I decided to name my business Allen Key Edits because the Allen Key (or Allen Wrench in American English) is a handy, unobtrusive tool that can make all the difference to how well your item holds together. Hence, “Key Edits.”
As an editor who is also an academic and a writer, I can do more than improve your English writing— I can think alongside you. Unlike many other editors, I have scholarly expertise, and can engage with you and your writing intellectually, as one scholar-colleague to another.
As a researcher and writer, I can tell your story—of your research, your project, your business or organization—in clear and compelling prose and narratives. White papers, blogs, and op-eds are ideal ways to circulate your messages to a wider audience, and I’m available to research and write about your work in these genres. Podcasts are an increasingly popular way to disseminate research, and I can help you plan and produce episodes or entire series. My subject expertise covers the work of NGOs, humanitarianism, human rights, international law, Israel/Palestine, and the Middle East more broadly.
I know what people in academic publishing are looking for. I am an anthropologist (BA, MA, Ph.D. University of Chicago) with more than twenty years’ experience writing and publishing my own work, and reviewing and editing other scholars’ work.
In addition to publishing books, scholarly articles, and op-eds of my own (see here), I have reviewed book manuscripts and articles for more than 40 academic publishers and journals, including American Ethnologist, Feminist Review, IJMES, The South Atlantic Quarterly, and presses at the Universities of Stanford, Oxford, Cambridge, and California, among others.
I specialize in the social sciences, humanities, and Middle East studies. I am fluent in the IJMES Arabic/English transliteration system, and can help anyone trying to get published in English.
What You Get
As an editor, I will help you make your arguments and present your research in the clearest, most compelling language. Improving the readability of your texts makes them accessible to wider audiences of students, colleagues, and public readers. Well-organized, forceful writing improves the chances that your grant will get funded. And well-written book proposals get publishers’ attention.
I can also help you develop your blog, and write a report or white paper for your project. I and my team are especially excited to help you develop and produce a podcast episode or series to disseminate your research or advertise your book. I’ve also helped authors finalize and publish their memoirs.
As a book coach, I’m a consistent interlocuter and source of encouragement, helping you keep on track to reach your goals.
What I Do
Clients in need of editing assistance come to me at every stage of the writing and publishing process, including when they are:
- developing a book project
- crafting a book proposal
- turning a dissertation into a book
- writing and redrafting a monograph
- stuck with where their book is going
- finalizing a journal article or chapter before submitting
- responding to a “Revise & Resubmit”
- in need of scholarly guidance and encouragement
For those wishing to communicate their projects to wider audiences, I can:
- write white papers
- develop a grant proposal
- develop a dissemination and impact strategy
- develop, write, and edit blogs
- produce a podcast
- write a report
