Carole Pearce

Summary

I am an onscreen, non-fiction editor. I work with publishers and native and non-native English-speaking authors worldwide. I specialise in rewriting, copy-editing and language and structural editing. I edit short documents, such as proposals for books and research and job applications. I also edit articles, books and other material. My special competences are

• editing non-native English writing and work written by authors with dyslexia
• editing technical academic language to make it more accessible
• shortening word length as required
• checking and fixing academic references and citations
• styling work to meet publisher's style guide
• meeting tight deadlines when needed.

Subject areas of interest (listed alphabetically)

Geographical areas: Anything on contemporary China. Anything on Africa. Anything on contemporary Turkey.

Topics: African studies/postcolonial studies; architecture/building and construction/housing planning/surveying/urban studies; business studies; current affairs, contemporary history, 19th and 20th century British imperial history; cultural/gender studies/ethnicity and race; development studies/developing countries; education, primary and secondary; environment/energy/sustainability/climate change/conservation/green issues; ethics; medical science (language editing only); politics, political science, political philosophy, political theory; sociology/social research and theory, social/cultural anthropology, social development

Resources

Among the resources I offer clients are:

Quality service

• a commitment to clients' needs to achieve optimal results
•  meeting your deadlines
• dedicated personal attention
• giving friendly advice where useful
• rigorous editing and strong communication skills

Language and thinking skills

• a grounding in philosophy that assists in clear and logical thinking
• an extensive knowledge of the English language, its forms, registers and history
• a passion for using clear English, even for expressing complex ideas
• a deep familiarity with the complexities faced by non-native writers in using the English language

Technical

• a long experience in applying a variety of publishers' house styles and the major style manuals
• a library with well-studied works on scientific editing, design and marking-up graphic material
• a sound knowledge of layout design and typesetting as well as of the printing and production process

Administrative

• practical competence in using relevant computer tools and programs, references and specialist editing software
• well-developed methods of communication, including e-mail, ftp sites and related tools.

Testimonials

Some of the unsolicited compliments recently received from clients:
Book on operations management 

• Your comments look as if you have spent years in operations management! Really, really amazing.

Book on class and housing policy

• I have gone through all your corrections – fantastic, clear and sharp work, as always. Really appreciate this – and your comments are very helpful, too! Thanks so much for this!

Pitch to publisher –  book proposals

• Thank you! I’ve gone through the cover letter and book proposal thus far and your comments are really helpful as I strive to clarify and better present the book.
• Many thanks for your valuable comment, suggestions and corrections. I will read your comments carefully and consider reworking and reorganizing.

Research application

• Thanks a lot for your work. We all very much appreciated it. We took your suggestions about the content of the project proposal into account and tried our best to address them. Needless to say, the text has improved significantly after you edited it. 

• Happy Chinese Lunar New Year. I just heard from the University of Chicago that I was admitted as a new PhD student, and I was extremely excited. … I would like to thank you for all the help you have lent to me during the application process, and I am sure that we will have lots of opportunities to work together in the future.

Article on Turkey

• I will recommend you to my colleagues, and want to work with you again as soon as I have the chance to write down something else. 

​Article on China

• I cannot believe how much work you did on my article. Thank you so much! I am so impressed with all the changes you made and all the suggestions you gave. I incorporated absolutely everything, and I spent all day going through your changes one by one to learn as much as possible from your work. Your suggestions for which passages to delete were also great and I followed all of them. ... The journal also reacted very positively to the changes. They have now unconditionally accepted it and are moving it into the production process.

Medical sociology journal

• 'Thank you for your thorough editing and fruitful comments. They have been very helpful when English is not our mother tongue.' August
• 'Thank you for your email and for all of your hard work polishing my manuscript.' March
• 'Our sincere thanks for your meticulous copy edits.' June
• 'Finally, can I thank you very much for your careful, considered and sharp-eyed copy editing. We would be happy to add a reference to that too in the acknowledgements.' February

Therapy journal

•  It is such a pleasure when copy editors care about the text and do the extra checking.' October

Political philosophy journal

• 'And thank you also for your careful and diligent work on this essay.' June
• 'Thank you for this rigorous and thoughtful edit. Please know how appreciative I am of the quality of your work on my manuscript.' March
• 'Many thanks for your diligent and sensitive finessing of my essay.' March
• 'Your remarks, comments and queries were very helpful. Thank you very much for it.' May
• 'Thank you for your work in copy editing my article – your changes definitely improved the draft.' July
• 'Many thanks for your scrupulous efforts with my work!' July
• 'Thanks very much for your very perceptive edits, we're really grateful for your help.' October

Thanks from publishers and production editors

• 'I think you do a wonderful job on ([this journal] … the editorial office … is not the easiest to deal with and I need you in my corner. [This journal] will be going through a typesetter transition in the near future, so we need you more now than ever. You have been such a great help and source of support to me while working on [this journal] and I really am very grateful for your help!' May
• 'Thank you for sending this through so swiftly. I'm going to take a good look at it today … Thanks also for your efficient responses to my various queries. [Working with you] has been a good experience from my point of view, and I'm glad that it felt like a smooth process for you as well.' June

Editorial competences

Academic journals, articles, non-fiction books (especially multi-authored and illustrated books), theses, book development, structural editing, rewriting and analysing the suitability of mss for publication. I am happy to work on proposals, submissions for grants, applications, submissions to publishers and documents with tight deadlines. I am specifically interested and experienced in working with non-native speakers worldwide

Freelancing positions held and clients

Editor-in-chief and academic editor, Journal of Social Development in Africa (1999–2004).
Main clients: Wiley-Blackwell, UK, Wiley-Blackwell Asia, United Nations, UNICEF/FAO, Cochrane Report, ICE Publications, Cambridge University Press, Schofield & Sims, Oxford Language Editing and numerous university and private academic clients

Recent and ongoing journals edited since 2000

Blackwell UK:
Children & Society; Constellations; Gender, Work & Organization; Global Policy; International Journal of Japanese Sociology;International Journal of Social Work; International Social Science Journal; Journal of Eighteenth Century Studies; Journal of Family Therapy; Renaissance Studies; Social & Political Administration; Social Development; Sociologia Ruralis; Sociology of Health & Illness
Blackwell Asia:
Animal Science Journal; Asian Social Work and Policy Review; Asia–Pacific Journal of Clinical Oncology; Australasian Journal of Dermatology; Diseases of the Esophagus; General Asian Journal of Andrology; Grasslands Research; International Journal of Urology;Japanese Urological Association; Journal of Digestive Diseases; Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology; Journal of Investigative and Clinical Dentistry; Neurology; Sleep and Biological Rhythms
ICE (Institute of Civil Engineers):
Engineering Sustainability; Forensic Engineering; Municipal Engineer
Cochrane Report:
Miscellaneous articles

Books and PhD theses produced and edited since 2005

Over 43 book-length works in architecture and related subjects; agriculture; anthropology; art; business studies; contemporary China; current affairs; education; the environment; history; legal education; medical education; social science; social problems; political theory; political science; civil society; autobiography

Recent articles and sections of books or theses (2011–2015)

Over 23 articles for various private clients on biofortification in Zimbabwe; business; business in Vietnam; contemporary Argentina; contemporary China anthropology, business, legal and economic; contemporary economics; contemporary epistemology; contemporary Turkish politics; criminal law; agricultural education in Zimbabwe; environmental issues; human rights in the African Union; labour in contemporary Egypt; modern Japanese history; planning; political theory