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Music Robeson
An Editor for Independent Authors
Your story holds power. Put your best book forward.
I have been in love with the power of storytelling since before I could hold a book. From the time I was weaned, I was surrounded by my parents' weekend Dungeons & Dragons games and tales of heroes overcoming trials both in the fantastical world around them and often within their own hearts. Later, as half of the only out LGBTQIA+ couple in a small Missouri town, books and stories on the early internet offered places for self-discovery, validation, and hope that the real world often lacked. The right words on the right page have—quite literally—saved my life on more than one occasion. From Sci-fi to Fantasy, novels to fanfiction, storytelling brings people together; that is a beautiful and uniquely human experience. As an editor, I have the joy of helping authors, writers, and storytellers of all stripes put their work in front of the audience who needs them.
I would love to help you put your best book forward.
So you've got a manuscript...now what?
You've poured your passion into getting the story out of your head and onto the page, but effective editing takes fresh eyes and mental distance. Writing a book is a major accomplishment—now let me use my passion for polishing the edges to bring the power of your words to their full potential.
Explore my Services
Beta Reading typically occurs either before or after developmental editing (to assess how well you’ve made corrections) and before any line or copy editing. While I may point out sentence-level trends in your writing that catch my attention, I will not actively be looking for them. If you are interested in consistent corrections in tone, pacing, grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc. - please look at our Line Editing or Copy Editing services.
Beta Readers are a critical part of the early draft stages of writing, giving you a reader’s view of your story as a whole and the emotions your writing invokes. As a beta reader, my job is to make sure the story flows well, pulls a reader in, and keeps them engaged. I help give a bird's-eye review of pacing, character development, emotional impact, plot holes, and awkward phrasing as they stand.
Line editing comes after Developmental Edits and Beta Reads, can come before or be combined with Copy Editing, and comes before Sensitivity/Authenticity Readers, Formatting and Proofreading.
Line editing is one of the most important parts of the editing journey. Often combined with copy editing in the self-publishing world (see our packages), line editing is a sentence-level edit that focuses on tightening your language use so that each word holds the impact you intended. Where copyediting focuses on the technical aspects of spelling, punctuation, and grammar (what I call “SPAGedits” or spaghetti), line edits go a step further to include stylistic edits like tone, consistency, and character voice. A line editor will also catch your repeated phrases and crutch words, as well as suggest stronger or more precise language while still honoring your voice as a writer.
Copyediting is one of the last stages of editing, coming after line editing and before formatting. Ideally, by the time a manuscript reaches a copyeditor, you have patched your plot holes, solidified your character arcs, and tightened up your prose. This is a technical, sentence-level edit focusing on polishing your manuscript before it gets formatted into its various distributions.
This is what you think of when you hear the word ‘editor’. More than just running spellcheck, a copyeditor provides sentence-level reviews of your spelling, grammar, and punctuation (what I call “SPAG edits” or spaghetti), as well as capitalization, usage, and understanding. I will mark up your Word Doc with track changes (or Suggestions in Google Docs) and leave margin comments where needed.
Additionally, I’ll develop a style sheet for myself or other professionals to use with future edits or marketing materials for your book or series, which will include things like:
Diversions from standard American English (Do you prefer the British ‘grey’ to the American ‘gray’?)
Punctuation preferences or guidelines, especially where they differ from the Chicago Manual of Style (e.g. use/avoidance of the Oxford/serial comma, or punctuation outside of quotation marks)
Spelling of all of your coined phrases and made-up words/names (for those Fantasy/Romantasy settings)
Common questions, crutches, or repeated words/phrases I notice in your writing. (Ideally, these are caught in Line Editing. I generally will not correct them on an individual basis, but if they become a distraction, I will note trends for your own revisions.)
Why work with an editor?
Sometimes, it's hard to see the trees for the forest. Little things, like a misspelled word or a repeated phrase, can start to fall through the cracks and your reader will fall out of your story right along with them. You've spent hours, weeks, maybe even years crafting this story and your words have the potential to stay with a reader for the rest of their life. You know the message you want to send forward and backward, inside and out. Let me help guide the right words to the right time.
My philosophy
When it comes to editing, it all comes down to building strong relationships and providing personalized solutions to every author. There’s a story inside of you, and I want to help you get it out into the world! My goal is to take the administrative tasks off your plate so you can spend your time doing what you do best: Writing! Whether it’s a first pass at line edits, fact-checking that obscure hobby, or something unique to you, I’m here to support you every step of the way and ensure that your journey is as smooth and successful as possible. You have the magic words that can change a life, bring people together, and make readers feel things they might never have experienced. Let me be the support Behind the Magic.
Schedule a consultation
Ready to take the next step in achieving your writing goals? Scheduling a consultation is as easy as a few clicks—let's start your journey to success today!