“So you’re a midwife?”
It’s a kind of midwifery to bring a book, or any piece of writing, into the world. My approach to editing looks similar to the doula model of care—I serve as an advocate, collaborator, and witness. With a process-oriented and relational perspective, I support you in transmuting your projects toward their truest forms. I’m here to help what’s already there come through, through you.
For works from poetry collections to creative nonfiction, from multidisciplinary pieces to statements of purpose, from research to curriculum to full-length novels, I offer clear, coherent, consistent, and compliant copy while encouraging space for play, rule breaking, and multiplicity.
I love language, its conventions, its storytelling, its sound. From that heart, I approach you and your work with the utmost care and intention.
Offerings
Developmental Editing
Developmental editing describes the conceptual assessment of a piece of writing and the process of shaping it into a final product that captures the author’s intent. Who is your reader, and what do you need them to understand? This stage focuses on narrative, themes, and overall structure, and attends to tone, form, and arrangement. With developmental editing, you might receive an editorial letter, written comments on your manuscript or document, or a phone or video call for feedback.
Line Editing
Line editing looks more closely at a piece of writing at the level of, well, the line. Here, the focus is on crafting effective sentences: balancing clarity and detail with style and voice. We might examine a text’s general pacing and flow, look at the adherence of a poem to its form, or clarify the movements and speech of characters through time and space. Suggestions are made to hone syntax and word choice and to trim extraneous content and out-of-place language, leaving a more refined and discerning draft for copy editing.
Copy Editing
Copy editing engages with the mechanics of a piece of writing, attending to grammar, spelling, punctuation, and capitalization. It is concerned with consistency, coherence, and compliance with the conventions of written language, often referencing a style guide. Copy editing standardizes formatting and corrects word usage and sentence structure. It reviews citations and may involve light fact-checking. A more thorough copy edit can address some issues of tone and flow, which is usually the concern of line and developmental editing. A style sheet is often generated to track changes and aid later stages of the process, like typesetting and proofreading.
Proofreading
Proofreading is a comprehensive review of copy that has been typeset for publication—a PDF of a spread for a book or magazine, an unpublished blog post or article, or an e-blast or newsletter. Reading closely, a proofreader marks small errors in spelling and capitalization, hyphenation, pagination, and formatting, often while referring to a style sheet. This markup is then shared with the typesetter so that final changes can be made before publication.
Sensitivity Reading
Sensitivity reading, or conscious language reviewing, is the practice of screening a piece of writing for inappropriate, insensitive, or inaccurate storytelling. Sensitivity reading centers marginalized populations and flags offensive and outdated language, bias and misrepresentation, and exclusion and omission. This can occur at the level of the sentence and in framing the ideas carried throughout a manuscript. A sensitivity reading notes such instances and offers potential remediation for the author. While an author or publisher can request only this offering, this lens informs all of my editorial work.
Writing
I am available for commissioned writing for publication, including poetry, essays, and book reviews.
“My debut novel, The Fifth Wound, would never have been published without Jaye Elizabeth Elijah. I had been rejected by hundreds of agents and publishers. Jaye Elizabeth knew this, and refused to let another trans woman be dismissed as too complicated, or not confessional enough. When they were still a fellow at Nightboat Books, they brought my unfinished manuscript to the publisher and convinced him to take on the project, then advocated for me at every turn—making sure that even though my approach to publication was untraditional, my book would be prioritized, as if it were the latest and greatest from some big-name author.
Then they became, thank god, my editor. Without their generosity and intricacy of vision, The Fifth Wound, line by line, dream by dream, would still be a half-formed draft in a folder on my computer. They are the best editor I’ve ever had. It’s that simple. Without them, I would never have found a language. I owe so much of its beauty to them, so much of its force. I was lost in my own whirlwind, and they showed me the way to the eye of the storm. My underworld guide. As if ‘editor’ were a synonym for seer.”
Aurora Mattia
author of The Fifth Wound and Unsex Me Here
“Jaye Elizabeth Elijah is truly a dream editor. As a colleague and collaborator, I am continuously struck by their ability to balance both rigorous precision and capacious care for authors and collaborators. They bring a rare clarity of thought and a rich nuanced perspective to each project, be it a collection of lyric poetry, an experimental prose text, or collection of essays. Jaye has a talent for conceptual editing, particularly for world-building, narrative cohesion, and tracking the often complicated emotional valences of an author’s intentions. Jaye’s ear is also finely attuned to syntax and diction with a real skill for refining language at the level of the line. Their attentiveness to the complexities of race, gender, sexuality, disability, class, and their intersections, deepens their readings and brings each project they touch to a higher standard. In all things, Jaye brings joy, humor, and beauty to their work as an editor, imbuing each project with nothing short of magic.”
Lindsey Boldt
Editorial Director, Nightboat Books