a short company history

Freelance Library Services is the predecessor and parent of the-freelance-editor. I started FLS in 1987 by building resource centers and researching topics for nonprofit organizations in Dayton, Ohio.

In a short time, FLS had grown to assist individuals (with compiling up-to-date bibliographies and locating current research), government agencies (in managing libraries and archives and organizing file rooms), and businesses (by indexing publications and clipping articles for future reference) in a one-hundred-mile radius—which included Cincinnati and Columbus, as well as Springfield and Oxford, and occasionally a jaunt to Indianapolis.

Growth and relocation lead to change and expansion

After moving to the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill-Triangle region of North Carolina (with the intention of earning a masters in library science), I shifted my attentions to providing research assistance to graduate students, writers and authors, and local organizations. But I quickly recognized a trend I had noticed but never dealt with in Dayton: many of my clients had little time to follow through with the bibliographies, readings, and other research I compiled for them. I decided to use my experiences as a project editor to help guide them.

That’s when I began working as the-freelance-editor, striving to help my FLS clients to put together their research and develop their writing projects. That change in direction led not only to a surprising expansion but also to a new client base and what I found to be a more fulfilling role—helping writers to wordsmith their projects.

Adapting and growing more

During a surprise move to Orlando, I continued adapting this freelance editing, researching/fact-checking, ghostwriting business, doing my best to help researchers and technical experts, professors and teachers, professional authors, and aspiring writers to transform their research and ideas into understandable, readable projects: books, articles, activities, grants, guides, manuals, and other materials for general audiences, children, and young adults. I also garnered clients from around the world, in such locations as New Zealand and Australia—clients who helped keep me afloat after the so-called Great Recession of 2007–2008 ended most relationships in the US, then Europe.

Redirecting, then diving back in head-first!

After the recession led me in another surprise move—back to Raleigh—late in 2011, to resume full-time employment with the state history museum, I was so focused on my work there that my freelance business fell to practically naught . . . until the recent COVID-19 pandemic, that is. Now, I’m trying to re-establish the-freelance-editor business with a running jump!

Over the years, while continuing to offer the original information management services of FLS and the writing assistance that became my passion, the-freelance-editor is evolving to provide many other services that writers sometimes need: outlining, indexing, and publishing assistance to name a few.

Now, with a team of hand-picked cohorts, we can also offer assistance with instructional design and discuss promoting your efforts through an online/web presence and through social media. As always, though, our clients are boss, and they maintain veto power. Why? Because the ultimate product, the deliverable, needs to be their creation—or we’ve overstretched our purpose.

The journey continues

Now that you know our roots and the winding path that led to who we are, please take a few moments to explore short discussions on my philosophy and my techniques and to learn more about me, the-freelance-editor, and my qualifications: you can follow links from the drop-down menus to review “Why use a freelance editor (at all)?” and “our specialties,” or you can continue with our “About the-freelance-editor” page, as well. If nothing else, I’ve posted a current resume and some samples of my work—review them as you can.

Then, if you want to know still more, get in touch! I look forward to meeting you and to hearing about your project.

At the-freelance-editor, we work  with you—the author, the originator,
the content writer—and your team, to help you say what you want to say to the audience you want to reach.

So, get in touch—you won’t know how we can help you and your team until you do!

If you still have questions or concerns after exploring our site  or  if you’re ready to see how we can work together to reach your goals, contact us—whenever you’re ready.

Welcome!
You’ve found
the online home of
the-freelance-editor. 
As a professional freelance
editor (which means my services
are for hire by any person or
organization that needs them),
my goal, and the goal of my team,
is to collaborate with 
you—the author, the originator,
the content writer—to reach your
ultimate goals: 

(1) to say what you want to say
to the audience you want to reach
and 

(2) to have your readers
concentrate on your message,
not your mistakes. 

So, get in touch—you won’t
know how we can help you and
your team until you do!

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