Services

Here are some of the things I can do for you and your team. Check out my portfolio to see samples of my work.

Editing

I can provide editorial help at any stage of your content process, from ideation through acquisitions, developmental editing, copy editing, proofreading, and publishing—for digital and print—including:

• Acquiring manuscripts
• Developmental editing to help shape the manuscript
• Reading for flow, internal logic, formatting, grammar, punctuation, and adherence to style guides
• Fact-checking, ensuring trademarks are used correctly, and red-flagging potential copyright issues

Some of my strengths are:

• Coaching writers and helping them tease out their best work
• Simple English and accessibility for people with disabilities
• Copyrights, permissions, and trademark protection

I’m also proficient with these style guides:

• Chicago Manual of Style
• Associated Press (AP)
• American Psychological Association (APA) Publication Manual
• Modern Language Association (MLA) Style
• Various in-house styles, such as Microsoft

There are a lot of “soft skills” in editing, although that term belies how complex they can be. A good editor needs to be able to build rapport and trust with writers and stakeholders while guiding them toward a better end product. I lean toward collaboration and communication while always keeping my eye on timelines and budget.

Content Design

Content designers focus on language, structure, organization, and presentation of content to create an intuitive user experience and meet user and business needs. They work to ensure content is easy to find and understand and meets accessibility requirements across any platform on which it appears.

When I worked in print publishing, I designed several information-dense bestselling products, including determining what content would be presented, the products’ voice and tone, and how content would be organized, laid out, and styled for best usability.

In the digital realm, I have years of experience collaborating with startup and EdTech product teams to plan, create, structure, tag, and organize content in ways that make it easier to use and find.

When I’m doing content design, I place a strong focus on accessibility for people with disabilities or those whose first language isn’t English, including using Simple English and adhering to WCAG guidelines. In addition to user experience and clear writing, accessibility, inclusion, and respectful representation have been cornerstones of my digital and print work.

UX Writing

I can collaborate with your designers and engineers to craft UX content that guides users seamlessly through their product or site journey, with a focus on:

I can also help your organization create UX writing guidelines so your content creators, engineers, and designers are all using the same principles and voice in microcopy.

Style & Voice Guides

I have more than 20 years of experience writing style and voice guides. I can lead a team of stakeholders through a collaborative process to determine how extensive you’d like your style and/or voice guide to be, create a first draft, refine it, and present it in a format that works for your team.

Style Guides

Organizational style guides can outline everything from large concepts you want to infuse throughout your copy (“We care about our customers!”) to nitty-gritty grammar and punctuation standards. (Do we use the Oxford comma? Do we spell out numbers or use digits?) They almost always include preferred spellings, capitalization, and definitions of terms, brand language, and product names. They may also include:

• A description of who your audience(s) are
• Target reading level
• Accessibility standards
• Your policies on using others’ content (copyright permissions) and who it is and isn’t okay to quote in your content
• What your organization’s trademarks are and how to use them accurately

Voice Guides

Voice guides, which usually include principles and examples, are indispensable for defining what your organization “sounds” like to customers and helping in-house staff and contractors write that way consistently. Your organization’s voice embodies your brand, and it’s critical that there’s continuity and that it reflects the values and themes you want customers to associate with you. If one of your content creators writes content that sounds like like Kendrick Lamar and another writes content that sounds like Dolly Parton, users will be confused, and you may lose their trust. A voice guide may be part of a style guide or not, but the two will likely overlap and should absolutely be in sync.

Documentation

Process documentation and governance make a lot of people queasy. I’m not one of those people. I can work with your team to identify, clarify, and document processes, procedures, and protocols and present them in ways that are easy for staff to find and use, whether that be a webpage, wiki, intranet site, video, PowerPoint, training, or even a PDF.

I do a deep dive to learn the context, history, and current state of whatever I’m documenting and talk to stakeholders to determine what their needs are. I produce a first draft, often in collaboration with a stakeholder team, then test and iterate until the content and the format are right.