How can I help? mark@markalleneditorial.com
As a copy editor, my goal is to make sure the author’s point is understood.
I help authors find the right words, clean documents of distracting typos,
match usage to preferred style, and make sure clarity is achieved
so honest ideas come through.
Photo by Ann Allen
About Mark Allen
I have been helping others improve their writing since I was a teenage editor on my high school newspaper. I've edited professionally for 20 years on newspaper copy desks and for 15-plus years as a freelancer. I have improved articles on emerging technologies, university accreditation self-studies, curriculum materials, scholarly papers, policy papers, news stories and analyses, marketing documents, blog entries, business-to-business and business-to-consumer emails, nonfiction books, and more.
I am president-elect of ACES: The Society for Editing, the world's largest professional association for editors. I have taught extensively on writing and editing, including developing the math and numbers section of the intermediate editing certificate program for the Poynter Institute for Media Studies.
What I edit
I've been a generalist since my newspaper days, finding pleasure in learning about a variety of topics and working with authors from diverse backgrounds. Here are some areas of recent focus:
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Emerging technology: For a university-affiliated lending library, I help make technology accessible to everyone. I've been immersed in artificial intelligence and generative AI, blockchain and cryptocurrency, autonomous vehicles, 3D printing, augmented and virtual reality, cloud computing, and more.
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Health: I edit articles for hospital magazines and scholarly papers on public health.
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University accreditation: I've edited successful accreditation self-studies for universities, programs, and colleges.
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Nonprofit foundations: My favorite work (don't tell the others) is helping foundations and nongovernmental agencies make the world a better place.
Partial client list
A great joy of freelance editing is the variety of clients it brings me in contact with, affording opportunities to learn with every one. Here are some of the organizations I've head the pleasure of editing for over the years:
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American Journalism Project
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Apple Tree Institute
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BillMoyers.com
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Brooklyn College
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Cheapism
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Cities of Service
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Columbus State Community College
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The Conference Board
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Equity Methods LLC
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FiveThirtyEight
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Harvard Education Publishing Group
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International Center for Transitional Justice
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International Fact-Checking Network
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Johns Hopkins University
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Keck Medicine of USC
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Kennedy Krieger Institute
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The Knight Foundation
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Learning Mate
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Microsoft
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MIT Horizon
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National Endowment for the Humanities
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National University
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Nationwide Financial
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The Ohio State University
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Plan International
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Red Flag Group
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Roto
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Skoll Foundation
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Trilogy Education
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UMass Transportation Center
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United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
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Universita Campus Bio-Medico di Roma
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University of Kansas
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University of Maryland School of Nursing
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Virtual Lab School of the Ohio State Collaborative
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Women Enabled International
A quick note on AI
Artificial intelligence promises to revolutionize writing and editing, and it's already helping many of us structure what we want to say and refine what we say to make it better. Much has been written on the problems of generative AI in terms of bland writing, errors, intellectual property issues, and enormous environmental costs. Despite serious limitations, it can be a useful tool when used properly.
Like the old computer-programming idiom "garbage in, garbage out," generative AI first needs the proper prompts to help you make sense of what you want to say. It won't read your mind. Once your large language model does its work, the editing process begins, through adjusting prompts for new output and through old-fashioned word-editing to make things clear.
I don't reject the idea of generative AI. It can work well. And importantly, it can open up communication opportunities to millions of people who are anxious or insecure about writing. The ability to express yourself has always been a precursor for participation in the conversation. We take that as a given. One thing I do as an editor is to help give voice to those who struggle to express themselves. If generative AI can help someone put forward a useful thought that might otherwise go unspoken, then it deserves a place in the toolkit.
In brief, then, generative AI used with care can help us get our ideas into print, and using a human editor will add the necessary accuracy, clarity and authenticity.
A short usage quiz
Editors will fix your spelling and grammar errors, and they also tackle pesky questions of style and usage. Here are a few examples where you can test yourself, and more style points are in the FAQs below. (You might have to click the quiz and then hit back on the browser to get it to come up properly.)