The Publishing Performance Show Louise Harris – The Four Types of Editing Every Author Needs
Louise Harris is the founder and president of Last Research and Editing, a comprehensive editing service specializing in both fiction and nonfiction books. With a journalism degree from the University of Maryland, Louise discovered early in her career that she's better at editing others' work than writing her own—a realization that shaped her 20+ year editing career. Known for her old-school approach of printing manuscripts and using colored pens (green at Christmas, pink at Easter), Louise provides everything from developmental editing and book coaching to copy editing, line editing, proofreading, and her unique book compilation service that transforms blog posts into published books.
In this episode:
- Types of editing: developmental, copy, line, proofreading
- Developmental editors as writing coaches
- When to hire editors at each stage
- Plot holes: the invisible man's clothes problem
- Why printing manuscripts catches more errors
- Flow from sentence to chapter to book
- The fluff problem: cutting unnecessary content
- Nonfiction editing for business and political books
- American English style guides (AP vs. Chicago)
- Customized packages for different author needs
- Free first chapter editing to test compatibility
- Self-editing tips: print and read aloud
- Grammarly limitations and computer errors
- Why AI writing sounds corporate
- Blog compilation service explained
- Anthology compilation for associations
- Upwork and Fiverr budget options
- Why you shouldn't give editors first drafts
Resources mentioned:
- LAST Research and Editing: https://lastresearchandediting.com/
- Grammarly: https://www.grammarly.com/
- Chicago Manual of Style: https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/
- Associated Press Style Guide: https://www.apstylebook.com/
- Print editing techniques
Book recommendations:
- Oh, The Places You'll Go! by Dr. Seuss: https://denuccio.net/ohplaces.html
Connect with Louise:
- Website: https://lastresearchandediting.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louise-harris-2b04bb13/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/louise.harris.7315/
- LAST Research FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/lastresearch/
- YouTube: @LouiseHarrisTheLASTWord
- Twitter: @lastredit
- Phone: 480-370-3945
- Alignable: https://www.alignable.com/hanover-md/last-research-and-editing-2
Connect with Teddy Smith:
- @teddyagsmith
- Website: https://publishingperformance.com/?ref=ywm3mtc
- Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/publishingperformance/
- Pinterest - https://nz.pinterest.com/publishingperformance/
- Instagram - https://instagram.com/publishingperformanceinsta
- Youtube -https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHV6ltaUB4SULkU6JEMhFSw
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