I bill myself as a fiction editor, but I occasionally accept nonfiction projects, and the nonfiction project I recently wrapped up was a doozy.
The subject of the manuscript was the Twelve-Day War. For those who don’t know, this was an armed conflict between Israel and Iran back in June 2025.
There were loads of names throughout that I wasn’t familiar with, so I was constantly looking them up, and it didn’t help that spellings of these names vary widely depending on where you look. Then there was the fact that many of the key people tied to the conflict are no longer alive, so determining an appropriate tense was a constant challenge (IS he still a general or WAS he a general?). Making things even trickier, the manuscript was coauthored by two Russian gentlemen before being translated into English, meaning the writing style changed depending on the section.
Pretty challenging, and definitely outside my comfort zone, but I came highly recommended by another client of mine and didn’t want to turn down the opportunity. I’m glad I didn’t because I learned a lot, feel really good about my work, and have a newfound interest in what’s going on in the Middle East.
This post is a reminder to my fellow editors that it can be good to accept projects outside your wheelhouse (it’s a great way to grow). And to you authors who have hired an editor in one capacity and really enjoyed working with them, it’s worth asking if they’re willing to tackle a different kind of project.
I’ll absolutely post a link to this book once it’s published. And I’ve already been informed that a follow-up is in the works (things are rapidly evolving over there). Because I was willing to step outside my comfort zone, I got a wonderful new client.
Timothy