One of my biggest loves is editing and I take on a lot of (a lot of) projects that require days and days of just editing and clarifying text – if you have 48,000 word compendiums, 80,000 word manuscripts or just a page of text that you want to be more readable and easily understood, bring it on.
Everyone has a story to tell but not everyone knows how to best shape the narrative, what to include and what to leave out, which is where I step in. Editing and reviewing manuscripts, whether it is fiction or helping individuals publish their biographies has been a big part of my work since the beginning of my freelance career in November 2013.
Books are an escape from life, and over the years the reading habit came hand in hand with a reviewing habit — which then became part of my work. The best kind of work, too, as someone buys you a book and then pays you to read it and tell them what you think. I recommend it highly.
Report Edit: Take-Home Rations Compendium
Worked with Tata Trusts and Sight and Life on this mammoth project in 2020, an essential review of the Take-Home Rations scheme of GOI that takes on so much importance during lockdowns.
Editing and writing manuscripts
Writing another person’s book can be fun, and a lot easier than writing your own – and it probably pays more, too. The MSs I have written are under a NDC so I can’t put up samples here but here is a piece about ghostwriting.
I have done hundreds of book reviews for India Today Travel Plus over my ten-year career with the magazine, and as a freelance writer I continue to review books for various publications. This is one of my favourite authors (am giving him one last book before removing him from this list) who is increasingly doing disappointing work.
Kalyani Prasher 