Market Research/Editing/Layout/Cover Copy & Design
An essential requirement for any professional writer is an understanding of audience. As a personal editing project, I selected A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain to read, edit, and redesign for a 21st century audience. My goal was to understand the nuances of the text, and how it could appeal to the mindset of modern fiction readers. My final product included a front and back cover, cover copy, and three chapters of edited content.
The text required a heavy copyedit as it was written for a 19th century audience and contained a lot of Middle English prose. While this style may be charming for literary academics, the lumbering text could be a chore for modern readers to consume. My challenge was to maintain the wit and charm of Twain’s voice while revising the text to comply with 21st century grammar practices. With this mindset, I made revisions to the first 30 pages of text within Microsoft Word. Enclosed is the first page of my edits, which provide a great example of my editorial style within the genre of fiction and are also included in my editing portfolio document.
Here are the proofs of the above text with the final editorial adjustments and layout completed.
Amelia Shugar 