Amanda Lewis

I was working with a designer friend the other day, helping her define her brand. Basically, communicating a brand is telling the story of your business. By asking her questions about why she loves being a designer, what words she’d used to describe herself, who her clients are, and why she became a designer in the first place, we finally got to the root of the story she is trying to tell through her work. She delightedly called me an “ideas excavator,” which is one of the most apt descriptions of my work that I’ve heard.

Many people think of editing as simply correcting spelling or moving words around on a page, but so much of what editors do is drawing out ideas, shaping concepts, and discovering which questions are really driving the author’s thinking. Oftentimes a project can take an entirely new shape or direction through the editorial process. One of the aspects I most love about my job is generating and honing ideas, and this work is of course not limited to books – most creative industries can benefit from this concentrated “excavation” of their ideas, large or small (in digging terms, using a backhoe or an archaeologist’s brush).

Curious to find out how the editorial process can help you reveal the core of your communications or brand strategy? Contact me to start the conversation.