Ultimately, editing is about collaboration. Along with doing the job well and on time, I strive to form strong relationships with my clients. Here is what a few of them have to say.

“Ryan served as my copyeditor for three books and two articles in scholarly journals. As someone who struggles with organization and managing source material, my early drafts were bloated and disorganized, and they would have been unpublishable without Ryan’s insight and editing skills. Ryan caught grammar and punctuation errors, recognized areas that needed improvement, and was unafraid to suggest when I needed to make minor and major changes. His unique perspective helped me to improve as a writer, and his assistance contributed to my books and articles winning multiple academic awards.”

—Bradley Folsom, author of Arredondo: Last Spanish Ruler of Texas and Northeastern New Spain and Son of Vengeance: Searching for the Legendary Apache Rafael

“Ryan Schumacher is an outstanding and knowledgeable editor. I have worked with Ryan on numerous historical publications over the years and he is very professional and responsive to authors. Ryan excels on edits to complex narratives for publication in journals and books, both fiction and nonfiction. Ryan has my highest recommendation.”

—Patrick L. Cox, author of Ralph W. Yarborough: The People’s Senator and The First Texas News Barons

“My original manuscript for my essay on slavery and the Texas Revolution wandered somewhat aimlessly into multiple disciplines, mainly history and philosophy. Patiently but with a necessary element of firmness, Ryan led me to concentrate on the central arguments and helped me to introduce a concise thesis statement much earlier in the manuscript, resulting in an essay that came to be much more historical and less philosophical in its arguments. I came to see that I was trying to cover too much ground, with too many tangential arguments, and at last found ways to strengthen the historical analyses. In the end, Ryan was the Occam’s Razor that at once concentrated and strengthened the principal points I was trying to make in the essay.”

—John Willingham, author of “‘Should We ‘Forget the Alamo’?: Myths, Slavery, and the Texas Revolution”

“As a former book review editor for the Southwestern Historical Quarterly, I worked closely with Ryan for years reading, interpreting, and revising academic book reviews. I found him to be astute with interpretation and word choice, precise with meaning, and aware of the importance of relationships with writers. He also has a healthy sense of humor and is dedicated to accuracy. I hired him afterward for his advice on a writing project of my own, and he did what I hoped he would: offered a new perspective, suggested some alternatives, and listed additional research resources to consider. I recommend Ryan without hesitation.”

—Nancy Baker Jones, author of “The Way We Were: Gender and the Woman’s Pavilion, HemisFair ’68,” Southwestern Historical Quarterly (April 2016); and “Making Texas Our Texas: The Emergence of Texas Women’s History, 1976–1990,” Southwestern Historical Quarterly (January 2017).

“I have worked with Ryan in different capacities for over a decade. I have hired him for my projects and he has hired me for his projects. He deserves praise for his attention to detail, project management, communication, and focus on his clients’ short-term and long-term goals. I highly recommend his editing services, especially in the field of history.”

—James C. (Jay) Knarr, indexer at KnarrEDIT and editor of The Susquehanna Union Volunteers

“Ryan did a great job copyediting my manuscript, discovering several errors that had passed by me in making my own revisions. You can count on Ryan to do a complete and thorough copyediting job, whether if it’s fiction like mine or, with his historical expertise, non-fiction or academic manuscripts.”

—John Brock, author of The Great Ice Cream War of Summer 2016

“Ryan Schumacher was kind enough to add as editor for my first novel that I am trying to get ready for publication and give me some feedback and a feel for what it is like to work with a professional editor. In short, it was a great experience. He was very clear that I was the writer, so I could basically take his feedback as I wanted to, but thankfully the feedback was excellent, plus he explained the reasons for his edits. I give Ryan my warmest recommendations as an editor. He was professional, friendly, and good at asking questions to fully understand what I wanted to go for.”

—Thais Munk, manuscript in progress

Ryan Schumacher was the consummate professional when he edited our book The Purifying Knife: The Troubling History of Eugenics in Texas, published by the University of Oklahoma Press in 2025.  He displayed one of the most important talents of a skilled editor: he keyed in on the authorial voice, making subtle changes that enhanced clarity and succinctness without visibly altering tone or style.  He was a tireless fact checker, knew style rules intimately, and he was always friendly and encouraging. 

—Michael Phillips and Betsy Friauf

Ready to take the next step? Contact me here.