What can Emerson Write do for you?

Do you need sharper website text? A great article for your magazine? A history of your organisation people might actually want to read?

Whatever your project, Emerson Write can help. Fresh writing, sharp editing and quick, clear proofreading will make your work work.

Tile of images from book cover, including a black-and-white sketch of a woman's face, a photograph of a jewelled necklace and a black-and-white print of two women embracing.

Writing

I write about places, people and objects for books, magazines and websites. Major projects include a history of Somerville College, Oxford. I also have a blog.

Editing

Much of the editing I do is for academics and academic institutions. This usually involves working sentence-by-sentence through a draft book or article and offering detailed suggestions to improve clarity and concision. I can also tailor manuscripts to a specific publisher’s ‘house style’. I have particular expertise when it comes to editing the work of authors writing in English but whose first language is not English. Recently, I have worked on the manuscript of a book about the materiality, politics and sensory experience of colour.

Part of the cover of a book called 'Colour Matters: Exploring Chromatic Materialities in the Long Nineteenth Century (1798-1914)', showing blocks of colours and patterns in yellow, pink, purple and blue.

Part of the cover of the Rhodes Trust's 'Second Century Annual Report 2023/24', showing a pale blue design of the chapungu or Zimbabwe Bird laid over a photograph of the interior of Rhodes House in Oxford.

Proofreading

I proofread everything from single sentences to full book manuscripts. This means checking the text for errors in spelling and grammar and (usually) tracking changes so that an author can then go through and accept the changes they want to keep. Recent work includes proofreading of publications for the Rhodes Trust.

Editing…. Proofreading…. What’s the difference?

The short answer is that proofreading is about checking for errors in spelling and grammar, while editing includes proofreading but also goes beyond it, and is about making language flow more smoothly. Editing also includes checking for accuracy when it comes to, say, dates or the titles of works cited in footnotes. In a lot of cases, the line between editing and proofreading isn’t that clear. Over the years, I’ve come to think that a good editor is a sort of verbal housekeeper, doing a bit of everything. So, please don’t feel you have to know in advance exactly what you need. I am always happy to look at a sample of text and discuss what kind of help would work best for you.