Dangling participles and misplaced modifiers, beware! Your days are limited with Joan Saunders on the case. I've worked with scores of proofreaders and copy editors over the years, and Joan is the crème de la crème. Throw anything her way and it will come back sparkling clean.
—Kimberly Olson, Writer
This is excerpted from an email that my managing editor sent to her staff upon my leave-taking. Krentzman is now the owner of Krentzman Communications and an instructor at the UC Berkeley School of Journalism.
"As everyone at Diablo Custom Publishing well knows, Joan has an eagle eye and has saved our butts time and time again. I dare anyone to find a better and more thorough copy editor than Joan anywhere."
—Jackie Krentzman
Out of the Mouths of SES Clients
SAUNDERS EDITORIAL SERVICES
In 2017, working directly with the author, I edited a book about preparing for retirement, and the author mentioned me in the book's acknowledgments.
A list of references is available upon request.
Copy Editing | Proofreading | Developmental Editing
After editing a 650-page book on hard copy,
I received a two-page letter from the author. Below are excerpts from that letter. And in August 2013, I finished editing another book, again on hard copy, for this author. —JDS
This unsolicited endorsement is the product of Joan's edit of my 652-page work of nonfiction, a book on investor psychology.
[Joan] laid out from the start the rough steps she would be taking and carried me right along, never leaving me at a loss as to what she was doing — and why. ... She frequently included explanations, both so as not to leave me wondering exactly what she meant and to provide me with the logic behind a given correction or suggested change.
It soon became apparent that she cared about the final outcome as much as I did, and I must admit, it surprised me that anyone could care so much about another's writing. Most appreciated was how she discerned the idiosyncrasies that I carried with me from the outset and that she strove to preserve them.
... Perhaps the best, and most objective, testament I could give involves the fact that I had hired two editors simultaneously to work through the same material, neither aware that another was working toward the same end. And the difference in the two editors' work was night and day. Where Joan let two small misspellings slip through in a 652-page work (remember, this is a hard copy, not an electronic document), the other party's work was later found to contain literally hundreds of mistakes. … Also, Joan 's contribution was roughly six to eight times as extensive as the other's — and … they each charged about the same amount.
Joan Saunders vastly exceeded every last expectation that I had prior to my search for one good editor. … No exaggeration — she literally took me, as the situation required, to the outer limits of what an ontological search can yield. This woman is as brilliant as she is caring. Do consider her a strong candidate with whom to entrust your project. Not only will she improve your text while maintaining your voice and intent, but she may also make you think you can change the world.