I'm a professional writer, editor, copy editor, and proofreader with 25+ years' experience and a master’s degree in English. I’ve been a highly successful freelancer for the past 11 years and have also worked for educational publishers, corporate clients, university presses, and scholarly journals.
I've written more than 150 children's books and hundreds of passages, both fiction and nonfiction, across all content areas. I also edited the third edition of the Simon and Schuster Handbook for Writers, and two of the best-selling literature anthologies in the country.
I earned the highest score ever recorded on the copyediting test for the University Arizona Press and one of the highest for Yale University Press.
Here’s what one of my colleagues has to say about my work:
“I've worked with John for more than a dozen years, both as an editor and a writer. His writing is crystal clear and engaging. His editing is incisive, with great attention to detail. He is whip-smart, creative, and to top it all off, a lot of fun to work with.”
—Karen Mockler, freelance education writer and editor
Service Description:
I offer expert nonfiction copyediting and proofreading as well as children's writing. I am passionate about creating engaging fiction stories for young readers. I also enjoy writing nonfiction science and social studies content that sparks interest and supports comprehension. I am adept at leveling resources while preserving the accuracy of the content.
PLEASE NOTE: I don't write marketing copy.
WRITING: I've written more than 150 leveled books and hundreds of reading passages and online lessons for leading educational publishers, including Encyclopaedia Britannica, Reading A-Z, Science A-Z, and CSA Education, Prentice Hall (Simon &Schuster), John Wiley, and Proof Positive. I’ve also created more than 20 video scripts and edited hundreds of videos for educational publishers.
I’ve worked on myriad text types, including leveled readers, multilevel books, shared reading books, graphic books, close reading passages, decodable books, fluency passages, and hi-lo books and passages, and assessments.
Outside of educational publishing, my corporate clients include Bank of America, ING Barings, the United Nations, and Consolidated Edison of New York. I also served as the developmental editor on John Stephen Tighe’s award-winning debut novel, Sonora Run.
EDITING AND PROOFREADING: I am a wordsmith who can edit text for brevity and clarity while smoothing out sentence structure and flow. I also ensure the proper use of voice, spelling, capitalization, punctuation, verb tenses, parallel construction, word choice, and more. I copyedit in Word, Google Docs, or PowerPoint and can review layouts before publication.
Here are some testimonials from clients and colleagues:
"John has remarkable talent as both an editor and a writer. His writing skills, combined with his extensive knowledge across content areas, enhances the quality of any project he’s involved in. His flexible, focused, and highly collaborative approach make him a pleasure to work with. He would bring tremendous value to any project."
—Leslie Morrison, Managing Editor, Britannica Education
“I’ve had the pleasure of working with John for well over ten years. He is by far one of the most thorough and thoughtful professionals I’ve ever worked with. His deep background in publishing and other fields has given him an extraordinary breadth of knowledge to draw on as both a writer and editor, and his knowledge of Latin and Greek equips him to understand the finer points of language usage. John consistently produces exceptional work and would be a strong asset on any project. He's also a pleasure to work with. I give him my highest recommendation.”
—Kirin Alolkoy, freelance education writer and editor
“John is just fantastic to work with. He has a wealth of knowledge and experience. I’ve worked with him for more than seven years in his capacity as a writer, editor, and editorial lead, and I can’t recommend him enough!”
—Nicole Davis, Managing Editor, Science A-Z
“Having worked in educational publishing most of my lengthy career, I have come across few editors that can hold a candle to John’s all-around excellence. I’ve found his breadth of knowledge and experience to be pretty much unparalleled. John is equally gifted in both writing (fiction and nonfiction) and editing, with an equally strong sense of design and production. John would be my go-to editor for any editorial publishing task— especially those that require an analytical brain, editorial development prowess, and detailed writing capabilities. In short, John’s work is simply stellar.”
—Edie Evans, educational writer and editor
Copyediting
