I can’t recommend Jim Newcomer highly enough! He did far more than the usual editor’s work on my story, The Unfinished Chapters.
He guided me patiently through each chapter, helping my stories truly come to life. His insights, encouragement, and thoughtful feedback made the entire process not only productive but deeply enjoyable. Beyond being an outstanding editor, he has become a trusted friend through this journey. Working with him has been an absolute pleasure.
It feels like I just went through 7 weeks of class-5 white water rafting!
Thanks for being a superb guide as the drop and edges and near collisions with rock faces passed us by!
I feel like you had a steady hand on the right rear corner of the raft. . . smiled at my lunges sometimes, cracked up at my final, and mistaken soar out of the raft in the last stages… and perked me up after an absurd underwater ending. (No resolution, that is!!)
You’re a good, compassionate, patient man. What a gift!
Paul
“Jim Newcomer is a passionate, meticulous editor. Without his precise reading and many quiet encouragements my memoir would never have reached its full potential.”
Dr. Newcomer is the best editor I’ve ever worked with, and I’ve known dozens. He is incisive and kind at the same time. Most editors can find grammatical and flow issues.
“I began writing my novel, which spans 5 generations, over 10 years ago. I did my own editing, going back over what I’d written often, making slow forward progress. I didn’t show it to even close friends, for fear of harsh criticism.
At last, I realized that to finish it I needed a skilled editor. On a friend’s recommendation, I contacted Jim Newcomer with the hope he’d not only help me see my book to completion but be gentle with my still-forming creation.
I have been working with Jim for a year and am now completing my book’s last section. Jim has advanced my writing every day with encouragement, direction, and terrific editing suggestions. He understands the story I am telling and why it is important for me to tell it. I recommend without hesitation Jim Newcomer, an excellent editor, knowledgeable resource, and sincere advocate for a writer in any genre.”
Subject: An Unreserved Recommendation for Dr. Jim Newcomer
Finding the right editor can feel like a more daunting quest than writing the novel itself. We pour so much of ourselves onto the page that the thought of handing it to someone else is terrifying. Will they get it? Will they understand the heartbeat beneath the words? Or will they just wield a red pen like a scalpel, dissecting it until it’s technically perfect but spiritually dead?
I am writing to you today to tell you that I have found the exception to every one of those fears. I am offering my most enthusiastic, unreserved recommendation for Dr. Jim Newcomer.
Jim is, without question, a supreme editor. His command of grammar and syntax is absolute, but to call him a “superb grammarian” is like calling a master architect a superb bricklayer. It misses the point entirely. Jim understands that a novel is not just a collection of sentences; it is a living, breathing ecosystem.
He possesses a rare and profound understanding of the ART of writing. This isn’t a skill learned from a textbook; it’s forged from a rich and expansive life experience that allows him to grasp, on an almost instinctual level, how a story should be constructed. He sees the architecture of the narrative—the pacing, the tension, the emotional arcs—with a clarity that is truly astonishing.
Here’s what sets Jim apart in a way that matters most to us as writers: he understands the mind of the reader. He doesn’t just read your manuscript as a piece of text to be corrected; he experiences it. He feels the places where the story drags, identifies where a character’s motivation needs a stronger root, and celebrates the moments where the magic truly happens. He understands life, and therefore he understands what rings true and what rings false on the page. He knows how a story should be told because he understands the fundamental human need for a story well-told.
Working with Jim feels less like a transaction and more like a creative partnership. He doesn’t impose a vision; he excavates and polishes the one already buried in your pages. He asks the right questions, the hard questions, that push you to be a better writer than you were yesterday.
If you are searching for an editor who will care about your story—I mean, truly, deeply care about its soul and its success—with an intensity that rivals your own, then your search is over. Jim is the guy. He is the champion your book deserves.
I cannot recommend him highly enough.
