Book Doctor ~ Editor
Anita D. McClellan
From concept into print since 1988

Quick Links

Queen Victoria's journals & drawings from age 13 to marriage 1840 available outside UK thru June 30, 2012
Ruler (1837-1901) of a quarter of the world's land mass, one fifth of then-world's population, mother of 9
tips on writing a book while in prison
hey, Cervantes and Mandela did this
25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing
On "old-fashioned" editing
A Newbie's Guide to Publishing by author J. A. Konrath
More info on writer go to http://jakonrath.com/
Print on Demand and Electronic Self-Publishing information from Writer Beware®
"Warnings About the Schemes, Scams, and Pitfalls That Threaten Writers"
Writer Beware® website
Chuck Palahniuk's The Cult website: Writers Resources
Click here for 7 ways to boost creativity
ringShout: place for black writers of fiction, nonfiction, poetry- discussions, opportunities, youth outreach
Dos & Don'ts for writing fiction from Margaret Atwood, Roddy Doyle, Anne Enright, Diana Athill, Richard Ford, PD James...
British Library's recordings of music, spoken word, and human and natural environments
a researcher's dream, a writer's heaven--hear what you are writing about
Marketing your book now? View this book trailer.
British 19th-century newspapers online
What Does a Book Doctor Do?
Sign up here for our periodic newsletter for writers.
Go to the Ozarks for good reading.
Visit the Boston Public Library
a.k.a the "BPL," founded in 1848 as the nation's first municipal free-to-all library
High Concept--explained at last
Hooking readers on your work: by the Publishing Contrarian
The skinny on self-publishing v. commercial publishing: which gets your book into the most stores? Is self-publishing key to landing a commercial book contract?
Find Authors
Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators
Authors Guild
Publishers Weekly

Services

"You generally start out with some overall idea that you can see fairly clearly, as if you were standing on a dock and looking at a ship in the ocean. At first you see the entire ship, but then as you begin work you're in the boiler room and you can't see the ship anymore.... What you really want in an editor is someone who's still on the dock, who can say, 'Hi, I'm looking at your ship and it's missing a bow, the front mast is crooked, and it looks to me as if your propellers are going to have to be fixed.'" -- Michael Crichton


Quick Turn-around Projects @​ USD$197.00 flat fee prepaid; first in, first out:
• Query letter and nonfiction proposal or synopsis (up to 4000 words max) for overview of concept, presentation, marketability






Sometimes a writer needs an editor. Sometimes a writer needs a writing coach.


A writing coach is
• present for the long haul to help you work smart and meet achievable goals within a deadline.
• encourages, supports, guides, and uncovers the inner story that gives outer story meaning. 
• focuses on development and implementation of strategies to reach client-identified professional goals using motivational tools, strategic planning, values clarification, brainstorming--all centered on the work-in-progress.

As a coach, I am on your writer's journey for as long as you wish, from brainstorming to proposal/​query/​synopsis writing, submission, deconstructing agent/​publisher responses and through completed, final manuscript according to contractual editorial guidelines. Call on me at any point along the way.

I offer an industry-insider's take on your work, guidance on finding your voice on the page, assistance for author's platform, positioning the work in the market, and for engaging your target audience of consumers (readers who buy books). I can help you clear and defuse blocks, pilot you past cul-de-sacs & sidetracks, chart the way forward for your manuscript.

I coach by telephone or http:/​/​www.Skype.com in 20-, 30-, 45-, 60-minute prepaid packages over 30-day periods. Rate is USD$500 for 240 minutes over any consecutive 30 calendar days. Discount available for coaching blocks of 60, 90 days or more. If you cancel before using all the prepaid hours, I will charge you for time used and refund the balance.   

To set up a coaching program: Email (subject line "Coaching") specifics on your work-in-progress, goals, timeline. We'll go from there to fashion a program custom designed for you and your budget.

"Anita's comments and edits were enormously helpful as I worked to turn my manuscript into a beach read that was ready for submission. She stimulated and challenged me to become a better novelist." --Jane Elizabeth Hughes


click here to email me. insert "Quick Turn-around," "Coaching," or "Read and Evaluate" in your subject line.

"very helpful" • "laser-like insight"


• In mid-revision and spinning your wheels on honing the current draft?
• Is your submission package or sample chapter(s) getting bites but not landing an offer?
• Exhausted all usable feedback from your writing group and trusted readers?

Get this publishing insider to analyze your current draft. (Third draft or later gets you the biggest bang for your buck.) Find out the big-picture issues so your revisions can build on strengths as well as shore up weaknesses. Only then will your manuscript be ready for a line edit!

READ AND EVALUATE: FLAT FEE USD$577.00 UP TO 10,000 OPENING WORDS. This is a prepaid editorial service. First come, first served.






What you get from my Read and Evaluate:
A report in writing/​phone/​person on
• what works, what doesn't work and why (fiction: action scenes, pacing, point of view, character development & arc, motivation, time and place; nonfiction: organization, scholarship, competition)
• writing mechanics (syntax, language, rhythm, story continuity)
• submission and marketing strategies

"Break up the larger story into its components, make sure you understand the exact function of each component (a story [nonfiction or fiction] is like a machine with numerous gears: it should contain no gear that doesn't turn something), and after each component has been carefully set in place, step back and have a look at the whole. Then rewrite until the story flows as naturally as a river, each element so blending with the rest that no one, not even yourself two years from now, can locate the separate parts." -- John Gardner


Copyright © 2005-2013 Anita D. McClellan Associates, 464 Common St., Suite 142, Belmont, MA 02478 USA; (617) 575-9203--email gives me time to think before I speak. All rights reserved. Literary consultancy only.

BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU ACCREDITED

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Nothing will improve dialogue writing more than listening to people and reading your dialogues outloud. Record the text yourself or go here to get a professional audio of it.
Virginia Woolf on how words are not useful
10 tips for writing a book proposal that lands a contract
"Thanks for your effective editing. I am excited about learning and making improvements, and I had gone as far as I could on my own." -- Michele Deppe, author of forthcoming MINDING JACKSON

"On one trip to Rwanda to film Dr. Dian Fossey and gorillas, I met Anita McClellan, who had edited Dian's book, GORILLAS IN THE MIST. It was Anita who convinced me that other people share my interest in animal words. That's when the concept of ZOOLEXICON took form.... My gratitude to Anita McClellan for her great help in getting ZOOLEXICON published." -- Warren Garst, Chief Wildlife Photographer for the TV series "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom": http:/​/​lib.colostate.edu/​wildlife/​

Writers who know my work include


Warren Garst, Mary Lee Settle, Pat Conroy, Pierre Delattre, Dr. Dian Fossey, Dr. Jane Goodall, Andrew Weil, M.D., Martha Kingsbury, Steve Whan, Dr. Mark Ya. Azbel, Winifred Rosen, Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, Malcolm Margolin, Anne Sexton, Mara Cary, Sharon Cadwallader, Jane Holtz Kay, Nancy Bruning, Suzanne Arms, Robin Paige, Dr. Thomas Goldstein, Cynthia Pearson, Margaret Stubbs, Michelle Seligson, The Honorable Frank M. Coffiin, Gay Courter, Susan Wittig Albert, Elizabeth Noble, Barbara Stecher, John Hillaby, Sherna Berger Gluck, Sally Swenson, Richard Frede, Laura Shapiro, Tom Cullen, Lauren Brown, Fred McTaggart, Sandy Jones, Sam Clark, Dr. Geneva Smitherman, Meg (Magda) Bogin, Oliver Cope, M.D., Oriana Fallaci, Sydney Walker III, M.D., John B. Simon, Marcy Heidish, Ellen Galinsky, William Luce, Harlow Robinson, Elzbieta Ettinger, Alan McGlashan, Ina R. Friedman, David G. Javitch, Ph.D., Jane Elizabeth Hughes