2 years as deputy editor for a leading space advocacy magazine - 3 years as a tutor at my university’s writing center - 3 years as a private tutor - 4 years as a paralegal I have an MA in English and defended my thesis with distinction. Due to the great variability in clients' writing needs, any fixed-price contracts will be negotiated on a case-by-case basis. I will skim the manuscript and edit a sample of the writing in order to estimate how long it will take me to complete. My proposed price will be based on that determination. Contact me for your free sample edit today! * * No more than 1,000 words or 5% of the project, whichever is shorter. I reserve the right to select the portion of text to edit.