Hire the Best Copy Editors in Minnesota

“Fantastic work—an expert in her field and phenomenal at her craft.” This is just one of many top reviews from numerous satisfied clients. These reviews reflect my decades of professional editing experience, built on the foundation of my Master’s degree in English Studies and subsequent teaching proficiency at the secondary and college levels. I began my career as a senior editor for a highly regarded publishing house and later served as a corporate managing editor. As a freelance editor, I’ve had the privilege of working on hundreds of books and documents for publishers, independent authors, and a wide range of professionals—including attorneys, engineers, scientists, technology experts, nonprofit organizations, and more. Working with these clients has made my work both meaningful and rewarding. I also bring more than ten years of experience in the legal field as a legal administrative assistant, paralegal (with a paralegal certificate), and contract administrator. Because of this background, I am especially comfortable editing legal documents and working with attorneys. My technical editing background includes journal articles, white papers, reports, theses, and dissertations. Citation formatting is one of my specialties. I am highly experienced with The Chicago Manual of Style and APA and can easily adapt to other style guides. In addition to editing, I am the author of numerous middle-grade books, primarily biographies and historical topics. (You can find my books by searching “Sue Vander Hook” on Amazon.) My experience as an author gives me a deep appreciation for the writing process and the importance of thoughtful, careful editing. My experience and expertise can make your words and voice resonate and rise to an exceptional level. With great collaboration and communication, we can accomplish your goals together.

As a published author and top rated plus freelancer, I have over ten years of experience in editing, from basic proofreading and copy editing to deep line edits and developmental commentary. I have written ten novels across a wide range of genres, multiple screenplays, and am currently the lead writer for a dark fantasy comic. Readers consistently praise my writing for the nuanced, realistic characters, quick dialogue, and exciting action, all of which I bring to my line editing projects. Line editing is my passion, although I am available for creative writing when it comes to screenplays and video games.

I love to read, organize things, and help people fix their problems. I combine these interests to smooth out your manuscript with proofreading, copy-editing, and formatting to present your text in a form easily read and understood. I do not do developmental editing, but when I copyedit, I'm highly aware of content mistakes and missteps and will alert you to these. My favorite assignments are fixed-price, non-fiction projects; I’m open to both long-term and short-term contracts and will edit any document size.

🟢 Need administrative tasks taken care of so you can worry about the big things? 👉 I can help manage email, organize files, follow up on client communication, manage your social media, and more. 👉 I’m proficient in basic graphic design and I’m happy to check grammar, sentence structure, flow, and spelling on written communications. 👉 I excel at time management and consistent communications. I have taken SEO courses and done work with keyword optimization. I use both Canva and Affinity Designer for graphic design. _____________ 🔵 EXPERIENCE I spent 3 years in project management at a translation company where I managed 5-7 projects at a time, 21+ language each, involving 40+ internal and external vendors for each project. My team had a 99.5% on-time delivery rate. I also have 10+ years’ experience in client-facing roles, having spent 2 years each at Walmart (craft department) and Home Depot (paint department), 3 years in the lab and on the floor at LensCrafters, 2 years each in the call centers at State Farm and Hartford Funds. ________ 🟣 SKILLS Productivity Software: 👩🏻‍💻 Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneDrive, Teams) 👩🏻‍💻 Google Workspace (Docs, Sheets, Slides, Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Meet) 👩🏻‍💻 Project Management Tools (Trello, Jira) 👩🏻‍💻 Slack 👩🏻‍💻 Zoom Graphic Design: 🎨 Canva 🎨 Affinity Designer Administrative Tasks: ✅ Data Entry ✅ Administrative Support ✅ Document Formatting ✅ Email Management ✅ Newsletter Support ✅ Scheduling ✅ Processing Financial Transactions ✅ Record Clean-Up ✅ Basic Copywriting and Marketing Theory ✅ Basic Content Writing ✅ Light Copyediting/Proofreading ✅ Familiar with SEO strategy ✅ Client Communications/Interactions ✅ Basic Reports ✅ Phone Etiquette ✅ Project Management/Coordination ✅ Deadline Adherence ✅ Task Tracking/Prioritizing ✅ Ability to Multitask ✅ Basic Internet Research Soft Skills: 🍦 Efficient with Highly Developed Time Management 🍦 Strong Written & Verbal Communication 🍦 Quick Learner 🍦 Creative Problem Solver 🍦 Capable Decision-Maker 🍦 Works Well Independently or Collaboratively 🍦 Highly Organized 🍦 Meticulous Attention to Detail 🍦 Adaptable & Flexible 🍦 Curious & Self-Motivated 🍦 Reliable 🕓 Time Zone: CST (Chicago) In-depth familiarity with the following subjects: 🤔 Cooking 🤔 Baking 🤔 The pursuit of mental health 🤔 The pursuit of physical health 🤔 Psychology 🤔 Stress management 🤔 Parenting and Neurodivergence 🤔 Writing 🤔 Reading - most recent genre familiarity is with fantasy & nonfiction 🤔 Beadwork 🤔 Crochet 🤔 Knitting 🤔 Sewing 🤔 Martial Arts 🤔 Menopause 🤔 Pets (dogs, cats, some knowledge of ferrets) Please message me if you’d like to schedule a chat during times marked ‘unavailable’ on my calendar. I look forward to discussing how I can make your life easier.

"Melissa is amazing! She edited my work wonderfully. She has a great eye for small grammatical errors, and the ability to rework complete sentences and sections so they are clean, clear and effective. I highly recommend her work . . ." --Karlee I like to let my clients' feedback speak for itself. As a well-rounded, experienced editor and proofreader, I have the tools to make your written words flawless!

Your story deserves to be profitable by being engaging, exciting, clear, and correct. I'm here to get you there. Whether you need developmental editing to give you direction, copy editing to punch up your language, beta reading to ensure clarity, or proofreading to guarantee perfection, I can provide any editing you need while maintaining and enhancing your individual voice and style. I'm a lifelong reader and corrector of things, in addition to being a native English speaker with Bachelor's degree in English. My previous work experience and education has emphasized attention to detail and a strong work ethic. I have experience with beta reading, developmental editing, line or copy editing, and proofreading. I'm also Stay-at-Home Dad looking for some part-time editing work, and I'm excited to help perfect your writing!