I am an experienced personal finance writer and editor. I have written over 400 published articles and blog posts for a variety of national and local publications and websites. My articles have appeared on Yahoo!’s homepage, Yahoo! Finance, Yahoo! Shine, Forbes.com, Investopedia.com, SavingAdvice.com, and several local news websites.

Because I am a writer who is also an editor, I understand the process of creating publishable material from both sides of the fence. I have over six years of copyediting experience working with corporate documents, public policy papers, and personal finance articles. I have also copyedited nine books on subjects ranging from public housing to South African politics. I have edited single-author, co-authored, and multi-author books ranging in length from 65,000 to 120,000 words on schedules ranging from three to six weeks. In addition to editing the text and front matter, I have also edited author-date citations, endnotes, footnotes, reference lists, and bibliographies.

My responsibilities as a freelance editor have included copyediting, proofreading, fact checking, monitoring for plagiarism, verifying the accuracy of mathematical calculations, and adapting writing to AP Style or Chicago Style and in-house style guidelines. I do most of my editing on screen using Word’s track changes and commenting features and some proofreading using Adobe Professional’s markup features, but I also know my proofreader’s marks and can do proofreading by marking up a hard copy and scanning and emailing my changes.

I have a BA in Spanish language and literature from Washington University in St. Louis where I graduated in three years with college honors. I am fluent in Spanish and have a working knowledge of German and French, which I’ve often found to be helpful in editing academic material. I’m also working on a professional certificate in print journalism through UCLA Extension.

I welcome inquiries about freelance writing and editing opportunities, licensing of my photography, custom print orders, and advertising on Two Pennies Earned. Please contact me at alfontin [at] gmail.