Chris Nicholson

Writer & Editor

Editor and Proofreader

Halfway through college, I knew I wanted to be a writer. I can remember the night I decided as much. But I served most of the first decade of my career as primarily an editor, primarily at Tennis magazine.

Since leaving the W2 world in 2004, I have worked as a freelance editor in various capacities and in various fields and genres. My roles on projects have ranged from copyediting and proofreading to top editing and project managing.

My approach to editing is that my job is not to take over the project, but to help the writer do what he or she was trying to do.

The process of writing is two-fold, and involves using different parts of the brain: Creating the original words — i.e., forming the seminal ideas and finding a way to seamlessly relate them to the reader — is a creative, right-brain process. Fixing and optimizing those words and phrases is a logical, analytical, left-brain process. Accomplishing those tasks successively is nearly impossible. That’s why many authors put a newly written work in a drawer for several months before they can re-read it with a relatively unbiased eye.

However, most writers of most things do not have the luxury of waiting half a year to complete the second part of the process. That’s when an editor becomes important. An editor does the left-brain part of the job, helping the writer complete the wordsmithing better and faster.

Even great writers need editors. A friend of mine kept one of those toy trolls on his desk that was holding a sign reading "Nobody's perfect" — specifically to remind him that he, too, needed a second eye on his text.

One of the best writers I've ever worked with was also one of the most open to being edited. Those traits are not unrelated.

Professional proofreading and copyediting involves more than ensuring that T’s are crossed and that I’s are dotted and usually coming before E’s. When I edit your work, I will of course be looking for spelling and grammar errors, but I’ll also be ready to spot noun/verb disagreements, word choice, word echoes, style consistency, clarity, sentence and paragraph structure, continuity, and more.

Proofreading and editing rates vary with the scope of the work. For particularly long projects, I may ask to sample-edit a few pages so that I may more accurately gauge the level of editing and time required. Please contact me for more information.


Sample Projects

USOpen.org, editor

Worked as night editor for the US Open website, usopen.org. Edited articles as submissions came in from the writing team, chose lead stories and selected accompanying photography, and kept website content current in real time. Used proprietary content management system designed by IBM.

Front Desk New York, freelance editor

Provided editing and proofreading for this luxury in-hotel magazine. Edited articles along with listings for restaurants, theaters, clubs, etc. Provided editorial feedback and story ideas, along with occasional writing.

Villanova Business Magazine, freelance editor

Along with writing articles, also served as an editor and proofreader for Villanova Business magazine.

Brooks International, technical editor

In addition to other tasks for this regular client, I edited and published a set of educational materials for new Brooks employees: a 300-page training manual written by the executive director, a 200-page workbook and 30 standard operating procedures published in SharePoint.

American Pet Products Association, copyeditor

I worked with the APPA on proofreading and copyediting their biannual, 600-page industry-survey report, and helping to turn statistical analysis into accessible reading material. It was an intense, week-long project to meet the tight deadlines between culmination and publication.

 

  • Proofreading
  • Editing
  • Copyediting
  • Editorial consulting
  • Editorial project managing (books, manuals, newsletters, etc.)