"For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so will My Word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it" (Isaiah 55:10–11).
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SKILLS (Word, InDesign, Photoshop): Writing and Editing (CMS, SBL, Cambridge),
Greek and Hebrew Language, Cover Design, Interior Layout Design, Indexing
I was very blessed when I began my editing career to be advised by my mentor, Desta Garrett, to devote myself strictly to Christian material. At the time, I didn’t imagine there were enough Christian authors out there to build an editing career on, but it turns out I was wrong about that!
As Nordskog Publishing Company, where I have been managing editor for eight years, has scaled back their operations, I have been working as a Reedsy editor. I've been with Reedsy for three years now and worked on over thirty projects. Reedsy is a great meeting place that pairs authors with editors and other publishing professionals. Having this niche on their platform as a Christian editor with Jewish roots has been ideal for me—I’ve been able to follow Desta’s advice and help authors glorify the name of Jesus, each in his or her unique way. I’ve also learned so much from these authors, such as about Christian education, handling finances according to the Word of God, the history of denominations, and deep theological dives, among many other fascinating topics. Many of my authors are repeat customers bringing out their next project or asking me to typeset projects we edited together.
If you are a Christian author, consider finding your publishing professionals on Reedsy. The site is super easy to use, and you can really find some great people to work with. Are you a publishing professional? Consider working through Reedsy. Go to https://reedsy.com/p/michelle-shelfer.
- Terriah McNair, author, Traveling with the Comforter
- Julian Raven, author, Odious and Cerberus
- Rebecca Friday, author, Great Commission Adventures
- Jerry Newcombe, author, George Washington's Sacred Fire, American Amnesia, and The Book that Made America, jerrynewcombe.com
Michelle Shelfer is an invaluable asset to authors and publishers. Her strongest contributions to Earthen Vessel Publishing have been in what we call “content editing.” By that, we mean she has a keen intelligence coupled with deep sensibility that enables her to quickly assess the intent and audience of a written work and to clean up, tighten, redirect, and generally edit for better readability and authority. She can alter tone of voice, smooth ragged edges, and focus attention on the important intentions of the author, all with the additional attribute of good grammar, sentence structure, and punctuation. We highly recommend Michelle Shelfer.
- Kent and Katie Philpott, owners and managing editors, Earthen Vessel Publishing, http://www.earthenvesseljournal.com/
Mrs. Michelle Shelfer, I can’t even qualify the greatness of your work. I was most honored to work with you, because you are the fastest and most detail-oriented editor I have ever seen.
- Nikola Dimitrov, author, The Four in One Gospel of Jesus, https://www.nordskogpublishing.com/product/four-one-gospel-jesus/
- Lesia Knudsen, author, Life in the Foster Lane
- Jim Weaver, Weaver Book Company
I am extremely grateful to Michelle Shelfer, my editor, for her excellent work on my manuscript, the book, Encountering the Eternal Guru--Ten True Stories. She gave helpful advice regards inclusion or exclusion of parts of the text, spotted proofing omissions and above all did a splendid job in creating well chosen subtitles throughout each of the ten stories, to high-lite changing themes and breakup the visual monotony of undue print spread. I am very grateful to her for creating a polished end product.
- Michael Graham, author, You Turn Works
