Kind Words are Always Welcome

A prospective client called from Boston to see if I was the right person to do some editing and page formatting for his online book. He wanted references, so I reluctantly asked two doctors for their input.

Here's what one of them said:

I understand that you requested references from Joyce Griffith of Griffith Publishing.

I had no publishing experience until 1999, when I began "self" publishing a medical handbook with Joyce. At that time, I investigated many mainstream publishing companies (e.g. Lippincott, etc.) and many companies that specialize in self publishing. Joyce had some experience with handbook-size texts and had reasonable prices. Most importantly, she was willing to help me produce the book while allowing me keep as much creative control as I wanted.

Most publishers wanted to have control over formating and designing the book and others "reserved the right" to change content. For a medical text, letting a non-medical editor play with the content can be distastrous (I have experienced this a lot, having written for journals and other textbooks).

Anyhow, Joyce did a great job suggesting ways to produce a polished and professional book, but was also flexible, allowing me to deviate from these recommendations if I wished to.

The first edition of my book was written in Microsoft Word. It had many tables and diagrams. Joyce converted the entire file into a page layout program. We did a lot of editing together (again, modifying medical or technical text can more tricky than regulat prose). I found Joyce's expertise and insight very helpful. The first edition of my book looked great and sold well. I produced the book in different sizes, various covers, various binding types, and even special editions. All of these print runs went flawlessly.

I had such a good experience Joyce that I have continued to use her services for all 3 editions of my book over an 8 year span. I am probably an exception because I like to be very involved in all aspects of producing the book, but Joyce was one of the few who was willing to let me be so involved. She helped me create my vision and helped me accomplish it in a professional and affordable manner. See my website: www.pocketguidetourology.com

If you do not want to be involved in the "nuts and bolts" of actually printing the book (e.g. cover design, page design, formatting, editing, printing, etc.), Joyce has the expertise to do all of this. In fact, she taught me how to do many of these things!
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me...