Joy E. Rancatore, content writer and editor for hire

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Joy E. Rancatore

is a creative content writer and editor specializing in articles, blogs, books, brand cohesion, newsletters, press releases and web copy, with 25 years of exceptional journalistic and author performance and editorial influence on award-winning publications and authors.

PUBLICATION PORTFOLIO

Tap each icon below to access the article. Contact Joy for more specific work samples.

"A Flight from Heaven" by Joy E. Rancatore article icon

“A Flight from Heaven”

Northshore’s Slidell Guide Magazine

March/April 2011

Feature

Camp Shelby Expands Accommodations for Troops Joy E. Stodghill article icon

“Camp Shelby Expands Accommodations for Troops”

The Advertiser News

June 24, 2004

News

Baby Noor a Lesson for All Joy E. Stodghill article icon

“Baby Noor a Lesson for All”

The Mississippi Press

January 15, 2006

Opinion

Crews Take to Water Joy E. Stodghill

“Crews Take to Water”

The Mississippi Press

September 2, 2005

News

Yours Aye and Semper Fidelis Joy E. Stodghill article icon

“Yours Aye and Semper Fidelis”

Leatherneck: Magazine of the Marines

August 2003

Feature

Going Wherever He Sends article icon

“Going Wherever He Sends”

Outlook Magazine

Fall 2007

Religion

90 Years of Slidell Memories Joy E. Rancatore article icon

“90 Years of Slidell Memories”

Northshore’s Slidell Guide Magazine

July/August 2011

Feature

Women's Identities Formed by Reality Shows Joy E. Stodghill article icon

“Women’s Identities Formed by Reality Shows”

The Times of South Mississippi

June 17, 2004

Opinion

Animals Find Second Chance with South East Wildlife Rescue Joy E. Rancatore article icon

“Animals Find Second Chance with South East Wildlife Rescue”

Northshore’s Slidell Guide Magazine

May/June 2011

Feature

Medicaid Cuts Don't Leave Petal Residents Untouched Joy E. Stodghill article icon

“Medicaid Cuts Don’t Leave Petal Residents Untouched”

The Petal News

June 24, 2004

News

Wales Riding Joy E. Stodghill article icon

“Wales Riding”

The Mississippi Press

February 25, 2006

Feature

Baltimore Acquires Brown in June Rookie League Draft Joy E. Stodghill article icon

“Baltimore Acquires Brown in June Rookie League Draft”

The Cobbler

October 2, 2002

Sports News

VIDEO/AUDIO PRODUCTION & EDITING PORTFOLIO

Joy co-produced QWERTY Writing Life Podcast for five seasons. She served as co-host and lead on the written content, social media and graphics all five seasons, adding all audio and video editing during season five. Additionally, Joy posts video content to her author YouTube channel and social media from time to time. She handles all filming, production, editing, producing and publicizing.

QWERTY Writing Life Podcast Season 5, Episode 17, "Interview with a Creative: Joy E. Rancatore on Mindsets that Matter"

PHOTOGRAPHY PORTFOLIO

Joy worked in a photojournalist role for several publications, and some of her photography can be seen in the following articles linked above: “Camp Shelby Expands Accommodations for Troops” and “Going Wherever He Sends.” She worked as Camp Photojournalist at Twin Lakes Camp in Florence, Miss., the summer of 2002 and assisted with college graduation photography for a few seasons in the early 2000s. She owned a photography business between 2008 and 2013. Additionally, for more than a decade, she has either taught photography to elementary and junior high students with Slidell Family Homeschoolers or volunteered her talents to several organizations in St. Tammany Parish to photograph events and individuals.

Blogs Through the Ages—www.joyerancatore.com: Blogs have been around longer than you may think!
Young boy in a striped shirt holds up his LEGO creation while making a funny face. In the background are shelves of books in a library.
This post comes to you from a joint effort with my two literature-loving kiddos because poetry is not just for adults! They've been scoping out some great poetry books for kids and have their top five lists for you to check out. And, my son chats with us a bit about his writing and reading. www.joyerancatore.com
But ... That little word that changes everything lingers on my bright and shiny literary horizon. It teaches me a lesson in writing patience. See, I don't just want to have a published book. I want to build a firm foundation for what will be my literary legacy. www.joyerancatore.com
A few years ago I swore off making resolutions. After my initial "bah, humbug" attitude, I realized the problem was with my approach. Resolutions tend to be oversimplified generalizations of who we'd like to be. Instead of making vague lists, we can make better goals instead.
Teens write during a summer reading workshop led by author Joy E. Rancatore.

BLOGGING PORTFOLIO

Samples of Joy’s personal blogging style may be found using the button below. Five specific posts are linked in the following images. Each example was chosen for recognition in Self-publishing: The Carnival of the Indies, a monthly roundup hosted on TheBookDesigner prior to the passing of Joel Friedlander, a pioneer of indie publishing. The first listing earned Joy the title “Featured Blogger” in Issue #109.

Working as an Indie Author is like switching hats during a storm with hurricane-force winds while holding on to the other 48 hats in your collection. www.joyerancatore.com

“Indie Authors and the Case of Fifty Hats”

We’ve all been there. Mid-way through a novel, we draw a blank on a character’s hair color. I’m sharing my process of how to track timelines and characters. www.joyerancatore.com

“How to Track Timelines and Characters”

You’ve typed The End. Congratulations! Celebrate! Live it up! Now you send it straight to the editor to fix, right? Wrong. Authors, be your first reader! www.joyerancatore.com

“Authors, Be Your First Reader”

Challenges are the opponents in our cage. Often they have only one intent—to get us to tap out—but you can force a submission from your challenges instead. www.joyerancatore.com

“How to Force a Submission from Your Challenges”

The most frequent question I receive when I tell people I’m setting up my own publishing company is “Why? Why start a Press?” www.joyerancatore.com

“Why Start a Press?”

NEWSLETTER PORTFOLIO

In addition to email newsletters and sequences for clients, Joy maintains five regular newsletters with a nearly 40% open rate and unsubscribe and spam rates well below 1%. Samples of each may be accessed using the images below.

screenshot of Joy E. Rancatore's Author January 2024-B Newsletter

Joy’s Author Newsletter

Weekly

screenshot of QWERTY Writing Life January 2023 Newsletter

QWERTY Writing Life Newsletter

Monthly

screenshot of Logos & Mythos Press October 2023 Newsletter

Logos & Mythos Press Newsletter

Quarterly

screenshot of Joy E. Rancatore's Red Pen Editing June 2023 Newsletter

Joy’s Editing Newsletter

Quarterly

screenshot of Joy E. Rancatore's LAM Book Club December 2023 Newsletter

LAM Book Club Newsletter

Monthly

BRAND COHESION

For an example of brand cohesion, visit Joy’s three websites via the images below. Each site maintains common colors, fonts and styles to highlight each brand’s message. Since each site is connected by Joy’s involvement, they complement one another.

Screenshot of the author website of Joy E. Rancatore, Indie Author
Screenshot of the website of Logos & Mythos Press, a small book publisher
Screenshot of the website of QWERTY Writing Life Podcast

CRAFT SKILLS

Advanced Techniques

Analysis Skills, Attention to Detail, Blogging, Brand Management, Business Publications, Client Voice Match, Content Management Systems, Content Strategy, Creative Content Development, Creative Nonfiction, Creative Writing, Editing (all types and styles), Editorial Standards, Email Sequences, Fact-checking, FAQ Development, Feature Writing, Fiction, Grammar, Informative Writing, Interviewing, Journalism, Narrative Nonfiction, News Writing, Presentation Development, Professionalism, Project Management, Proofreading, Public Speaking, Publishing, Punctuation, Revisions, Spelling, Storytelling, Syntax, Teaching, Workshop Development, Writing

Experienced Techniques

Academic Publications, Branding and Identity, Content Management, Creative Strategy, Customer Service, Digital Copywriting, Email Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Keyword Research, Livestreaming, Magazines, Newspapers, Newsroom, Online News Platforms, Opinion Writing, Photography, Photography Editing, Podcast Show Notes, Podcasting, Public Relations, Research, SEO, Social Media, Videography, Web Content Writing, White Pages

Styles

American Psychological Association (APA), Associated Press (AP), Chicago Manual of Style, Modern Language Association (MLA), New Oxford Style Manual, The Canadian Style, Turabian Style

Experienced with editing American (USA), Australian, British and Canadian English

PRACTICAL TOOLS

Adobe: InDesign, Photoshop

Apple: iMovie, Keynote, Pages

Communication: Calendly, Discord, GroupMe, MailChimp, MailerLite, Skype, Slack, Trello, WhatsApp, Zoom

Google: Analytics, Docs, Drive, Forms, Mail, Meet, Sheets

Microsoft: Email, Excel, OneDrive, PowerPoint, Teams, Word

Other: Bitly, Dropbox, Eventbrite, Linktree, Meetup

Other Design & Writing Platforms: Canva, QR Code Generators, QuarkXPress, Scrivener

Podcasting: iTunes, Podbean, Spotify, YouTube

Publishing Platforms: Blogger, BlogSpot, Blurb, Draft2Digital, IngramSpark, KDP, Lulu, Medium, Substack

Social Media: Airtable, Facebook, Goodreads, Hootsuite, Instagram, LinkedIn, Meta Business Suite, Pinterest, StoryGraph, X, YouTube

Web Building: DiviBuilder, Drupal, Monster InSights, Squarespace, Wix, WordPress, Yoast SEO