April Michelle Davis spoke on the topic of Working with an Editor: The Editorial Process at the Agile Writer Conference on January 28. April Michelle , a professional freelance editor, shared from personal experiences as well as voicing what other editors and authors have told her about what can be done to stimulate the editor/author relationship and make it smooth and efficient while enhancing the end product. April Michelle has a wealth of knowledge and tips from her fifteen years as an editor that she considers as a privilege to pay forward and  in hopes to generate this same attitude in the industry.

April Michelle Davis taught her course Indexing 101 through EFA on March 23 – May 12. April Michelle is a professional indexer who pays it forward by putting her learned skills into words that she shares with other indexers and those interested in the skill. April Michelle breaks it down in to 7 lessons, and during the final session, the participants actually create an index of the course text, which already has an index written, allowing students to compare their index after it has been written. The added value of this is that the participants’ indexes are critiqued by April Michelle, the professional indexer.

Learn from an expert in the industry, April Michelle Davis, the best practices of putting macros to work for you. April Michelle will work with you to design macros specifically to your specifications. April Michelle taught Macros 101 through the Editorial Freelancers Association October 5 to November 30. In this course, April Michelle and the participants created macros in several ways to fit each participant’s needs and skill level.

April Michelle Davis has written and published the technical booklet Choosing an Editor: What You Need to Know. In this booklet, April Michelle shares even the smallest and most commonly misunderstood yet important facets to selecting the editor who will jell personality wise with the author and has the skill set to polish a manuscript to levels only imagined. For your convenience, this booklet is available in paperback and ebook formats.

The description of my book reads: Good editing should be invisible. Editing helps authors convey what they intend to and helps authors look more credible by eliminating errors that would produce doubts in the minds of the readers. Although editors and authors work together toward the same goal—a perfect manuscript—the relationship between them is sometimes adversarial. Writers are working for themselves and will create what they consider to be perfect manuscripts. Editors are working for publishers and readers—even if paid by the author—to produce error-free manuscripts that are clear in terms of grammar, spelling, and flow.

April Michelle Davis is preparing to publish her first chapter book, A Princess in Disguise. April Michelle began writing this book almost 20 years ago in the height of her fascination with princesses. A Princess in Disguise was her first literary love, and now April Michelle desires to share the book with the world. You can be instrumental in making this happen by your generous donation. Beginning September 14, and lasting for 45 days, April Michelle and Iguana Books (her publisher) are running a crowdfunding campaign to help cover the book publishing costs. All supporters will be rewarded for their generosity with either a thank you note, a signed print of the book’s cover art, a digital copy of the finished book, or a print copy of the limited-edition version of the finished book.

Like many young girls, April Michelle wanted to be a princess when she was growing up. A Princess in Disguise is a coming-of-age story about a princess on a mental journey, which she decides to turn into a physical odyssey as well. The princess is searching for who she is, who she wants to become, and in the absence of her mother, she is being forced to marry a stranger whom her father has chosen.

As a teenager April Michelle noticed while watching TV shows and movies that the princesses often had no mothers present. April Michelle wrote this book to show the struggles that princesses can face and to answer the question of where the mothers are.

April Michelle Davis is a freelance editor, indexer, and proofreader. She is the chapter coordinator for the Virginia chapter of the Editorial Freelancers Association. She is also the Social Media Marketing Expert for the National Association for Independent Writers and Editors and a lifetime member of the American Copy Editors Society. In addition, she teaches courses through Editorial Inspirations, associations, and colleges on topics such as editing, indexing, grammar, writing, and macros.

April Michelle Davis has lived in Richmond, Virginia, since 2007 and is originally from Northern Virginia.