Project Background 

Sarah Susswein was a student at City University working toward her Master of Counselling when she realized she needed an editor. 

Part of Sarah’s degree program involved completing a capstone project. She researched humour in counselling and needed to follow APA format for her academic paper. Only after her supervisor returned Sarah’s paper to her a few times and informed her she needed an editor did Sarah begin her search to find someone capable of editing her project. 

The Search for an Editor

When looking for an editor, Sarah needed to find someone who would meet her expectations. 

“I wanted to find someone who understood academic writing and what I was trying to do,” said Sarah. 

The editor she hired needed to be an experienced writer and have an understanding of academic writing and APA format. She also needed an editor with experience in the academic world. 

Sarah began her search with Google, where she came across many editors before finding Lori Straus’s website. While she looked at various editors, many came across as either impersonal or as prioritizing the invoice when she was interviewing them. This made it hard for her to feel a connection with them. 

“I just felt like, okay, if we’re not connecting, then how is it going to be when you’re actually reading my paper?” 

When she finally contacted Lori, she knew she had found the right fit for her: “She was very personable, and I enjoyed corresponding with her very much,” said Sarah. 

Working With Lori

Part of working with an editor is being able to rely on them to do what is asked and maintain proper communication before and during the editing process. This was something Lori excelled at. 

Lori responded to emails in an appropriate amount of time and kept Sarah updated during the editing process. She also kept her word for when she would send things, like the contract, and was very open about her schedule. 

“She was super transparent about her schedule, which I really appreciated,” said Sarah. “It fostered a lot of trust.” 

This relationship of trust was incredibly important to Sarah because she was trusting Lori with a capstone project paper that was very important to her and her future. As her editor, Lori made Sarah feel secure in handing over her paper by building a relationship of trust between the two of them. 

“At the time, I was just super stressed out. Her responsiveness and bits of comedy really helped ease my anxiety. I enjoyed corresponding with her.” 

One of the things Sarah liked the most about working with Lori was how she always did exactly what she said she was going to do. The transparency in their emails back and forth made it clear to Sarah what Lori was going to do, and she followed through. 

Even without Sarah providing specific items for Lori to look for when editing, she did not need to ask Lori to re-edit it. In other words, Lori understood her assignment from the beginning. 

“Communication in her edits was very clear, and I agreed with a lot of the edits she made, which made everything really smooth,” Sarah said. 

While Sarah did not have prior experience working with other editors, what she really appreciated was how honest Lori was with her feedback. She didn’t hesitate to point out errors, but she did so in a way that made it easy to understand why they were a problem. 

“She just packages everything in a way that is easy to agree with,” said Sarah. “It all just makes sense.”

Final Results

When the editing was complete, Sarah said that both she and her supervisor were 100% satisfied with the final result. 

When asked if she would consider working with Lori again or recommend her to others looking for an editor, Sarah agreed and said, “I already mentioned to her that I may need help writing a speech at some point! I want to do one of those TED Talks someday. It’s a bucket list item.” 

Contact Lori about Your Project

If you’d like to learn more about Lori’s editing services and how she and her team can help you with your next project, fill out the form below, and she’ll be in touch with you within one business day. 

“I’m just so happy with Lori,” says Sarah. “I’m so happy she helped me so much. It was just a pleasure.”