I am available for manuscript consultations, manuscript edits, proofreading, and copy-editing.

Testimonials

Proofreading

“I’ve worked with a lot of good proofers, but Rachel Toliver is a cut above even the best of others. She has the best eye for errors I’ve ever worked with and has saved me a lot of embarrassment. Her grasp of all the finicky details of Chicago Style is thorough, and she was quick to master the quirks of our own house style as well. She also has a great visual sense; if something is off with the typography, she’ll catch that, too. A patient, obsessive detail person in the best possible way.” 

—Mary Kenagy Mitchell, Executive Editor, Image

Manuscript consultations/edits

“Rachel’s notes about the sequencing, chronology, and thematic through-lines of my nonfiction manuscript were pivotal in helping me revise. If asked why my experience working with Rachel on my manuscript revisions was so successful, the first thing I’d say is Rachel asks the right questions. Joan Didion wrote, “I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see, and what it means.” Rachel’s thorough feedback helped me find out what I was thinking in the essays within my collection. I’d read, reread, and rewritten the manuscript countless times in the revision and drafting stages, but Rachel’s articulate line and end notes were what ultimately pushed me to ask new and oftentimes difficult questions about my manuscript, in relation to theme, character, and image. Rachel offered comments in a variety of forms, including Track Changes, end comments, and thematic summaries. In addition to her insightful global comments about my manuscript, Rachel’s sharp attention to detail and grammar helped me to revise my sentence structure, paragraph order, and diction. If asked why my experience working with Rachel on my manuscript revisions was so successful, the second thing I’d say is Rachel cares about the work. In addition to her professional, friendly, and often delightfully funny e-mail correspondences, Rachel made time to meet with me in person to discuss my project. Her enthusiasm about my project was encouraging and energizing.”

—Julia Koets, author of The Rib Joint: A Memoir in Essays (Red Hen Press, selected by Mark Doty)