James C. Bassett

I offer fast, efficient, high-quality academic editing, proofreading, formatting, and writing services for articles, journals, and books.

Technical editing includes proofreading as well as examining and revising the organization, structure, and style of documents. I examine all areas of the manuscript from information organization to structural cohesion, ensuring that the style is consistent and appropriate to the content and that the document communicates effectively and clearly.

I also provide substantive editing such as replacing passive voice with active voice, varying unintentionally repeated verbs, clarifying subordinate material, cutting wordy sentences, straightening out logic and connections, improving awkward phrasing, adding transitions to improve the flow of argument, deleting irrelevant material or putting it in the footnotes, moving incorrectly placed paragraphs, deleting repeated material, and cutting excessively long footnotes. I will even suggest areas for additional citation or research, or note where the argument is tangled or where it could be made stronger with additional proofs.

Unlike many other academic editing services, I offer correlation editing, which involves checking all citations in the text with those in the references, as well as checking cross-references, tables, charts, maps, captions, endnotes, subheads, etc.

I support all editorial styles, including The Chicago Manual of Style, the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, the Modern Language Association Style Manual, and the Associated Press Stylebook. Style editing includes standardizing headings, bibliographies and references, notes, illustrations, etc., so that your journal remains consistent from manuscript to manuscript and from issue to issue.

I can perform layout preparation -- coding manuscripts and specifying the placement of tables and illustrations within the manuscript -- to prepare the articles for typesetting by your publisher's layout artists. However, I also provide full-service typesetting and composition services, including working with equations and graphic elements such as figures and charts, allowing me to manage the entire production process of your journal from copy editing through final page proofs. I serve as a liaison with your publisher, ensuring a smooth, timely, and problem-free publication process from start to finish.

I can help with all facets of editing, including mechanics, grammar, structure, layout, research citation, stylistics, and rhetoric. I have worked on academic and commercial journals, magazines, and books. I have published academic and newspaper articles as well as columns and features for newspapers, in addition to the fiction listed on the Writing page of this website.

Prices are generally determined on a per-page basis, but I will negotiate a fixed quote for large jobs. Please contact me for a price schedule.

Representative Freelance Projects

Technical Editing:

AccuSentry, Inc. Software Reference Manual and Online Help files. 2012-2013.

Journal of Food Distribution Research. 2002-2011.

Historicizing the Undisclosed (by Lynn Schler). Forthcoming.

Single Variable Calculus. CK-12 Foundation. 2009.

From Poetry to Painting and Back: Myths and Antiquity in the Renaissance (by Luba Freedman). Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies. 2007.

Skin Tight: Apartheid Literary Culture and Its Aftermath (by Louise Bethlehem). University of South Africa Press. 2006.

Inexpressible Privacy: The Interior Life of Antebellum American Literature (by Milette Shamir). University of Pennsylvania Press. 2005.

Unveiled (by Lauren Grimley). Malachite Quills Press. 2013.

Unforeseen (by Lauren Grimley). Malachite Quills Press. 2012.

Z-Files! An X-Files Parody (by Stephen Antczak). 2011.

God Drug (by Stephen Antczak). Marietta Publishing. 2004.

Daydreams Undertaken (by Stephen Antczak). Marietta Publishing. 2004.

Copy Editing:

Dynamic Relationships Management Journal. 2017-Present.

Lumina Datamatics: articles for various peer-reviewed journals published by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). 2016-Present.

Journal of Food Distribution Research. 2002-2011.

Anthology Editing:

Clockwork Fairy Tales. Roc Books. June 2013.

Zombiesque, DAW Books. 2011.

Writing:

AccuSentry, Inc. Software Reference Manual and Online Help files. 2012-2013.

ClinicalGuard.com. Online catalog SEO product descriptions. 2010-2011.

A Guide Book of Minerals, Rocks, and Gemstones (The Official Red Book). Whitman Publishing. 2008.

WACLighting.com. Online catalog SEO product descriptions. 2006.

Book Indexing:

Inexpressible Privacy: The Interior Life of Antebellum American Literature (by Milette Shamir). University of Pennsylvania Press. 2005.

Typesetting:

Journal of Food Distribution Research. 2002-2011.

Pro Bono:

Programs Intern, Artist Trust. January-May 2010.

Editor, The Forum, Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America. February 1998-2010.

Jury Member, Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy. 2009-2010.

View my freelance writing portfolio.