Jennifer Foster

Specializing in book and custom publishing, marketing and communications, and magazines, I’m a seasoned Toronto-based editor, writer, and mentor. My company is Planet Word. Client projects include everything from fiction and non-fiction books, consumer and trade magazines, newsletters, blog posts and PR materials to web copy, reports, curatorial content, style guides and book reviews.

With 28 years’ experience as a professional editor and writer, 22 of those as a freelancer, I meet deadlines and aim to provide superior results for my clients, which include The Globe and Mail, Atlas Institute for Veterans and Families, University of Toronto Press, Manitoba Museum, Canadian Children’s Book News, ALLCAPS Content, Editors Canada, Page Two Books, Firefly Books, Havergal College, PwC Management Services LP, St. Joseph Communications, Kids Can Press, self-publishing authors, ECW Press, Ontario Dental Association, Canadian Authors Association, Manitoba Mennonite Historical Society, Annick Press and Toronto Foundation.

My full suite of freelance editorial skills includes: writing (blogging, copy writing, rewriting); substantive, stylistic, and line editing; copy editing; researching and interviewing; proofreading; fact-checking; project consultation/management; mentoring; beta reading/manuscript evaluation; book reviewing; and book judging.

My educational qualifications include an honours bachelor of arts in sociology and mass communications from York University and a bachelor of applied arts/MA in journalism, specializing in magazines, from Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University). I also engage in ongoing professional development in editing and writing.

I volunteer/have volunteered my time as:
• a writer and an editor for BoldFace, the blog of Editors Toronto;
• a judge for the Fred Kerner Book Award;
• an occasional blogger for The Editors’ Weekly, the blog of Editors Canada;
• an annual reviewer for the Whistler Independent Book Awards; and
• the editor of Communiqué, a newsletter of Canadian Authors Association.

I have been a co-chair of Editors Toronto and was vice-president of the Toronto branch of Canadian Authors Association. I was also administrative director of the Rowers Reading Series for four years, until the series bid farewell to the Toronto literary landscape in 2020, after 13 amazing years, and have been an adult English literacy tutor for the Toronto Public Library. I’m a member in good standing of: the Editorial Freelancers Association, Canadian Authors Association, Indigenous Editors Association (non-Indigenous member), The Canadian Children’s Book Centre and ACES: The Society for Editing.

I mentor novice writers and editors via Planet Word, and since 2012 I have been mentoring novice editors via Editors Canada’s John Eerkes-Medrano Mentorship Program. I’ve been a reviewer for the Whistler Indepedent Book Awards since 2019 and a judge for the Fred Kerner Book Award twice.

Please visit my website, Planet Word, for more details on my skills, services, and experience, as well as client testimonials and a cross-section of my freelance and volunteer work.

Thank you for visiting my online profile, and I hope we have the pleasure of working together!