About Manuscript Medics
Manuscript Medics was founded on the philosophy that every writing project, insofar as it’s a heartfelt product of personal labor and creativity, has an inherent value, but that even the most professional writer needs some measure of editing. We see it as our task to act as editorial mediator between the author’s desk and final publication. To that end, we are anxious to identify and help showcase the strengths of a work in progress, and to suggest ways to avoid certain weaknesses. Whether developmental editing, copyediting, proofreading, or consulting, our job, in a nutshell, is to help make you the best writer you can possibly be.
Our owner and principal editor, Allen Morris Jones, brings more than fifteen years of editorial and writing experience to the table. He began his career as editor of the highly-regarded magazine Big Sky Journal, where he published such luminaries as Thomas McGuane, David James Duncan, Rick Bass, and James Crumley. As a freelance writer, he published a well-received novel with Houghton Mifflin, a nonfiction work on sporting and environmental ethics, and more than one hundred magazine articles and short stories. Most recently, he worked as an acquisitions editor for Globe Pequot / Lyons Press where he personally oversaw the publication of more than sixty titles. From cover letter to contracts, he is experienced in nearly every facet of the industry.
Through his familiarity with the current state of publishing, his extensive network of editorial contacts, and his own unique perspective as both a writer and an editor, he is the ideal guide to help a manuscript find its way into the world.
Each project is unique, and so calls for a unique combination of editorial skills and effort. We tailor our terms specifically to your project and your pocketbook. After you have submitted your manuscript for its free appraisal, we will offer you a sample page of our work as well as an estimate for the final job. Upon agreement of terms, we require that half-payment be made upon signing of contracts and half upon delivery of the finished manuscript.
Manuscript Medics could not take our role in manuscript preparation more seriously, and so we will occasionally decline to accept projects for review, either because we feel that we will not be able to offer a service in the best interests of the author or because the manuscript is not yet ready to be polished.
After you have submitted your manuscript for its free appraisal, if Allen Jones feels that its content lies outside his area of expertise, he will suggest that the project go to one of our other highly-qualified editors. If this is the case, be assured that the work done on your manuscript will always be extensively reviewed by Jones himself, verifying that it reaches the highest possible standard.