Hold Onto the Good, an inspirational story about grief
I cannot say enough good things about Laura. I was a first-time author myself and had no idea what to do once my first draft was finished. She gently guided me and my story to produce something I am very proud of. She was very professional, thorough and always available when I needed her advice or guidance. My book turned out even better than I could have imagined. Even after publishing, she continues to check in with me regarding marketing and sales of the book. I felt her fees were very reasonable and yes, I would hire her again.
Broken Trust, a financial thriller
We engaged Laura Matthews to help us edit our first financial thriller, Broken Trust. She is an excellent editor who has been willing and able to challenge, provide alternatives, and teach us about the intricacies of weaving story arc and plot lines into a thriller. She also has a strong network of other professionals to help authors like us who want to self-publish manage that process. Laura is good at project and time management. She kept us moving to meet the goals we set and helped us achieve our goal. We will continue to use her on our ongoing writing projects. We love working with her!
God Sent Me: A Textbook Case on Evolution vs. Creationism
Being politically active comes to me intuitively, writing about it doesn’t. If it wasn’t for Laura’s skilled editing, my book God Sent Me with its message about defending our liberty would not have been as readable. The book is meant to be inciting and to wake citizens up from sleepwalking through our democracy. Without Laura’s talent, the message would have been lost. Thank you so, so, so much, Laura!
Sales How-To Books
Internal memo to publishing team:
Laura, our black-belt editor, got this 40,000 word manuscript from me and had it back to me two days later in brilliantly clean, edited format, with all essential queries clearly marked. One word: Wow!
Having gone over her work I can attest that she did not sacrifice quality along the way. Also I want to note that she incorporated and edited ten pages of complex last-minute text replacements in that same time frame. She will be reviewing all of the coming layout work with her usual detail-sensitive microscope, too.
Thank you, Laura! Your work is simultaneously so good and so subtle that I feel it needs to be recognized in a message like this. It doesn’t just happen.
~~Y.T., corporate editor-in-chief at large sales training organization
Note from author:
To Laura: A huge thank you for all of the work you are doing editing my manuscript. I love the changes you have made—they are making the book read so much better.
~~L.F., author of book on sales
Financial Blogging: How to Write Powerful Posts That Attract Clients
I would have had a hard time producing my book Financial Blogging without Laura. She helped me overcome my feeling of being overwhelmed by the decisions involved in taking my book from manuscript to a finished product. Laura helped me choose my book designer and manage the tedious process of ensuring that my book’s design worked. She caught many problems that I would have missed. Laura’s help also included copyediting and proofreading.
Decoding Your Past
Laura did an amazing job of helping me focus Decoding Your Past. She is an fantastic story analyst and editor.
The Gospel According to Mamma
The Queen of Damn Good Advice
I want to sing praises for my gifted editor, Laura Matthews, for her editing expertise and talent on my first two books, The Gospel According to Mamma and The Queen of Damn Good Advice. Her superb skills helped me produce books that will be forever special to my heart—and hopefully the hearts of many others, too.
Laura’s skill at discerning the writer’s intent while staying true to the original voice is the perfect blend to improve and strengthen any writing. Her meticulous attention to detail and flair for storytelling gave my writing the care it needed to help me clarify and expand upon my ideas and insights.
I highly recommend her services to any author.
How to Be Rich
I hired Laura as the editor for my first book, How to Be Rich: The Couple’s Guide to a Rich Life Without Worrying About Money. This was the best choice I ever made with this project. This was a particularly challenging project because it is a “How to” book written as a fictional tale so the advice had to be woven into the narrative.
Service providers rarely impress me. However, Laura exceeded my expectations. First, Laura has an unusual talent of understanding the main idea of the project and crafting words to tell that story succinctly and make it entertaining. Second, she is a great listener and pays attention to her client’s goals, but doesn’t shy away from gently redirecting when needed. Finally, and probably most important, Laura meets her deadlines and is prompt when returning phone calls and emails.
After only the first week of promotion, the book that Laura edited and helped me craft is already a huge success. How to Be Rich has over 30 five-star reviews on Amazon. It ranked as high as 9th best seller in the Personal Finance category on Amazon and 2nd in the Top 100 Rated Introduction to Investing books on Amazon—this is second only to Dave Ramsey who has a very popular radio and television show. This book would not have been this successful without Laura’s contribution. I will hire Laura for all of my future book projects.
~~Chuck J. Rylant, MBA, CFP
The Leadership River
Laura Matthews is an editor who understands where to draw the line between good writing and personal style. Most everything that Laura suggested enhanced my manuscript.
And, what I really appreciated was Laura’s sensitivity to my voice. She checked throughout the process to be sure that my voice stayed true to me. Laura is easy to work with and responsive.
We worked virtually together without a hitch. I highly recommend Laura.
~~Kerry Hamilton, author The Leadership River: Translating Vision into Action
Other comments on Laura’s work:
Your editorial evaluation was awesome, it boosted my confidence one hundred percent, and I thank you. I wish that I knew a small percentage of what you know.
~~R.J.
Thanks, Laura, for the great job and the warm feedback, which really felt good. You were able to take away the concerns I had about the content of my book and its appeal to the target audience.
~~M.M.
Thank you for taking the time to understand and edit our manuscript. Your feedback has been a great value to us. You provided feedback with professionalism, honesty, and respect. We could not have asked for more. In addition, your positive comments and “best wishes” have encouraged us. We never expected as much out of the editing process.
~~R. & N. B.
I want you to know how much your personal note meant to me. I have wondered so if I even had a viable book. That question had been weighing so heavy on me these past few weeks knowing a professional editor was working with it. Your letter meant so much to me. I danced and cried through the office after reading it. I don’t think I hit earth again until Saturday. I wrote the book because I had to. Your note let me know you felt that was my intention and that I do indeed have a viable book. Thank you for taking the time to let me know on a personal level that I am on the right track to meet my dream.
~~V.P.D.
