Barbara Scott
Content Editing, Substantive Editing, Copyediting, Proofreading, Writing, Cowriting, Ghostwriting
Barbara Scott, who holds a B.A. and M.A. in English, worked in-house for almost twenty years in the publishing industry with companies such as Zondervan/Zonderkidz (Harper Collins Christian Publishing), Abingdon Press, and Honor Books as an acquisitions and senior editor for hundreds of award-winning fiction and nonfiction authors. As an independent editor and writer, she has worked with numerous publishers, including Thomas Nelson, Broadman & Holman, Guideposts, David C. Cook, Gilead, Kregel, AMG, Deep River, Honor, and Elm Hill.
Barbara has encouraged, coached, and edited some of the finest authors in Christian publishing, such as novelists Brandilyn Collins, Melody Carlson, Cynthia Ruchti, Vannetta Chapman, Kay Marshall Strom, Nancy Rue, Shelley Shepard Gray, Richard Mabry, Barbara Cameron, Sandra D. Bricker, Julie Lessman, Mary Connealy, Ruth Logan Herne, Kathy Macias, Loree Lough, and others, and nonfiction authors Nancy Rue and Gwen Ellis—to name just a few. As an agent for WordServe Literary, Barbara represented almost fifty authors from proposal to contract stage, placing their books with publishers such as Tyndale, David C. Cook, and Revell. Books she’s acquired, edited, or agented have received starred reviews in Publishers Weekly and Library Journal and won or finaled in numerous award competitions.
In addition to her career as an editor and literary agent, Barbara has coauthored two best-selling novels, Sedona Storm and Secrets of the Gathering Darkness;numerous devotionals and gift books; and ghostwritten nonfiction books. Her latest project, a novella published in a collection titled Sleigh Bells Ring by Gilead Publishing, was released in the Fall of 2016.
Because she is a writer herself, Barbara is known as an author’s editor and never forgets that without the authors and the words they have written, there would be no books to publish. She is an encourager, a cheerleader, and a coach who can make insightful comments and suggestions to polish a manuscript to a high sheen, much like a Steinway piano, while respecting the author’s voice. Most of her authors have become long-lasting friends. Known for her encouraging personality and sense of humor, Barbara is a sought-after professional in the publishing industry and lives in the Nashville area.
You can follow Barbara on Twitter at https://twitter.com/BarbaraScott01, Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/BarbaraJScott01, or on her websites at www.BarbaraJScott.com or www.InspyEditor.com.