Edit Guru
Your guide to the world of words
Developmental Editing, Copyediting, and Proofreading Services
I'm a longtime editor based near Seattle. My goal in life is to make your writing gorgeous by checking for grammatical correctness, narrative flow, uniformity, and structural soundness. As an artist, wildlife biologist, traveler, musician, mom, and wife of a retired Navy senior chief, I've experienced enough to know where you're coming from.
Testimonials
From Clients
Marianne Jennings
Author of Everything About Astronauts: Fascinating Fun Facts and Trivia about Astronauts for the Entire Family
Working with Skye has been an absolute joy. I needed someone who could help me with my reference-heavy book and Skye was definitely the right person. She helped me know how best to format them and then went above and beyond when reviewing them. She has a wealth of knowledge and experience and has helped turn my mediocre manuscript into a strong and wonderful book.
Skye is kind, helpful, friendly, very knowledgeable, professional, and a joy to work with. She was great to communicate with and the quality of her work is top notch. I enjoyed working with Skye and hope to work with her on future projects. Highly recommend!! Five stars plus five more!!
Scott Hogan
Author of Built from Broken: A Science-Based Guide to Healing Painful Joints, Preventing Injuries, and Rebuilding Your Body
Skye is a master of her craft. She was instrumental in the development of our book from developmental stages to cover design, references, and more.
Ibrahim Anderson
Author of The Dreamer in the Unhaunted House
Posting this review feels counterintuitive as I would love to keep Skye’s expertise all to myself (tongue in cheek). But the truth of the matter is that Skye Loyd is both gifted and a gift to the literary world. It’s difficult to fathom that an individual—a stranger no less—can be so attentive a listener and so intuitive a mind as to instantly understand my intended meaning … even when what I wrote was not exactly what I meant. Her editorial genius is awe-inspiring, and working with Skye was as easy as breathing.
She will embellish your words, not by attempting to enhance them with her own, but by removing distractions and allowing your words to take the spotlight—and your characters center-stage. She is immensely talented and a consummate professional. Ultimately, your choice is in your own hands; but mine will always be Skye.
Randy Bateman
Author of Class of 1967
I was very surprised at just how professional and proficient Skye was. I did not know what to expect, but she far exceeded any expectations I had. I hope this will be a long term collaboration. Her edits were spot on and she gave me off-script observations that were extremely useful. I made a lucky choice that paid big dividends.
Paul Broome
Author of Girls Who Don't Believe
I am impressed with Skye Loyd's professional editing. Not only were her edits extremely well done, but her comments on confusing sentences or scenes proved to be invaluable. As a result of Skye's work, my confidence level has soared. When my next work is ready for my next copy edit, I will choose Skye Loyd without hesitation.
Andy Writ
Author of a book on plastic surgery
Skye describes herself as being "cursed with noticing everything." I found her claim of a wicked curse to indeed be true. She copyedited my manuscript in exquisite detail, without affecting my style or voice. I recommend her highly for those who want their manuscript dissected to the nth degree. Thanks, Skye, for a job well done. Now my manuscript is truly print ready and polished.
Michael Alfstad
Master's thesis
Skye and I collaborated over a Masters Integrative project of months of work and 12,000 words that took multiple iterations and evolutions to find its message and structure. Her craft and her presence were invaluable. Do not hesitate to engage her in your work, I would hope an opportunity to work with her presents itself again.
Susana Porras
Author of To Compostela and Beyond!
Skye was amazing to work with! She provided excellent suggestions and responded promptly every time. My project needed that extra cleaning up to make it look sharp and she did just that. I would definitely choose her to work on future projects.
DJ Lee
Author of The Edge Is What We Have: Awe and Wonder in a Dimming World
Skye is an incredible editor to work with. Her edits and suggestions were spot-on, crystal clear, and highly insightful. She improved my manuscript immensely. I also appreciated her excellent and prompt communication with me. In addition, she is a compassionate and empathetic person. A truly gifted editor, writer, and thinker!
Kris Swanson
Author of Portraits of Women in the American Fur Trade
Skye finished my editing project early and it was an excellent job. She was very detail oriented and made the story flow much better. I highly recommend you consider using her!
Paige Moore
Author of Polio: The Story You Never Heard
Working with Skye was easy. I didn't really know what to expect for an "editorial assessment," but she guided me through how to present the material in a professional way with comments on grammar, citations, sentence structure and instances where I needed more information to back up my arguments. There were many instances that needed clarification and more citations. She pointed out what needed to be corrected to make the text and graphs more understandable.
Skye answered my queries and sent information I needed to make the presentation professional. The deadline was met which has allowed me to finish the book in a timely manner once I make all the changes. I enjoyed working with her and would recommend her for assessing the overall presentation of the manuscript. I appreciate her help in greatly improving my book.
John Cole
Author of archeological article for an academic journal
Working with Skye has been a pleasure. Her eye for detail is excellent and her edits are appropriate to the job nearly 100% of the time even though I did not supply her with a very complete list of guidelines. I was impressed that she took it upon herself to check out the guidelines of the academic journal we are submitting to and she brings her understanding of their style into our work. We are even resubmitting our paper to her after addressing the tracked changes so we can be confident that our corrections are correct. I will never rely on my own proofreading after this, and I think it will lead me to write more because it is empowering to have a partner like her in my work.
Paula Kluth
Editor of #AllIn: 18 Ways to Create Inclusive Virtual Classrooms
I chose Skye because her profile featured her ability to "notice everything" and she DOES. Even times when I thought I "caught" her, it turned out she was right and I was following some old/dated grammatical rule. She notices everything and has great suggestions for revision. More than all of that, however, is that she is just GREAT work work with--she would answer my (many) questions quickly and stick strictly to her timelines. I almost don't want to review Skye, because I would selfishly like to keep her to myself--but because she is such a fantastic editor and she did such wonderful work for me, I just can't keep her gifts a secret!
About Me
Skye Loyd
I'm a professional editor who has been freelance editing for 20 years. I have a bachelor's degree in conservation biology with a minor in English from Brigham Young University. I started out working in wildlife biology for the Park Service and Forest Service, but realized I wanted to stay home to raise my children. I got a job with SAGE Publishing as a proofreader and soon began freelancing as a copy editor for them. I later became part of the Wiley Publishing team and copyedited nonfiction books for them for many years. I've also been a book project manager for Wiley, juggling the many parts of bringing a multiauthor professional manual to fruition. Reedsy.com brought me in touch with indie authors and their unique stories, which is what inspired me to start this website. I hope to be able to help many more authors get self-published or accepted by a publisher.
In my spare time, I paint watercolors and sell them at a co-op gallery in Poulsbo, Washington. I love to backpack, travel, and READ.
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Member of the Editorial Freelancers Association,
Contact Me
Feel free to get in touch about writing, editing, or anything else you’re curious about.
