Chapter 3: Part 2
About Cameron
Impossible Standards…
Throughout my time in this business, I’ve had over eighty people ask to work for me; I realized early on that I should come up with an evaluation to test all of the specific skills an editor might need to be able to do what I do. Of the people who took the evaluation, only one has passed it to my standards. Because of that, despite the number of people I have had ask to work for me I have only taken on one full time editor. Cameron has been working with me for the last four and a half years now. He started as a part-time proofreader/line editor and moved into working full-time with me five years ago.
Make it shine
Similar to my editing approach, he focuses his effort on not just making a manuscript ‘correct,’ but showing and teaching an author what they can do to really make the book shine. Just like with my own approach, if you’re looking for an editor who just wants to correct a book and move on, Cameron is not for you. However, if you’re looking for someone to help guide you on what you can do to grow as an author, let him do a sample for you and see if the two of you are a match.
In HIs own words…
When I was growing up, devouring Tolkien and Brian Jacques and every historical fiction novel I could find, I never imagined that I could actually pursue a career in the realm of the written word, so I consider it a great privilege to be an associate editor at JDBS. Though my love of the English language is rooted in extensive reading, my skill in grammar and syntax has come from years of study of foreign languages. My goal with editing is not just to make your work correct; I want to share my knowledge and experience of language with you so you can understand what makes good writing good: word choice, flow, sentence structure, rhythm, pacing. I hope to not just give you examples of how to make the current project better but to help you learn the skills that will make each book you write better than the last. If you’re looking for an editor to help your story flow off the page, then send me a sample and see if we might be a good fit!