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ELIZABETH LYON AND ASSOCIATES

Backed by twenty years of experience in editing, teaching writing, leading critique groups, and coaching writers, Elizabeth has worked on most categories of writing: from business, psychology, self-help, health, memoirs, and how-to nonfiction to novels, chapter books, and novellas. She edits countless marketing works and short manuscripts: nonfiction book proposals, outlines, synopses, query letters, pitches, short stories, articles, technical papers, book jacket copy, and contest entries.

Click on Client Successes to read a full listing of client publishing successes or send an e-mail to info@4-edit.com with any questions.

Over the years, as the number of manuscripts exceeded Elizabeth's ability to return them in a timely manner, she began training talented writers (and editors) to become her associates. A process has evolved to best serve the needs of clients and is now reflected in an update of Services and Fees.

In a teamwork approach to manuscripts, an associate editor will often take the role as "primary editor" on a manuscript, completing a comprehensive developmental or substantive editing and composing a detailed evaluation. These evaluations, often 20-30 pages single-spaced, explain and demonstrate the elements of craft and style and include modeling of skills needing mastery by the author. After completion of the work, the associate returns the edited manuscript and evaluation to Elizabeth, who reads everything and may add her comments. This system provides a team of editors to help my clients and allows Elizabeth to work on far more manuscripts than she would be able to do working alone.

With the growth of the Web, the "international" in Editing International has been realized. Although a majority of our clients hail from North America, we have welcomed writers living in or having roots in countries throughout the world: Mexico, Costa Rica, Argentina, Caracas, United Kingdom, France, Germany, India, Serbia, Soviet Union, China, Iran, Korea, New Zealand, South Africa, and elsewhere.

photo: akarnophotography.com

Elizabeth Lyon crisscrosses the United States each year offering workshops and seminars on all aspects of writing, editing, and publishing. She is the author of five books published by Perigee (Penguin USA): Manuscript Makeover (on revision techniques for fiction writers), A Writer's Guide to Fiction and A Writer's Guide to Nonfiction, the first two books in the four-book Writer's Compass series. Lyon's first two books, Nonfiction Book Proposals Anybody Can Write and The Sell Your Novel Tool Kit are highly regarded and often referred to as the preferred texts on marketing writing. In 2005, M. Evans & Co., NY, published Lyon's National Directory of Editors & Writers featuring profiles of 530 freelancers living in 48 states. Lyon's articles have appeared in The Writer and Writer's Digest magazines. Two of her articles have been reprinted in such publications as The Writer's Handbook and A Complete Guide to Novel Writing. Her essay, "Honoring the Lost Writers of 9-11" was selected for publication in the 2004 edition of the St. Martins/Bedford Language Awareness for College Writers.

Elizabeth Lyon is the writer's midwife and the editor's editor. In this latter role, she trains professional writers who wish to develop professional editing businesses. She has a deep interest in transpersonal psychology, health, and medicine, and holds a master's degree in counseling. Her love of animals runs deep, and she lives with her furry family, border collie Riley and brat cat Hunter.