Background
I am a Los Angeles native, granddaughter of Russian and Spanish immigrants and born in "The Valley" (San Fernando). After ten years of office work in Hollywood and Westwood, California during the 1970s, I began offering editing services under the dba The Objective Eye in the early '80s. I edited small business literature, newsletters, promotional copy, employee manuals, musicians' promotional biographies, proposals, audio instruction booklets, and film treatments.

Before too long I began securing nonfiction book assignments and have ever since concentrated on applying my editing skills in the field I enjoy the most—trade nonfiction. I enjoy the topics and categories of liberal arts instruction (especially music and vocal, arts, crafts, performance arts, sports), how-to, career and life motivation, unusual careers or memoirs, business and finance, alternative healthcare, paranormal, and celebrity biography. Many years of working experience and informal study in numerous industries and fields have equipped me to quickly understand what authors wish to say and help them express it in the best and most appropriate way possible. Most often I perform substantive or comprehensive and developmental editing, evaluating and improving the content, substance and organization of the material in addition to making grammatical corrections. I am able to make substantive revisions and write additional material if the author desires.

My Philosophy of Editing
Every manuscript requires different attention and no one editorial approach is suited to all. This is why I place emphasis on providing "tailored" editing services.

By this I mean that I work with authors not only to identify and help produce whatever their manuscripts need to achieve polished excellence and marketability, but I also work with them in the manner that suits them and their projects best.

On occasion I have had to rescue an author who has had a previous bad editing experience. An editor should attempt to determine what a client's actual needs are before jumping in and doing her normal "routine" with a manuscript. One editor gave a client of mine a critique and editorial directions that he could not begin to follow; he needed substantive editing but he was given a critique and a grammar tutorial. It is the editor's challenge to discover how to work effectively with each author and communicate what needs to be done with his or her book in a way that the client can understand and agree with.

Many solutions are possible in different situations. If, for example, if time is short and it is clear my jazz pianist author is not interested in becoming the next literary giant, I will do more revision and rewriting for him than I would for a professional writer. Or if I'm editing the manuscript of an anxious first-time author, I can e-mail her with regular updates so she is always aware of her book's progress. This keeps her confidence level high and avoids misunderstandings.

To take a third example, when I consulted with venerable Warner Brothers film director Vincent Sherman on a portion of his autobiography, Studio Affairs: My Life as a Film Director, and suggested a rewrite for a particular chapter, I was surprised when he phoned to set an appointment with me for the purpose of giving me his rewrite in response to my "notes." While this sort of meeting and terminology is business as usual in the film industry, I didn't expect a meeting, as it wasn't strictly necessary for our purposes. But that was the way Mr. Sherman expected to work, and I was happy to oblige, not to mention charmed at the alacrity with which he reversed his accustomed role to "taking," rather than "giving," the notes.

In short, I always try to perceive the actual book and author in front of me and evaluate and deal with each project newly, according to its own circumstances. I believe that within the bounds of the author's conception of the book, each book has its own ideal or best form, and I must do whatever it takes to help the author approach that form as closely as possible. Likewise, each author's writing skills, personality and preferences point toward at least slightly different styles of editorial assistance, one to the next. I try to discover and match these needs as closely as I can, with the aim of helping the author to produce the best, most compelling and saleable book possible.

From Out West to Back East
In January, 1999, I reversed a 200-year westward flow—"Go West, Young Man (or Woman)"—and relocated to Westchester County, New York. I continued offering editing services, selecting the name WordsArt Nonfiction Editing Services. Throughout 2000 and 2001 I had the opportunity to be content editor of online course curricula being developed for the learning websites of several corporate clients such as Barnes & Noble, Dell Computers, VISA and Bloomberg. I worked with experts and professional writers on interesting and challenging courses in a variety of subjects ranging from fine art appreciation to consumer investing and finance to online commerce. In 2002, I resumed book editing work and since then have completed assignments on a variety of fascinating book manuscripts (see web page Publications).

New Authors' Chances for Publication
By 2005, many industry watchers were saying that it had become increasingly difficult for a new author to attain publication. While the policies of large publishers have by and large increased attention to the bottom line in the last several decades, reducing the amount publishers are willing to risk on untested commodities (new authors), it is also true that the explosion of internet publications, as well as "print on demand" publishing, "e-publishing," and the popularity of huge internet booksellers like Amazon.com, not to mention personal publication and sales via an author's own website, have created new publication opportunities for all writers. This increased number of publishing outlets is having a positive effect on the industry overall, because conventional publishers understand that there will be talented new authors selecting these new outlets for publication rather than traditional publishing companies, and they are keeping their feelers out for excellent work appearing first in these venues that they can then bring under the traditional publishing umbrella. Hard work, persistence, a positive outlook, and excellent manuscripts will take a good author far.

I hope you will contact me for further information on the services I can provide, to both new and seasoned authors. Please feel free to phone (914-376-6892) or e-mail me to discuss your nonfiction book with me.