QUALIFICATIONS

[also append this section to Business Management w/o the title "Business Management"]

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

Currently a consultant to major publishers in the Humanities and Life Sciences, I was previously College Division Director at a successful Modern Languages startup--a position focused on manuscript development--and Acquisitions Editor in Modern Languages at John Wiley & Sons. 

As John Wiley & Sons' Acquisitions Editor in Modern Languages, the company's unique Humanities discipline, I successfully managed a $5 million booklist for three years between 2003 and 2006.

I signed four new titles in Beginning and Intermediate Spanish, and new co-authors for the list's top grossing title. I achieved 150% of my signing goal in fiscal 2005, and 180% of goal in fiscal 2004.

The list recorded a 7% growth in fiscal 2005.

All my titles published on time and under costs.

I moved 30+ print supplements online to facilitate customer access and eliminate inventory costs.

Part of my job entailed conducting focus groups, managing review panels, and writing cogent analyses of the results for upper management.

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[also append this section to Book Development w/o the title "Book Development"]

BOOK DEVELOPMENT

I have extensive and direct book development experience, garnered in a variety of roles.

As a writer in my own right, I am at work on my first novel. You can see some of my stories in the Short Fiction and Lifestyle sections of this website.

Currently a consultant to major publishers in the Humanities and Life Sciences, I was previously College Division Director at a successful Modern Languages startup and Acquisitions Editor in Modern Languages at John Wiley & Sons. Prior to those positions, I honed my skills as Development Editor in Psychology at The McGraw-Hill Companies and in Modern Languages at Houghton Mifflin.

Since 1995, I have successfully dealt with all the common pitfalls of book development and worked with the best in the textbook industry. My experience includes line or copy editing, and proofreading.

[end of section to append to Book Development]

ACQUISITIONS

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Assess a book proposal to determine its potential as a signing (areas of experience: environmental science, modern languages, and psychology textbooks; mass market fiction)

Prepare the strategic plan for a successful signing: outline of steps, timeline for the steps, and special recommendations

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Rate: $125 / hour

PRODUCT DESIGN

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Prepare the strategic plan for successful book development: outline of steps, timeline for the steps, costs, and special recommendations

Prepare the chapter template in a user-friendly chart with features, specs, and special instructions

Set up a step-by-step chapter development process

Prepare a detailed schedule for the project

Prepare writing guidelines for the project and select style conventions

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Rate: $100 / hour

WRITING

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Co-author your fiction or non-fiction work

Provide instruction for writing fiction (novels and short stories) and non-fiction (trade or textbooks, journal or academic articles)

Help with blog development and writing

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Rate: by negotiation

MANUSCRIPT DEVELOPMENT

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Assess chapter manuscript for story, flow, and organization, and make recommendations if the manuscript is missing any of these important aspects

Implement chapter template

Develop manuscript to ensure a good story, flow, and organization

Perform competitive benchmarking

Line edit manuscript to check that critical information is present and claims are supported; ensure uniformity of level, tone, and style; achieve clarity

Follow schedule

Repeat process with review results in hand for second and subsequent drafts

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Rate: $65 / hour

ART DEVELOPMENT

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Develop art manuscript with figure samples and captions to complement text, and achieve a good balance between text and images

Check art manuscript against budgeted art counts

Perform competitive benchmarking

Ensure that art manuscript "tells a story"

Revise art manuscript with review results in hand for second and subsequent drafts

Work with style sheets from art house to provide detailed instructions on each piece of art

Include hand-drawn sketches whenever appropriate

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Rate: $65 / hour

COPYEDITING

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Edit manuscript to eliminate redundancies and inconsistencies

Correct grammar or usage errors, and punctuation

Follow style conventions for project

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Rate: $50 / hour