Central to the LifeStories program is the editor/author relationship. Each book selected for publication will be assigned an editor. The editor will evaluate the manuscript’s strengths and weaknesses, and advise the author on the overall structure, voice, and storytelling power. The editor will review and correct mechanical errors for grammar, typographical errors, punctuation, and syntax following the publishing industry’s “bible”, the Chicago Manual of Style. Your editor will work with you on the title and sub-title and will advise you on front matter items such as a foreword, dedication, introduction or preface. The manuscript will be formatted with front matter in position.
Some of our stellar editors include:
Bob Burris has been a guiding force behind such high profile sitcoms as Warner Brothers’ Growing Pains, on which he served as supervising producer; executive producer/showrunner on Disney’s Thunder Alley and the Dave Chappelle vehicle Buddies, created by Matt Williams (Roseanne, Home Improvement); executive producer/showrunner of In the House starring LL Cool J; and executive producer/showrunner of the Disney Channel original series The Jersey.
As a feature film writer, Bob has recently optioned his first thriller City of the Dead to Troika films, has just finished working on The Governess for Bob Yari Film Group and PPP for Screen Gems. He is also developing a comedy television pilot Eva with Jennifer Lopez’ Nuyorican Productions. Burris has also recently written a remake of the classic comedy The Toy for Columbia Pictures and Happy Madison/Out of the Blue Productions. He has completed a screenplay on the last days of Napoleon to which Al Pacino is attached.
Before launching his career as a writer/producer, Bob was an executive at NBC and ABC, working in promotion and programming. He has worked extensively with the Warner Bros. Writer’s Workshop, nurturing and developing aspiring television and screenwriters, teaching craft and helping them shape their work.
Jami Carpenter brings a diverse background and wealth of experience to the LifeStories team. With a bachelor’s and master’s degree, Jami taught at both the high school and college levels, served on local and state writing task forces and legislative committees, and has spoken across the country at educational conferences. She was also executive producer and host of the Las Vegas PBS talk show, Book Club, which featured interviews with local, national, and international authors.
Jami is a professional ghostwriter and editor who has worked on a variety of Stephens Press memoirs, including: Voices in My Head, by famous impressionist Danny Gans; Amelia’s Long Journey, a little girl’s struggle with cancer by her father, John L. Smith, an award-winning journalist; Finding My Voice, by William Bailey, Big Band era singer and civil rights activist; DumbAss Luck, by successful attorney Al Marquis; Bing: On the Road to Elko, by Bing Crosby’s niece, Carolyn Schneider; and A New Day, by Dora Barilla – about a woman dealing with her husband’s traumatic brain injury.
In addition, Jami has given workshops and presentations on editing and writing through the Clark County Library District and the Vegas Valley Book Festival, and presented at the Henderson Writers Conference and the Central Oregon Writers Guild. More information about Jami can be found on her website: www.redpengirl.com.
Michael Doyle is an author, editor, educator, and historian. He is the author of one biography and five comprehensive historical books of which four have won awards. He has also written numerous articles for professional journals. His work is very readable and his attention to detail is meticulous. Mike has the ability to select images that capture the essence of the text including writing the captions. He has also worked as a book editor and copy editor and his experience includes crafting histories for large organizations such as churches.
Mike is a professional and painstaking researcher, who has experience in managing complex and wide-ranging projects. As an editor, he has worked well with a range of professionals including publishers, graphic artists, creative directors, and production managers.
As a former principal of a large elementary school and adjunct professor at California State University, San Bernardino, and National University, San Bernardino, he has developed the ability to work with a wide-range of professionals from different backgrounds. He has the knack of calming and reassuring people in stressful situations and help them get past stumbling blocks and keep projects on task and schedule.
As Executive Editor of Living-Las-Vegas.com and RoadTripAmerica.com, Megan Edwards routinely edits the work of more than a dozen writers from the United States, Canada, and the U.K. using both the Associated Press Stylebook and the Chicago Manual of Style. She holds a B.A. in classics from Scripps College and a master’s degree from Claremont Graduate University. A former Latin and English teacher and school principal, Edwards has also been a newspaper columnist and film reviewer. Other publishing credits and experience include two books and feature articles for magazines, newspapers and Web sites, including USA Today and MSNBC.com. She also has extensive experience writing and ghostwriting articles, press releases, marketing and instructional materials, and advertising copy.
Before adopting Las Vegas as her home town, Edwards lived in Germany, Greece, Italy, England, Costa Rica, Illinois, California, Texas, Rhode Island, and Washington, D. C. When a wildfire destroyed her home in the hills above Los Angeles, she seized the opportunity her sudden “stufflessness” offered and spent six years traveling all over North America in a motorhome.
Edwards is a member of the Authors Guild, the Las Vegas Writers Group, and Mensa. A frequent presenter at local, national, and international conferences, Edwards speaks on a variety of topics from writing and road trips to “Living Las Vegas.” An artist by avocation, Edwards is a ceramic sculptor and calligrapher. Represented by Donald Maass of the Donald Maass Literary Agency in New York, she is currently putting the finishing touches on a novel.
Krissy Hawkins has been a contributing writer for Luxury Las Vegas magazine since 2008. A graduate of Loyola Marymount University with a bachelor’s in English literature she has worked in book publishing in both London and Las Vegas. As well as served as book designer for the serial novel Restless City and Vanishing Village: The Struggle for Community in the New West by Evan Blythin.
A Nevada native, Krissy currently resides in Australia.
Ginger Meurer has the tenacity to tackle editorial projects that others deem impossible. The first book she edited for Stephens Press was delivered to her as a thousand-page manuscript typed in caps on an old electric typewriter. Ginger trimmed, updated and organized the epic tome into To Dance on Sands: The Life and Art of Death Valley’s Marta Becket, which was recently optioned for a future feature film.
“Working with Marta was both a pleasure and a welcome challenge,” Ginger says. “I survived summer interview sessions in Death Valley Junction, but every moment was worth it. I am grateful for what Marta taught me about seizing opportunities and making art a priority.”
Ginger is also the co-author of the Stephens Press title Sinning in the City: A Girl’s Guide to Las Vegas. She has a bachelor’s degree in English and has taught writing classes in fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry and memoir.
Ginger was recently named deputy editor for the View Neighborhood Newspapers, a group of twelve weekly newspapers that provide comprehensive coverage of the Las Vegas Valley. During her ten years at the View, she has worked as a reporter and copy editor, and she has won statewide awards for writing and design. More importantly she has worked with dozens of new and seasoned writers to help them develop their full potential.
Ray C. Newton is an experienced journalist, author, and editor who has helped hundreds of writers take their efforts from first perception to final publication. He earned his credentials as a writer-photographer for weekly and daily newspapers and magazines, as a correspondent for a CBS television affiliate, and as a correspondent for the Associated Press. As national coordinator for Reader’s Digest Writing Workshops, he worked for more than a decade with writers and editors at all levels — from local and regional publications to international circulation magazines.
Newton recently retired after 27 years as a professor-administrator at Northern Arizona University, where he served as a faculty member, chair, and later dean of the College of Creative and Communication Arts. He has been honored several times for his professional contributions. Among those awards: The Poynter Institute once selected him as one of the “Top 10 Journalism Professors” in the country; and the Arizona Newspaper Association has recognized him as “University Professor of the Year.”
In 2008, Newton edited the award-winning Damn the Rejections, Full Speed Ahead written by Maralys Wills. That book (published by Stephens Press) won the national USA Book News “Best Book” award in the category of business writing and publishing.
Joan Patterson is a freelance writer/editor living with her family in Boulder City, Nevada. She has worked as a news editor for small newspapers in Michigan and California, having her hands in every aspect of newspaper editorial production including editing copy, designing news pages, assigning stories, writing columns and overseeing the development of story packages.
She has also worked as a features writer for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, covering everything from pop-culture trends to issues affecting people in their everyday lives. During this time, she also profiled a myriad of Las Vegas-area artists, politicians, educators, city activists and entertainers.
She is co-editor, along with her husband, Mike Weatherford, of Looking Up: Finding My Voice in Las Vegas by William H. “Bob” Bailey (Stephens Press, 2009); and Vegas Confidential: Norm Clarke! 1,000 Naked Truths (Stephens Press, 2004).
In 2008, she was part of the team that received first place from the Nevada Press Association for Best Investigative or In-Depth Story or Series, Class IV, for stories surrounding the sacrifices of local soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Currently, she is collecting the oral histories of men and women who came to Boulder City in the 1930s as children during construction of Hoover Dam for a book project.
Heidi Knapp Rinella has been a writer and editor for more than 30 years.
As a newspaper journalist, she edited a health-care package that won a first-place award from the J.C. Penney-Missouri journalism program – a national award for which the competition included some of the country’s most prominent newspapers. She served as a features editor for more than five years for The News-Press in Fort Myers, Fla., and as a copy editor for several additional years. She currently is the Las Vegas editor for Zagat Survey restaurant guides.
Rinella also is the author of six books, including Personal Favorites: The Chefs of Las Vegas and The Stardust of Yesterday: Reflections on a Las Vegas Legend (both from Stephens Press) and the editor of several more.
A graduate of Ohio University, she continues to work in newspaper journalism as a staff writer and restaurant critic for the Las Vegas Review-Journal. She has won numerous awards for her writing on the national level and on the state level in both Florida and Nevada.
Editor’s Note: Heidi’s role as an incognito restaurant reviewer prevents publication of her photograph.
A graduate of Smith College, Liz Riviere has worked in art galleries, documentary film, major photography agencies and publishing houses from Paris to New York. Currently, in her sixth year as editor at Hard Press Editions (Lenox, MA), she continues to be involved in the ‘whole package’ of book making and has just wrapped up the launch of a seventh title, Seeing Out Louder: Art Criticism 2003-2009 by New York magazine senior art critic Jerry Saltz.
“The ability to tell a good story is an art. The art of telling a story is very visual. I find the intersection of the visual and the literal worlds to be a fascinating place – both worlds depend on each other. In order to write, one must be creative with words. To write about one’s own history takes a vibrant memory and commitment but it also takes color, tone, palette and style to create a perception. Since 1993, every aspect of my career has focused on the partnership that exists between literature and art and I’ve been grateful that so many have allowed me to partake in the process.”
Geoff Schumacher is an author, editor, columnist and newspaper executive in Las Vegas. He is the author of Howard Hughes: Power, Paranoia & Palace Intrigue, published in February 2008, and Sun, Sin & Suburbia: An Essential History of Modern Las Vegas, published in October 2004. Both books were published by Stephens Press. He is working on a book about Elvis Presley’s Las Vegas years.
Schumacher was a reporter, editorial writer and city editor for the Las Vegas Sun for ten years and editor of Las Vegas CityLife for three years. He founded and edited the Las Vegas Mercury, which ceased publishing after a four-year run. Today, he is the director of community publications for Stephens Media, overseeing editorial operations of numerous weekly newspapers, special sections and websites. Schumacher also writes a weekly public affairs column for the Las Vegas Review-Journal and serves as editor of CityLife Books, an imprint of Stephens Press.
Schumacher was born in Madison, Wisconsin, grew up in Southern Nevada and earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Nevada, Reno, in 1988. He is married with two children and lives in northwest Las Vegas.
As a professional writer and editor for twenty-two years, Schumacher is a strong advocate of clarity. “A short word is almost always better than a longer synonym,” he says. “A simple, declarative sentence always beats a long, convoluted sentence.” Schumacher also believes in effective storytelling. “Stories make the world go round,” he says. “No matter what you’re writing about, it needs a narrative pulse.”
For more information, go to geoffschumacher.com.
Jack Sheehan’s professional portfolio highlights accomplishments as a New York Times best-selling author and screenwriter, with over dozen books in print, including two with professional golfer Peter Jacobsen, Buried Lies (1993) and Embedded Balls (2005). Jack is also a regular contributor to America West Airlines Magazine on everything Las Vegas. His smash book, Skin City: Uncovering the Las Vegas Sex Industry, became the best-selling book by a Las Vegas author in the city’s history and is now in trade paperback throughout the world from HarperCollins. The Skin City material is also the subject of a documentary film, with Sheehan serving as co-producer, writer, and narrator. His most recent book is a biography on Parry Thomas, The Quiet Kingmaker of Las Vegas. Jack’s work has been honored with the Lowell Thomas Award for the nation’s best travel article, by the Nevada Film Commission for outstanding screenplay, and he was recognized as the outstanding feature journalist by the Western States writers association. Learn more about Jack at www.JackSheehan.com.
Barbara Tabach is a publisher, author, educator, and speaker on the value of saving life stories. She edits and interviews for the Oral History Research Center at UNLV as well as works with individuals and organizations to preserve their legacies. For Barbara memories are as intrinsically valuable as material wealth that should be saved and shared with future generations.
A native of Iowa, where she was once an English and journalism teacher, she later became a successful retail business owner and marketing consultant. She has also worked as scriptwriter of dozens of educational videos about historical figures and events. She adapts well to each person, having worked with elders, veterans, caregivers, and religious and corporate organizations wishing to record their stories.
Barbara is also an inspiring speaker on value of saving memories and the benefits of reminiscing, especially with those affected by Alzheimer’s disease and other memory loss challenges. In 2007, she co-authored with Polly Clark LifeCatching: The Art of Saving And Sharing Memories, which launched her LifeCatching process, a creative approach of prompting memories for editing into a cohesive story.
Barbara lives in Henderson, Nevada with her husband, loves to cook, read, and spend time with family and friends.
Mike Weatherford has been the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s entertainment columnist and show reviewer since 2000; he was an entertainment reporter for the Review-Journal for twelve years before that. His fascination for classic Vegas led him to write Cult Vegas — The Weirdest, the Wildest, the Swingin’est Town on Earth!, published by Huntington Press in 2001.
For Stephens Press, he edited and co-authored the coffee-table retrospective of the Stardust casino, The Stardust of Yesterday: Reflections on a Las Vegas Legend. With his wife Joan, he edited the autobiography of legendary Las Vegas entrepreneur Bob Bailey, Looking Up! Finding My Voice in Las Vegas. He also served as editor for both of famed Sin City gossip columnist Norm Clarke’s books, 1,001 Naked Truths and Sinsational Celebrity Tales.
Maralys Wills considers herself a born teacher. “Even when I’m not wearing my teacher’s hat,” she says, “I find myself explaining, analyzing, and advising.” So it came as a natural development, that with the publication of her third book, her own creative writing teacher asked her to take the overflow from a creative writing class. That was 25 years ago, and Maralys has been teaching novel writing ever since.
Maralys’ other passion is writing. The author of twelve books in a variety of genres, she has put her collected experiences from teaching and writing into one volume, calling her writing book, Damn the Rejections, Full Speed Ahead: The Bumpy Road to Getting Published. She realizes that this book is partly the result of having done line-by-line editing on some 50,000 manuscript pages. “After that much editing,” she says, “you begin to see what students are doing wrong—but even more important, what they’re doing right.” Damn the Rejections is her attempt to save other writers from collecting unnecessary rejection slips and wasting years trying to get published.
When Maralys isn’t teaching or writing . . . or just “living” . . . she’s at writer’s conferences or libraries, educating aspiring writers in ways to upgrade their manuscripts and tailor their careers to the realities of the publishing world.
Having written three successful memoirs—Higher Than Eagles has had five movie options, and may yet become a movie—Maralys welcomes the chance to help other memoir writers with their projects. She understands the difficulties of the genre. Yet she believes, as do the editors at Stephens Press, that the well-crafted memoir can be both a great read and a lasting legacy.