One of my most exciting projects of 2023 was the developmental edit of Joe Makston’s memoir Creosote Rain: A carnival kid’s quest for home, family, and belonging. The purpose of this developmental edit was to improve the book’s structure in such a way that it would be easier to read for his ideal audiences.

When Joe first found me, he wrote:

I’m finishing my memoir and need someone else’s help. I’ve been told I have a great story but structurally it needs some help. I feel like if reached the end of my skill set. The book is about 75000 words. You up for helping?

How could I resist?

 

Our work on Creosote Rain

I invited him to schedule a free Book Proposal Strategy Session, in which we went deep into his book’s purpose. Before I could restructure the book, I wanted to feel that I knew not only what the book was about, but also what Joe wanted his book to achieve. Only then could I make sure the structure of Creosote Rain would be most effective. Together, we got a lot clearer on what the purpose of the book was, which is arguably the most important step in developmental editing. In short: we had a lovely chat and decided we’d really like to work together on this project. So I talked him through the next steps and we logged off.

When Joe’s book came up in my queue of book editing projects (I only take on one a month), I send him an invoice for the first half and went to work.

First, I realized that his introduction was trying to achieve different purposes, so I divided it into a preface and an introduction. Then, I merged some chapters and changed his sections. I moved things around so that the start of his first chapter was more high-paced, and improved the flow of every chapter. By the end, I had shortened Creosote Rain by approximately 10%, but what it lost in word count it gained in clarity and efficacy.

 

Result

And Joe appears to agree! When I delivered the edited document to him through mail – accompanied by the second invoice and an editorial letter – he wrote back:

I wanted to thank you again for all your hard work on editing my book. It looks so much better and I agree with your editorial review. I’m right at the half way point of editing and plan to send it to copyediting and formatting on Sunday, fingers crossed. As I wrap up with this portion of edits, I want to acknowledge your contribution to Creosote Rain in the credits.

I can’t tell you how good it feels to see your work appreciated in this manner. (Though I probably should, I am an editor after all!)

You can now buy Creosote Rain on Amazon.

 

Embark on a similar journey!

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