Developmental, line, and copy editing
Specialties: healthcare education, applied sciences, leadership and business management, and technical content
Additional areas of interest: self-help, parenting, child development, nutrition, travel, social sciences, memoirs, and essays
About me
I’m Nicole Taché, a freelance editor based in St. Louis. I support my clients by offering a range of services, from high-level structural assessment and content editing to sentence-level mechanical and language editing. Projects range in size and scope, including books, reports, articles, and web content. My goal, and promise, is to collaborate with clients to publish clear, engaging, and accessible content that speaks to the needs and expectations of the intended audience. I look forward to connecting with you!
Services
Developmental editing
Big-picture editing for content, structure, and flow
- Is the main idea and intended audience clear? (i.e., What is the book/article meant to do and for whom?)
- Is the reader motivated to appreciate the importance and relevance of the main idea? (i.e., Are we surfacing the why?)
- Is the main idea supported by relevant concepts? Are those supporting concepts reflected in the manuscript’s organization (e.g., Are there 5 supporting concepts but only 3 subsections)? The idea of a “book map” or “hero’s journey” comes into play here.
- Do chapters/sections flow logically and do subheads mark transitions between ideas?
- Are some discussions too thin or too hefty compared to others?
- Is word count on target?
- Is there reviewer feedback to evaluate and incorporate for author consideration?
Line editing
More granular look at clarity, cohesion, and consistency, zooming in to the sentence and word level (also called substantive editing)
- Are there areas where the language is awkward or unclear?
- Are there opportunities to connect current events to key ideas?
- What do we assume the reader already knows and where should we slow down and introduce novel or tricky concepts in unique ways?
- Is there unnecessary repetition or redundancy?
- Are we referencing ideas/terms consistently?
- Do figures/tables adequately and accurately support the text?
- Is the tone and style appropriate for intended audience/publisher’s style?
- If multiple authors are involved, are their voices consistent?
- Where is your voice and experience really shining and where might we sound stiff or disengaged?
Copyediting
Mechanical editing to conform to agreed-upon style guide and to ensure accuracy and consistency in:
- Spelling
- Punctuation
- Formatting (numbers, quotations, italics/bold, footnotes, lists)
- Use of abbreviations/acronyms
- Treatment of special elements (headings, tables, figures, special features boxes)
- Cross references to figures/tables/text
Testimonials
“She really dug deep into the book, contributing some of the best, actionable feedback I have had, including on some of the most complex Machine Learning topics. … In short, I could not dream of a better editor.”
“I’ve worked with other editors and I would easily put Nicole at the top. Not only does she know her stuff, she knows how to help others get stuff done. All this without micromanaging!”
“She is highly professional, provides quick feedback, and always sends me drafts on time or ahead of schedule. Her editing gave me the confidence I needed to publish my books.”
“Nicole polished, organized, and edited my content so it flows beautifully and gets the point across in fewer words. The difference in my copy before and after working with her is night and day.”
“She has a keen editorial eye and improves every project she touches. She is unfazed by new initiatives, quickly changing business goals, tight deadlines, and shifting priorities.”
“Nicole is one of the very best project editors in the business. She has excellent project management skills with both print and digital products and has a natural ability to work very effectively with authors and team members.”
Portfolio
Freelance projects 2022–present
Health sciences
| Project | Publisher or client | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Essential Microbiology for Healthcare, 1st edition | W. W. Norton | Developmental editing |
| Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 12th edition | F.A. Davis | Developmental editing |
| Fundamentals of Nursing, 5th edition | F.A. Davis | Developmental editing |
| Caring for Older Adults Holistically, 8th edition | F.A. Davis | Developmental editing |
Technology and leadership
| Project | Publisher or client | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Custom publishing | MIT Technology Review Insights | Developmental editing, line editing, and copyediting; thesis writing |
| Capabilities and Practices open repository | Pragmint | Developmental editing, line editing, and copyediting |
| Web content | Harvard Business Review | Developmental and line editing |
| Hotwire Native for Rails Developers | The Pragmatic Bookshelf | Developmental editing |
| Engineering Elixir Applications | The Pragmatic Bookshelf | Developmental editing |
| Effective Machine Learning Teams | O’Reilly Media | Copyediting |
| The Engineering Executive’s Primer | O’Reilly Media | Copyediting |
| Practical Lakehouse Architecture | O’Reilly Media | Copyediting |
| Alteryx Designer: The Definitive Guide | O’Reilly Media | Copyediting |
| Learning Microsoft Power Automate | O’Reilly Media | Copyediting |
| Microsoft Teams Administration Cookbook | O’Reilly Media | Copyediting |
| Intelligence-Driven Incident Response, 2nd edition | O’Reilly Media | Copyediting |
| Security Chaos Engineering | O’Reilly Media | Copyediting |
| Security as Code | O’Reilly Media | Copyediting |
| Data Quality Engineering in Financial Services | O’Reilly Media | Copyediting |
| Visualizing Empowerment | Developmental editing and copyediting | |
| Refactoring to Services | Developmental editing and copyediting | |
| The CTO Your Startup Needs | Developmental editing and copyediting | |
| Engineering Management for the Rest of Us | Copyediting |
Memoir
| Project | Publisher or client | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Chasing 100 | Developmental editing and copyediting | |
| Cascade: A Guide to Life’s Big Decisions | Developmental editing and copyediting |
O’Reilly Media published 2016–2022
2022
Books and reports
- Mastering API Architecture
- Security as Code
- Hands-On Machine Learning with Scikit-Learn, Keras, and TensorFlow, 3rd edition
- Head First Java, 3rd edition
- Fundamentals of Data Engineering
- Running Lean, 3rd edition
- Bash Idioms
2021
Books
- Head First C#, 4th edition
- Design Patterns for Cloud Native Applications
- Building Microservices, 2nd edition
- OpenShift for Developers, 2nd edition
- Software Architecture: The Hard Parts
- Modernizing Enterprise Java
Reports
- The Value of Open Source in the Cloud Era
- Operationalizing AI
- The Rise of the Knowledge Graph
- Developing Modern Applications with a Converged Database
- Language Models in Plain English
- Teaching AI the Language of Your Business
2020
Books
- Practical Statistics for Data Scientists, 2nd edition
- The Art of Leadership
- The AI Ladder
- 97 Things About Ethics Everyone in Data Science Should Know
- Natural Language Processing with Spark NLP
Reports
- Building Intelligent Apps with Cognitive APIs
- A Developer’s Guide to Building AI Applications
- The AI Ladder
- Privacy Optimization Meets Pandemic Tracking
- AI Orchestration Methodologies
2019
Books
- Deep Learning for the Life Sciences
- Machine Learning Pocket Reference
- Practical Data Science with SAP
- Practical Automated Machine Learning on Azure
- Hands-On Machine Learning with Scikit-Learn, Keras, and TensorFlow, 2nd edition
- Practical Deep Learning for Cloud, Mobile, and Edge
- Google BigQuery: The Definitive Guide
- MongoDB: The Definitive Guide, 3rd edition
- TinyML
Reports
- Financial Governance for Data Processing in the Cloud
- Operationalizing the Data Lake
- Machine Learning at Enterprise Scale
- Getting Your Data Ready for AI
- Applying Deep Learning in Business
- An Introduction to Machine Learning Interpretability, 2nd edition
- The Internet of Value
- Blockchain as a Service
- The Rise of Operational Analytics
- What Are Microservices, 2nd edition
2018
Books
- Spark: The Definitive Guide
- Applied Text Analysis with Python
- Getting Started with Kudu
- Foundations for Architecting Data Solutions
- Architecting Modern Data Platforms
Reports
- AI Building Blocks: The Eggs, the Chicken, and the Bacon
- Getting Started with Artificial Intelligence
- An Introduction to Machine Learning Interpretability, 1st edition
- Solving Quality and Maintenance Problems with AI
- A Developer’s Guide to Building AI Applications
- Preparing for Your Migration to the Cloud
2017
Books
- Hands-On Machine Learning with Scikit-Learn and TensorFlow, 1st edition
- Text Mining with R
- Learning TensorFlow
Reports
- Geospatial Data and Analysis
- Delivering Embedded Analytics in Modern Applications
- Creating a Data-Driven Enterprise with DataOps
- The State of Data Analytics and Visualization Adoption
2016
Books
- Data Analytics with Hadoop
- Efficient R Programming
- Practical Machine Learning with H2O
Reports
- Data Science, Banking, and Fintech
- The Hadoop Performance Myth
- The Evolution of Analytics
- Hadoop and Spark Performance for the Enterprise
- What Is Artificial Intelligence?
- AI and Medicine
- The New Artificial Intelligence Market
- Effective Multi-Tenant Distributed Systems
- A Guide to Improving Data Integrity and Adoption
Pearson Education 2012–2015
| Product | Format | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Human Anatomy & Physiology, 1st edition | Book | 2015 |
| Interactive Physiology 2.0 | Animated tutorials and interactive assessments | 2015 |
| Big Picture Animations for Human Anatomy & Physiology | Digital media | 2015 |
| Interactive Case Studies for Anatomy & Physiology | Interactive learning | 2013 |
| Practice Anatomy Lab (PAL) 3.0 and PAL 3.0 Lab Guide | Virtual anatomy study tool | 2012 |
Education and professional development
| Course or degree | Institution | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Developing Effective Science Communication: Intermediate | Editorial Freelancers Association | 2026 |
| Instructional Design for E-learning | San Francisco State University, College of Extended Learning | 2015 |
| Professional Sequence in Editing | UC Berkeley Extension | 2013 |
| Bachelor of Arts in Journalism | California State University, Fullerton | 2004 |
Contact
Interested in discussing a project? Please send me an email! Be sure to include as much detail as possible about your project (e.g., status of manuscript, target completion date, format of manuscript).
nicolegrazi@gmail.com© 2026 Nicole Taché Editorial