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Jessica P. has worked professionally as a writer of articles, essays, short stories, and books for two decades and has nine trade-industry published books to her credit. She has also worked as a publicist, marketing manager, and editor in the trade publishing industry since 2003. She has written and edited hundreds of advertisements, press releases, newsletters, blog posts, website marketing copy, and other content, and has edited over a hundred books in all genres. Powers can produce, proofread, copyedit, and/or offer developmental editorial support for content of just about any type, from advertisements to legal documents, from blog posts to essays, from resumes to CVs, from brochures to newsletters, from articles to books.
Special interests for Jessica include, but are not limited to: travel, history, Africa, Central America, the U.S.-Mexico border region, the American west, California, education, homeschooling, parenting, children's literature, literature and books, crime, race and ethnicity, diversity, culture and society, motorcycles and riding culture, outdoors and the environment, water sports such as kayaking, violence, social media and culture.
Jessica P. has two graduate degrees in African history, a graduate degree in writing, and an undergraduate degree in English literature from a college in New Mexico where she specialized in Latinx and Native American literature. As a writer, publisher, and academic, Jessica has spent a tremendous amount of time in cross-cultural situations, traveling, and working in/writing about other cultures. As an educator of twenty years in Texas, Washington, and California's community colleges, and as a homeschooling mother for ten years, she also has particular interests in education.
Jessica is a curious person and interested in just about every topic, but here are some special areas of interest:
travel
books (all genres)
publishing
writing (all kinds)
culture
history (with a special interest in world history and in history of the southern hemisphere)
the developing world
geography; ethnogeography
outdoors and the environment
water sports such as kayaking and canoeing
cross-cultural relationships
cross-cultural communication
The U.S.-Mexico border
worldwide border regions
Africa
Mexico and Latin America generally speaking
California
the American west
medicine; ethno-medicine; traditional medicine; biomedicine
religion (all)
propaganda
ideology and ideologically-driven movements
peace, justice, war, violence
children and war zones
children
childhood development
motherhood; family relationships; parenting
education; community colleges; online education
traditional education
public schooling
homeschooling; worldschooling; unschooling
psychology
communication
social media
crime, criminology
violence and crime
Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature and Writing.
Master of Fine Arts (3 year terminal degree) in writing.
She studied African history and wrote a master's thesis on propaganda, the U.S.-Soviet Union Cold War, terrorism, and religion in southern Africa.
For her master's in history at Stanford, she explored professional and cultural conflicts between biomedicine and traditional healing in South Africa from the colonial period through to the HIV-AIDS epidemic of the 2000s. She examined cultural understandings of health and healing and the cultural conflict between different models of healing linked to the power dynamic experienced by Africans under colonial rule, followed by apartheid, and finally democracy.
Jessica P. has been the developmental editor and/or copy editor on over 100 trade industry books in the last two decades. Powers has also been the developmental writer/editor, copy editor, and proofreader for hundreds of brochures, newsletters, catalogs, advertisements, press releases, web content, blog posts, and marketing or publicity copy.
Jessica P. has written nine books for children and young adults, and edited over a dozen books for children and young adults. In conjunction with these projects, Jessica has developed and edited copy for marketing to families, children, and other important adults in their lives, such as teachers, librarians, coaches, spiritual leaders, and others.
As a children's writer, Jessica P. has written 9 books for children and young adults, and regularly presents blog posts and articles on topics of interest for parents, often in the area of education and/or books.
As an editor of books, Jessica P. works in the entertainment industry. The books she edits aim to entertain (and sometimes to educate, but that's another topic).
As an editor of books for children that frequently deal with history, ethnicity, and diversity, Jessica P. works to edit books so that they work in the classroom and library. Jessica has also created and edited many teaching guides to accompany those books.
Jessica P. has worked as an educator at a community college for twenty years in English and in History. She has been engaged in creating multiple teaching and curriculum materials for students every single semester for two decades.
Jessica P. has been involved with one main project specifically dealing with travel--the creation of the Intimate Geographies series, with the first book Cape Town: A Place Between published in January 2020. The book and ancillary marketing materials in the press kit number about half a dozen.
However, as an editor of books that deal with Africa, Jessica P. is regularly engaged in the production of materials that deal with travel and international experiences, as well as the creation of materials to translate "foreign" cultural concepts and norms to non-African audiences.
Jessica P. has edited and/or proofread over 100 books currently published into the trade market. She is happy to provide the titles of books and/or samples.
A small sample of recently published books Jessica has served as developmental/structural editor, line editor, and/or proofread:
1) The Shark Curtain by Chris Scofield (Akashic Books)
2) You Throw Like a Girl: The Blind Spot of Masculinity by Don McPherson (Akashic Books)
3) A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant's Son by Sergio Troncoso (Cinco Puntos Press)
4) The Everything I Have Lost by Sylvia Zeleny (Cinco Puntos Press)
5) The Lion's Binding Oath and Other Stories by Ahmed Ismail Yusuf (Catalyst Press)
6) Cape Town: A Place Between, the Intimate Geographies Series by Henry Trotter (Catalyst Press)
7) Small Mercies by Bridget Krone (Catalyst Press)
Jessica P. has directed and edited and proofread eight advertisements over the past two years.
Jessica P. helped develop and edited submission of two grants projects in the last year. One has been successfully funded for $5000 (from the Arts & Culture Trust of South Africa) and a second has been successfully funded for $15,000 (from the National Arts Council of South Africa). She also co-wrote and edited a Letter of Inquiry, which has been met with interest from the Alfred Sloan Foundation, and is now in the process of revising it. Jessica is new to grants and fundraising but rapidly gaining experience.
Jessica P. has edited hundreds of blog posts over the past ten years for several websites.
Jessica has edited a monthly (email) newsletter for the past three years, approving and developing content, editing and proofreading final submission.
Jessica has edited four brochures in the last two years, primarily for the publishing company she owns. She has also edited and worked on brochures and marketing postcards for the publishing company she works for.
Jessica P. regularly writes copy and edits catalogs that present the next season's books both for the publishing company she owns and for a publishing company she works for. Jessica writes catalog copy, creates sales copy, and creates metadata for all books for the distributor's catalogs twice a year as well.
As a publicist for one publishing company, and owner of another publishing company, Jessica has been involved in creating press kits and publicity campaigns for each of the books she has edited, publicized, or published. Jessica has created press kits and managed marketing campaigns for well over a hundred book projects.
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