About

Book Magic provides copy editing, manuscript evaluations, and proofreading for every genre of fiction and non-fiction, including thrillers, mysteries, and true crime; romance, romantasy, erotica, and women’s fiction; sci-fi, fantasy, paranormal, and dystopian works; literary and historical fiction; business management and leadership manuals; relationship advice or personal development books; spiritual, religious, and self-help material; anything about science and technology or health and wellness; memoirs, autobiographies, and biographies; and material geared toward young adults or LGBTQ readers. We do it all! We work on full-length manuscripts, novellas, short stories, and children’s books. AND we carefully evaluate your manuscript for its strengths and weaknesses. This can help you turn a good story into a GREAT story, which is critical, whether you’re self-publishing or plan to approach publishers in this wildly competitive market.

“Do we really need editors anymore?” you might ask. “Why should I spend the money for an editor if AI can do it for free?” Yes, that’s true. You can run your book through a program like Claude or ChatGPT, and it will remove your errors and punctuate correctly. However, AI won’t maintain your voice or use words that come naturally to you. AI might make you sound super smart. However, there’s a good chance that the writing will be too formal or stiff, or AI will use words that you don’t even know—putting words on the page that you would never say. Or it may not use contractions, and you might not notice that fact until after you publish the book. This is bad in general, and it’s particularly bad for memoir writers. When you are writing your memoir, it has to sound like you. There’s an old saying, “Be yourself. Everybody else is taken.” Exactly, especially if you’re writing a memoir. Be yourself and sound like yourself. Ultimately, when something is written by AI, it might sound fantastic or stilted, but it rarely, if ever, sounds like it was written by a person. We at Book Magic are fully aware of the importance of maintaining your unique voice. 

Sounding too lyrical, intellectual, or cerebral is problematic, whether you want to approach publishers or are planning to publish yourself. People often think, “Hey, I’m just going to publish this myself. I’ll get rid of most of the mistakes with Grok, and I’ll be good.” Not necessarily. You’ll get your book up on Amazon, but there are copyright issues. If you’ve used AI extensively and generated your material that way, you have to tell Amazon, and they might not allow you to copyright or even publish the material. More importantly, when you publish a book yourself, just because it’s on Amazon doesn’t mean anyone will buy it. Amazon is the world’s largest bookseller, but in order for your book to sell, people have to know that it’s there. You need to market it. You need a following. This is critical for unknown authors, and it’s something you should be thinking about right now, whether you want to approach a publisher or publish yourself. Publishers love to know that you have followers. They don’t like taking risks on brand-new authors, and if you already have a following, you are a step ahead in the game.

If you’re going to use AI because money is an issue for you, relax. We get it. We offer flexible payment plans for people who want the best possible service for their manuscript, but they don’t have tons of cash up front. 

However, we want to be clear: we don’t judge or discourage authors from using AI. On the contrary. AI is not the future. AI is here now, and it’s a phenomenal tool. There are assistive and generative AI; if you’ve used either, just let us know. We will do a different kind of editing on your book to make it sound more human. We frequently do something similar with our academic writers or business leaders who are writing non-fiction stories. Their vocabularies may be extensive, or they might use a lot of business lingo or insider terms they know, but that could be very confusing to readers; this can result in a manuscript that is difficult for everyday readers to fully grasp. We can fix this by revising the vocabulary and simplifying the language to appeal to a broader reading audience.

We are currently affiliated with Baico Publishing and FriesenPress, two excellent publishing houses in Canada. Baico Books is located in downtown Ottawa, on Albert Street. This is a brick-and-mortar store where they sell your book right off a real shelf, as well as digitally. Baico offers traditional publishing and self-publishing options; we know the owners and managers, and we can connect you with them easily. We are also affiliated with TotalRecall Press in Texas, a traditional publisher that frequently accepts submissions.

Book Magic has a soft spot for memoirs, autobiographies, and life stories, which can be fascinating and empowering. Sigrid Macdonald, the company’s owner and CEO, has an academic background in psychology and social work. She is drawn to stories about injustice written about people who have experienced difficulties in their lives.

Book Magic has worked on books by or about people with ADHD, autism, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, dissociative identity disorder, and many physical conditions like hearing impairments, visual impairments, or illnesses, including ALS, cancer, autoimmune disease, addiction and recovery, eating disorders, traumatic brain injury, and chronic pain. We have worked on books by survivors of sexual assault or childhood trauma and helped polish their messages so they have the greatest emotional impact and are helpful and informative for readers, while remaining entertaining.

However, if you’ve lived a long, healthy, happy life, congratulations! Book Magic is more than happy to help you develop and perfect your life story, with its inevitable ups and downs. In everyday life, we don’t want drama, but that doesn’t make for a good story. As in fiction, conflict, struggle, and overcoming adversity constitute the backbone of a truly compelling memoir.

Sigrid works alongside Maeve O’Connell and Dian Yu. The company has attracted clients around the globe for more than twenty-five years. Book Magic will discuss your unique needs by phone, text, FaceTime, Zoom, WhatsApp, or email. Team members are based across North America.

We partner with Baico Publishing in Ottawa, well-renowned for its professionalism and high-quality services. Just ask us about Baico, and we will provide you with details and testimonials. <https://baico.ca/en/>

Meet the Team

Sigrid Macdonald is the author of four full-length books. Her first book, Getting Hip: Recovery from a Total Hip Replacement, became an Amazon bestseller. It has sold more than 25,000 copies. 

In addition to working with private clients, Sigrid has been a freelance consultant for ten publishing companies, including Dragon Moon Press in Alberta; Contento de Semrik International Publishing House in Israel; Book Coach Press in Ontario; TotalRecall Press in Texas; and Scribendi. She is currently affiliated with Hasmark Publishing International in southern Ontario, Baico Publishing in Ottawa, and Jumpstart Publishing in San Francisco.

Sigrid has a BA in psychology, graduating summa cum laude, from Ramapo College in Mahwah, New Jersey, and did graduate studies in social work at the University of Toronto. She is a member of Editors Canada, the Canadian Authors Association, the Editorial Freelancers Association, and Ottawa Independent Writers, and has spent many years with Toastmasters International and Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

 Maeve O’Connell has a commercial background in marketing communication. For fourteen years, she worked in newspapers and the film industry, creating advertisements, some of which won awards.

She has a BA in communications, an MA in film studies, and an MBA. She has a Graduate Certificate in Scriptwriting from Algonquin College and a Certificate in Publishing from Toronto Metropolitan University, and is a member of Editors Canada.

Maeve has worked with Book Magic since 2015 on a wide range of materials, including academic papers, children’s books, self-help manuals, and thrillers.

Dian Yu has published her work in the short-story anthology Pot-Pourri, The Varsity, and the Ottawa Citizen. She loves reading and hopes to polish every piece she reads to perfection. Dian graduated with a degree in pharmacy from the University of Toronto. She has worked as a copy editor with Book Magic since 2009 and currently practices as a pharmacist in the pain management department at Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO).