About Melissa
EXPERIENCE
Brown Levine Productions, Owner and Senior Editor/Writer, 2011 to Present
SKILLS
Copyediting and Proofreading: Twelve years of copyediting and proofreading experience, including electronic editing of Microsoft Word documents and PDF files, as well as hard-copy markup. I have experience editing US- and UK-style texts. I am skilled in the use of The Chicago Manual of Style, Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Associated Press Stylebook, MLA Handbook, and client-specific style guides.
Authenticity Reading: Focus on African American and women’s representation in fiction and nonfiction.
PAST AND CURRENT CLIENTS
Apex CoVantage, Book in a Box, Brighton Publishing, Catapult, Cognella Academic Publishing, Common Cause, Coverfly, Diversion Books, Dragonfly Editorial, Elite Editing, Independent Authors, IREX, Lumina Datamatics, MIT Press, Pear Analytics, Penguin Random House, Purdue University Press, Quarto Group, Red Phoenix Books, Rheinwerk Publishing, Straive, Style Sheet Editorial, The Feminist Press, Thousand Currents, Toffler Associates, University of North Carolina at Chapel University Libraries, West Virginia University Press, William Davidson Institute, W. W. Norton & Company
SELECTED PROJECTS
Academic: The Ethnomusicologists’ Cookbook (Volume II), Transnational Agency and Migration, Alternative Solutions to Higher Education’s Challenges, Grief and Its Transcendence, Cryptocurrencies, Childhood Development Mediated by Trauma, Banking on Milk
Children's Books: Windows to Adventure: Which of the Mountains Is Greatest of All?: Book 1
Journals: WSQ: Black Love
Nonfiction: Never Forget Who You Are: Conversations About Racism and Identity Development; The Echoing Ida Collection; Aging Wisely: A Guide for Helping Professionals; The Rise of the Craft Market; Branding Is Sex, You Need a Plan: How to Prepare for Death, Taxes, and Long-Term Care; America’s Legal Creation Story: Evolution; Successful Women Date Differently; Free Yourself from Chronic Pain and Sports Injuries, Second Edition
Nonprofits: Media Sustainability Index 2017, 2018, and 2019 editions; The Paid Jailer: How Sheriff Campaign Dollars Shape Mass Incarceration; Intentional Disregard: Trump’s Authoritarianism During the COVID-19 Pandemic; Patterns of Deception: Obstruction, Corruption & Abuse of Power
Textbooks: Current Controversies in Sports, Media, and Society; Essentials of Economics; Worlds Together, Worlds Apart, AP edition; Aging Wisely: A Guide for Helping Professionals; Moving Mediation: The Alexander Technique for Performing Art Students
EDUCATION
Chatham University
MA in Professional Writing, 2010
Drexel University
MS in Library and Information Science, 2006
Argosy University
MA in Counseling, 2001
Alabama State University
BS in Psychology, 1993
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Grammar Lab and Copyediting I (US San Diego Extension), Advanced Copyediting (Editorial Bootcamp), Grammar 101 and 102, Proofreading Basics (Editorial Freelancers Association), Copyediting Cookbooks (Editcetera), Certification in Editing (Poynter News University), Proofreading Basics (Graduate School USA), The Keys to Effective Editing (University of New Hampshire)
Brown Levine Productions, Owner and Senior Editor/Writer, 2011 to Present
SKILLS
Copyediting and Proofreading: Twelve years of copyediting and proofreading experience, including electronic editing of Microsoft Word documents and PDF files, as well as hard-copy markup. I have experience editing US- and UK-style texts. I am skilled in the use of The Chicago Manual of Style, Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Associated Press Stylebook, MLA Handbook, and client-specific style guides.
Authenticity Reading: Focus on African American and women’s representation in fiction and nonfiction.
PAST AND CURRENT CLIENTS
Apex CoVantage, Book in a Box, Brighton Publishing, Catapult, Cognella Academic Publishing, Common Cause, Coverfly, Diversion Books, Dragonfly Editorial, Elite Editing, Independent Authors, IREX, Lumina Datamatics, MIT Press, Pear Analytics, Penguin Random House, Purdue University Press, Quarto Group, Red Phoenix Books, Rheinwerk Publishing, Straive, Style Sheet Editorial, The Feminist Press, Thousand Currents, Toffler Associates, University of North Carolina at Chapel University Libraries, West Virginia University Press, William Davidson Institute, W. W. Norton & Company
SELECTED PROJECTS
Academic: The Ethnomusicologists’ Cookbook (Volume II), Transnational Agency and Migration, Alternative Solutions to Higher Education’s Challenges, Grief and Its Transcendence, Cryptocurrencies, Childhood Development Mediated by Trauma, Banking on Milk
Children's Books: Windows to Adventure: Which of the Mountains Is Greatest of All?: Book 1
Journals: WSQ: Black Love
Nonfiction: Never Forget Who You Are: Conversations About Racism and Identity Development; The Echoing Ida Collection; Aging Wisely: A Guide for Helping Professionals; The Rise of the Craft Market; Branding Is Sex, You Need a Plan: How to Prepare for Death, Taxes, and Long-Term Care; America’s Legal Creation Story: Evolution; Successful Women Date Differently; Free Yourself from Chronic Pain and Sports Injuries, Second Edition
Nonprofits: Media Sustainability Index 2017, 2018, and 2019 editions; The Paid Jailer: How Sheriff Campaign Dollars Shape Mass Incarceration; Intentional Disregard: Trump’s Authoritarianism During the COVID-19 Pandemic; Patterns of Deception: Obstruction, Corruption & Abuse of Power
Textbooks: Current Controversies in Sports, Media, and Society; Essentials of Economics; Worlds Together, Worlds Apart, AP edition; Aging Wisely: A Guide for Helping Professionals; Moving Mediation: The Alexander Technique for Performing Art Students
EDUCATION
Chatham University
MA in Professional Writing, 2010
Drexel University
MS in Library and Information Science, 2006
Argosy University
MA in Counseling, 2001
Alabama State University
BS in Psychology, 1993
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Grammar Lab and Copyediting I (US San Diego Extension), Advanced Copyediting (Editorial Bootcamp), Grammar 101 and 102, Proofreading Basics (Editorial Freelancers Association), Copyediting Cookbooks (Editcetera), Certification in Editing (Poynter News University), Proofreading Basics (Graduate School USA), The Keys to Effective Editing (University of New Hampshire)