Welcome.
I help creatives find and refine their voices.
My goal is to help writers like you take projects from manuscript to published book. How can I support you today?
Janice Whiteaker
As an author there are few things more important than finding a quality editor you can trust to be quick, reliable, and accurate. April is all of those things and more.
Jeanne Oates Estridge
I don’t know how in the world you see those tiny, tiny missing spaces and those commas that are supposed to be periods, but thank goodness you do!
Danielle M. Haas
I highly recommend The Editing Soprano! April is professional and friendly and an amazing communicator. She’s honest in her edits and feedback and always looks out for the good of her clients.
Editing Options
I offer three types of editing: Line Edit, Copyedit, Proofread.
Forest and trees
A line edit takes in the whole picture. You want the reader to follow the story without having to work at it. The broad focus is the story as told through the scenes and paragraphs. Suggested changes can be anything from removing or adding whole scenes to rearranging paragraphs to revising sentences.
Branches
A copyedit focuses on the sentences and words. I might still suggest paragraph changes, but generally we’ll streamline the text, making sure the sentences flow one into the next in an effortless and beautiful way. This is where the novel fully comes into its own—and the goal is that the story will seem to tell itself.
Leaves
Finally there’s proofreading. Inevitably, we’ll miss a dratted misspelled word. An extra space appears between punctuation marks where we removed a sentence; a sentence begins with a lower case letter. I aim to catch all of it, and leave you with the most excellent manuscript that ever was published.
April’s kindness and professionalism make her stand out.
– Michelle McCraw
The Editing Soprano
April Bennett
I specialize in editing cozy mystery and romance, with a particular affinity for sweet romance, romantic comedy and romantic suspense. I work primarily with indie authors but am always open to collaboration with others in the ever-changing publishing industry.
As a freelance editor, the skills I learned teaching voice lessons transfer seamlessly into encouraging writers to cultivate and employ their unique author voices. If you’re looking for an editor who will be honest yet kind, who loves the music of words on a page, and who knows the rules of language and how to break them, schedule a sample edit with me today.
In my spare time I read, binge on BBC crime dramas, take walkabouts, and am ever in search of the perfect handbag. I live with my husband near Yellow Springs, Ohio.
…she is intelligent, compassionate AND not afraid to practice tough love…which is crucial for authors…her critical thinking and professionalism have had an enormous impact on my books.
– Jill Downey
My Blog
Follow Along
On Better Punctuation, Part Two
If you grew up writing, whether you were forced to by teachers or wanted to as a creative outlet, you probably have at least a basic understanding of how to punctuate any written communication. But then, maybe you’ve forgotten. Or you read something that makes you...
On Better Punctuation, Part One
If you grew up writing, whether you were forced to by teachers or wanted to as a creative outlet, you probably have at least a basic understanding of how to punctuate any written communication. But then, maybe you've forgotten. Or you read something that makes you...
How to Decide When You’re Ready for an Editor
I will hazard a guess that since you're here, you might be looking for an editor. Or maybe you know you'll be looking for one sometime, and you're doing your research. Welcome! And good on ya, thinking ahead like you are! Here are four somewhat-rhetorical questions to...