Editorial and manuscript development

PEN CAP CHEW

PEN CAP CHEW

Helping scholars prevail over Reviewer #2 since 2017.

Helping scholars prevail over Reviewer #2 since 2017.

SERVICES

Manuscript Development

about

SCHOLAR
WRITER ANTHROPOLOGIST

I’m a cultural anthropologist and developmental editor with a decade of experience working with scholars across the humanities and social sciences. Since 2017, I’ve edited journal articles, book manuscripts, dissertations, and grant proposals at every stage of development—from unruly first drafts to final revisions. My clients’ work has been published by Duke University Press, Cultural Anthropology, and American Ethnologist, among others.


I hold a PhD in cultural anthropology from the University of Chicago. My own work has been published in Q1 journals and supported by research grants from the Wenner-Gren Foundation and the U.S. National Science Foundation. This experience informs how I work: not simply as a technical editor, but as a fellow scholar who understands how arguments are built, how disciplinary conversations work, and what reviewers are looking for.

APPROACH

Leaner, but better.

ECONOMY

“If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.” —George Orwell I specialize in brevity while preserving your distinctive voice. Hand me a bloated 9,500-word draft and I will return a 9,000-word, publication-ready manuscript.

VOICE

I excise academese, pretentious diction, and the passive voice from your prose, working with you to refine an elegant style that is unmistakably your own.

JUDGMENT

Substantively, I read for argumentative clarity, logical coherence, and structural flow—critical insight that can only come from human assessment. With wit and rigor, I make every word earn its place.

PRICING

Every manuscript is different.

01

Word count

Manuscript length

02

Development

Stage of project

03

Intervention

Level of editing

04

Turnaround

Standard or expedited

how i work

From draft to done.

01

Send

Email me your manuscript and a note specifying the target publication or funding opportunity, deadline, and a brief description of your editorial needs. I’ll review the material and provide a project quote based on word count and level of intervention.

01

Send

Email me your manuscript and a note specifying the target publication or funding opportunity, deadline, and a brief description of your editorial needs. I’ll review the material and provide a project quote based on word count and level of intervention.

02

Edit

I work directly in Microsoft Word using Track Changes and comments, attending to argument, structure, style, and sentence-level clarity.

02

Edit

I work directly in Microsoft Word using Track Changes and comments, attending to argument, structure, style, and sentence-level clarity.

03

Revise

I return your manuscript with every edit visible and explained where necessary. For developmental projects, I include an editorial memo identifying larger priorities for revision. All project fees include one round of follow-up questions about my edits.

03

Revise

I return your manuscript with every edit visible and explained where necessary. For developmental projects, I include an editorial memo identifying larger priorities for revision. All project fees include one round of follow-up questions about my edits.

Have a project in the works?

GET IN TOUCH