Proofreading as It’s Written

A tech startup was racing to publish a business book on team culture—with a foreword drafted by Zoom CEO Eric Yuan—in time for a major industry conference. The book would represent the company’s thought leadership to potential customers, investors, and partners. An advance preview was going to print within days, and the full version needed to follow within weeks.

The manuscript was being written in real time, and sections arrived piecemeal as the author completed them. I edited and proofread each section as it arrived, enabling the author to revise synchronously rather than holding up the deadline.

When I received the first section, I determined the foreword lacked the emotional pull required to draw readers into the book’s core premise. I rewrote it using shorter paragraphs, greater specificity, and story loops. The body of the manuscript presented several immediate issues: run-on sentences connected by overused conjunctions; heavy reliance on rhetorical questions to advance the narrative; anecdotes that felt shoehorned rather than organic to the argument; and a taxonomy issue with one of the book’s three core traits.

The manuscript needed light copy editing and deep proofreading, but also editing restraint to preserve the page-turning writing style. I edited out approximately 10 percent of the content—removing fluff, tightening construction, and flagging structural issues for the author—and provided consolidated notes on recurring issues to help strengthen the back half of the book.

I delivered the full 40,000-word manuscript across two sprints totaling nine working days. The advance preview went to print on schedule. The author accepted nearly 100 percent of changes and incorporated structural feedback into subsequent sections. The book was published with a foreword by Zoom’s CEO and a back-cover endorsement from Atlassian’s global head of brand, and I received an editor credit. The client’s words: “The quality of your editing has been incredible… Whenever a project requires editing, you’ll definitely be my go-to.”