I recently had the opportunity to proofread a book that was due to go to press quite soon. In the field of intensive psychotherapy, the topic was at a more technical level than I usually edit. It proved to be both enlightening and satisfying work.

Zoltan’s wife, Patricia Gross, was the intermediary on the contract. When I asked her for a testimonial, she had this to say:

Recently, I had a greatly satisfying experience working with Nina Shoroplova on a book manuscript. I highly recommend her for work at any stage of preparing and publishing a book, and I would like to say why. She was incredibly careful, thorough, professional and fast. Her work went far above and beyond what we thought was the job and had described.

I needed to step in unexpectedly, and with no prior experience, to assist with a book in production at the stage of proof reading, we thought. The publisher’s deadline was soon; it would have to be a rush job. I was able to contract with Ms. Shoroplova for the job through Digital Content Creators.

The first thing she did was buy her own digital copy of the APA (American Psychological Association) Style Guideline, since it was a book on psychotherapy and the brain. As I reviewed the first pages of her work, I began to see that the manuscript had not been adequately copy edited, and that she was catching many things that should have been corrected earlier. She, of course, corrected spelling, grammar, punctuation, font size, layout errors, and things like repetitions. The bibliography needed much work too; we know the tedious detail work that can be.

However, more importantly, and what speaks to my high recommendation of her, is that she grasped the meaning of the very technical content and the new and innovative concepts the author introduced, and suggested replacement wording that improved the clarity of the author’s phrasing. She also brought to our attention aspects of the publisher’s layout that we might want to discuss with the publisher, and suggested other options. She even highlighted phrases within the text that could be “back cover material.”

To sum it up, it seemed to me she offered every possible way she could to make this book the best it could be, and in no way limited her work and suggestions to the mere “proofreading” job for which she had been engaged. That is the kind of professional I appreciate more than I can say, and the kind of person I feel lucky to meet, although all the work was handled remotely.

Thank you, Patricia and Zoltan Gross, and Jan Zucker of Digital Content Creators for this opportunity.