10   NON-FICTION BOOKS: PROJECTS & TESTIMONIALS
        - BOOK AND MANUSCRIPT EDITING, WRITING, AND PROOFREADING

"I was wowed by Ellen's editing! She took my manuscript and polished it to perfection. I look forward to working with her on my next book."

Ernest Quansah

"Ellen Beck is right in saying, "Behind every good book is a great editor!" Her determination to make the best out of my manuscript is reflected in this book. Ellen, I'm so lucky to have you as my editor. Thank you for agreeing to work on my book, for being so patient and methodical, and for pushing to get the best out of me."

Andy Storm

“Ellen is prompt and professional. Her repertoire of skills and services as an editor provides authors with many options as to what they may need to bring out the best in their work.”

Donna Devlin

"I suspect that one very real fear every writer has when passing their manuscript on to an editor is that it will return to them with words they no longer recognize as their own. I say “very real fear,”as I have in the past dealt with editors who have taken my work and made it something I wasn’t sure I could claim to have authored. Ellen is an editor that truly understands the importance of allowing an author’s real voice to come through the writing. She has a real gift of maintaining the intentions of the author and actually enhancing that voice with her insight and suggestions. I will not hesitate to once again work in partnership with Ellen in any future writings."

Ron Schlitt

"I am very happy that Ellen Beck agreed to edit my manuscript for my recently published book The Common Class. Ellen helped me fine-tune and organize my writing far beyond what I could have accomplished alone. If you are reading this, you are probably searching for an editor to help you realize your writing goals. Ellen has the professionalism, the talent, and the insight to help you do this. You owe it to yourself to contact Ellen with information about your project. I believe that you, like me, will be happy you did."

Rick Tobin

"It didn't hurt at all. When I received the edited copy back from Ellen Beck it was still my book and my writing style. It still said what I had said and it said it the way I wanted to say it. But I could tell that subtle changes had been made to conform to accepted writing structure and rules and grammar. I had been polished without even knowing I had been touched.the sign of a great editor."

Marshall Godwin

"How can you put into words what it means to work with someone who never met us but worked very hard to turn a journal of the adventures of a doctor and nurse living and working in Afghanistan into a published book called Window on Afghanistan: Rebuilding Health, Hope and the Human Spirit.

We had a collection of stories whose content was full of impact but difficult to read. She taught us “to show a story, not tell it,” “to help the reader move downhill, not uphill,” and “to show more emotion in the stories to involve the reader in the book.” With her help, our rough manuscript evolved into an emotional and spiritual journey that moves everybody who reads it.

It was difficult, and sometimes painful, to reach deep inside ourselves to understand the real impact and meaning of the historic events that we lived through in post-Taliban Afghanistan, but the central theme of the book emerged with her careful and thoughtful mentoring—that under tragic and very dangerous circumstances there are people who care, and who work hard to achieve social justice and equity through peaceful means in the middle of a war zone; that there is hope in the midst of tragedy; and that rebuilding the human spirit is as important as rebuilding a nation. 

Most importantly, Ellen made our own writing better. She never changed what we wrote or intended to say; she helped us say it better, the highest standard for any editor. She has earned our heartfelt appreciation and we recommend her to any author who wants to see their writing become a highly acclaimed book."

Fred Hartman

"Ellen did a thorough job of copy editing and proof reading our work within our mutually agreed deadline. She also carried out some minor substantive editing as well as provided us with a synopsis of the work. Her suggestions on the edited work were helpful and timely. We were particularly impressed by the fact that Ellen’s editing did not take away from our style of writing. We would not hesitate to use her services again."

F. David Webster & Tolulope A. Adeleye

"Thank you Ellen Beck and Sea Breeze for helping me to edit my book. I have had such wonderful comments about my writing technique, and my response is "My editor is a real Professional!"

Troi Martin