Testimonials

I have worked with Elaine since 2018 on technical books ranging in topics from Avoiding Corrosion in Desalination Plants to Advances in Measurements of Corrosion Manifestations to A Practical Guide to Microbiologically Influenced Corrosion (MIC) Management in the Upstream Oil and Gas Sector—demonstrating her versatility and knowledge.

Nothing scares her. If a problem arises with a manuscript, she does not come to me with just the problem, but also the solution; sometimes several to choose from. She is thorough and thoughtful and several of my authors request her by name. Elaine goes above and beyond with her dedication to the integrity of the finished product. The lines of communication with her are always open and are often simultaneously serious and witty. I admire and trust her; she is my go-to editor.

Elaine edited and helped me and our publisher to convert a long and difficult manuscript into a book that will be published soon by AMPP. Much of the work was conducted during the recent difficulties caused by the Covid virus. During some of this time, I was incapacitated and could not help. She continued with the editing project without me, and this enabled the project to be finished and sent to the publisher.

Elaine is a very competent editor and a compassionate person.

Elaine Firestone was assigned by NACE International to be the editor for our book, Corrosion Control in Petroleum, 3rd Edition. Neither I nor my co-author, Tim Bieri, had ever worked with Elaine previously. Elaine brought unique skills to the editing job. First, she had done technical editing before, but not in the subject matter of the book. Elaine asked us, the authors, what we meant by what we wrote. But, she was specific, asking if the meaning is 'abc' or 'xyz' or even a third possibility. That opened my eyes to the potential misinterpretation by the reader and helped improve the book's clarity. Secondly, Elaine used her knowledge of layout to avoid obvious problems before the book went to layout. Elaine even improved some of the charts that I scanned from the 2nd edition without my asking.

I've been in the corrosion business for 50 years, but Elaine pointed out that some of what I consider to be 'common knowledge' to people working in the petroleum production industry requires a deeper explanation for the reader with limited experience. In all, Elaine made suggested improvements that greatly improved the clarity and understanding of the subject matter of our book.

I thank NACE for kindly providing me with another opportunity to work with Ms. Elaine R. Firestone as my book editor. Elaine and I had worked together on my previous NACE book and I consider myself extremely lucky for having been able to work with her again. Elaine has done a superb job editing the original manuscript and rendering it more coherent and understandable. I owe her a great deal for helping me to once again transfer my knowledge and expertise into such articulate language. She is very meticulous, thorough, and professional in her work, and has turned my original work into an organized and eloquent technical book. I do hope that I get the chance to work with her again in the future.

[From An Introduction to Asset Corrosion Management in the Oil and Gas Industry, Third Edition ©2020 NACE International. Used with permission.]

I have written six books published by NACE International and Elaine has edited the last two. She was a joy to work with, and it is always nice to be working with someone who shares your sense of humour (and likes the same historical novels). We had a lot of discussions about the rights and wrongs of British versus American English, but Elaine was always the voice of reason. She always had lots of suggestions how we might change things to aid clarity and avoid confusion. When you are close to a subject, this is something that is easy to forget. I had worked with three editors before Elaine, but after working with her on my fifth book (and easily the longest), I had no hesitation in asking for her as the editor for my sixth book.

From the first project Elaine worked on for NACE, she undertook some challenging tasks. She started with a book-length manuscript, and then because of production issues on other projects, I had to have her temporarily stop work on the book to switch over to review formatting of ePubs. She then went back to the book she started with, but then I had another challenge for her: a "cleanup project" on yet another book. On this one, she literally had to clean up, revise, and re-edit a previously edited book (done by a different editor), where the author had been displeased with the prior results. Elaine brought the book back to what it should have been to begin with editorially, and won the trust of the author in the process—to the extent that he acknowledged her efforts in the book.

She is now working on a third book for NACE.

Elaine and I worked together on a couple of issues of CORROSION journal. I hired her as a freelance editor and she more than exceeded my expectations. Her friendly personality and professional demeanor were very welcome at a crucial, stressful time. Elaine quickly, efficiently, and flawlessly edited the technical papers to style, grammar, and my very specific requests. I appreciate her quick, friendly responses and hope to work with her again and again!

After working with Elaine for the past seven years, I've come to appreciate the factors that make her stand out as a fantastic copyeditor and freelancer for our scientific journal. In this deadline-driven business, I can't recall a single instance where she was late with an assignment—and most times she is ahead of schedule!

Elaine is always thorough and conscientious in her work, and one of her strengths is in suggesting ways to make the authors' work stronger. She routinely asks authors their opinions on substantive changes she’s proposed so the essence of what they originally wrote is preserved. Therefore, the ultimate testimonial of Elaine's work comes from the authors themselves, who I can attest appreciate her excellent work; they're the true benefactors of her hard work, which serves to strengthen their work—and in turn our journal's reputation.

I highly recommend Elaine to anyone seeking a copyeditor with excellent editing skills, a critical focus on deadlines, and a strong working relationship with authors.

Elaine provides freelance copy editing services for both of our journals. She consistently returns projects on-time (but more frequently, returns them earlier than the requested due date), and with her meticulous editing and eye for detail, I am confident that each manuscript will be significantly improved by the time I send the proof to the authors. What I especially appreciate is that, although we have been working together for nearly a year, with every new manuscript, Elaine always asks questions that pertain to the style and formatting idiosyncrasies of our journals, so that she may keep track of these nuances in her style guide for future manuscripts we assign to her. This ongoing flexible accommodation and 'customization' of her editing for our specific journal styles has decreased the amount of time that I must spend on those manuscripts, freeing additional time that I can instead devote to overseeing peer review and producing our journal issues—a managing editor’s dream! Elaine’s demeanor in our interactions is always a welcomed blend of professional, sincere, and thoughtful, and since day one, she has been a true pleasure to work with.

I wanted to thank you for the great editing on the recent article. As a result of the author's responses to your queries, the article has improved greatly and is now much stronger than it was. Keep up the great work!

I'd like to thank and commend Elaine for her significant technical skills as well as for her ability to troubleshoot. Her careful attention to detail allowed us to deliver a top-rate product to the MIB and NASA management. Her 'second set of eyes' proved to be a key element in the final preparation of these documents, and she performed this duty graciously and with a sense of humor...

To add to the complexity, the report consisted of three volumes. Each required a significant amount of time and effort, particularly in maintaining consistency across three volumes. Elaine was truly masterful in her craftsmanship of these reports.

The purpose of this letter is to acknowledge the superb editing support you recently provided. You quickly analyzed the situation, and inherent challenges, and offered several options for overcoming these challenges. Your commitment to delivering a quality product, on a timely basis, was evident from the onset. My sense is that the task was quite challenging, yet you focused on delighting me, the customer, and never complained. No challenge was too large for you to overcome. Your professionalism shined through everything you did, as did your creativity in addressing these challenges.

Elaine is the most thorough editor I've ever dealt with in my entire career. My documents have never looked and read so good. She did some amazing magic on my figures also.

I would like this letter to serve as my acknowledgment for the truly professional efforts provided by Ms. Elaine Firestone in support of the Living with a Star/Solar Sentinels mission study report...Her high standards and impressive organization made this effort a true success.

Her professionalism, knowledge, and people skills earned her the respect and cooperation of all the groups that she interfaced with during this effort. Her recommendations and prompt response were recognized and accepted by all...She is a true team player. Her exemplary performance should be recognized. I certainly do, and look forward to a future opportunity to work with her.

I have always been thankful that the SeaWiFS Technical Report Series gave me the chance to work with Elaine. She is an extremely competent and diligent person who does not shy away from solving the problems that naturally arise in her area of responsibilities, which range from developmental-, manuscript-, copy-, and production editing. Many of the difficulties she deals with require rapid solutions, because they are associated with production deadlines, and she has always successfully resolved the problem at hand in a timely fashion. The combination of her persistence and cheerful outlook makes her a very enjoyable person to work with.

ERF NOTE: The following quote was in a letter to Dr. Stanford Hooker (the prime author) regarding the handling of his paper at IEEE.

...I want to thank Elaine Firestone for her assistance, her patience, and also her sense of humor. Elaine managed to keep things in check...she worked very closely with myself, my staff, and the printer, and while she always remained a good sport throughout this entire process, she never once compromised the quality of your [Dr. Hooker's] paper, which was a given throughout this long ordeal. She was a pleasure to work with and I look forward to dealing with her on future projects, which I am hopeful will go more smoothly.