The Excellence of Elocution
Professional Writing & Editing services for Canadian authors, small businesses, and not-for-profits.
Emona Literary Services™ was founded in October 2024 by me, author and editor Joel Balkovec, out of a desire to use my powers for good — specifically to provide support to other emerging authors and entrepreneurs, especially other Canadians.
In addition to my nearly two decades of combined academic and professional experience as a writer and editor, Emona Literary Services™ is further set apart by following three key Guiding Principles:
Heads up: You’re going to be seeing a lot of dragons…
So let’s get the obvious question out of the way: why dragons?
Well, one, dragons are awesome.
But, also, buckle up — you’re about to learn way more about the history of Central Europe under the Roman Empire than you probably ever wanted to know.
That sort of thing happens a lot with me…
“Emona” is the name of the ancient Roman fort that eventually became Ljubljana, capital of Slovenia, the country my family is originally from. Like you can see in my header image, the emblem of the city of Ljubljana is the green dragon, associated with the mythical accounts of either Jason and the Argonauts or St. George.
via Wikimedia Commons. Public Domain.
As both a Classicist and a Slovenian-Canadian, the choice to name my business Emona Literary Services™ is therefore meaningful to me in multiple ways — and I want my clients to find the work Emona Literary Services™ does as meaningful as I do myself.
“I do words good.”
It’s important for businesses to have a good, strong elevator pitch.
I’ve managed to get mine down to about three words – I do words good. I have extensive experience as both a writer and an editor, ample opportunities to prove that I do, in fact, do words good.
Professional & Literary Editorial Support
- 19 manuscripts edited for Renaissance, a Canadian small press.
- Author services including copy editing, line editing, proofreading, formatting, and beta reading.
- Web editing for community organisations across Canada & student blogs at Algonquin College.
- Copy editing of weekly climate news posts for the Covering Climate Now project via WhoWhatWhy
- Resume editing for various professional across industries: government, finance, tech.
And remember that unnecessary comma on page 147 that I said I’d edit last? I lied.
Web Writing
- Blogging reliably & regularly across various platforms – including WordPress and Substack – since 2017.
- Contributor to leading Entertainment websites including Screen Rant and the FanSided Network.
- Pro bono web writing support for local community organisations.
Publishing & Fiction Writing
- Member of Renaissance acquisitions team.
- Proofreading & quality assurance of manuscripts to be published.
- Document layout: books, articles, brochures, magazines, newsletters.
- Independently publishing the Realmgard series of all-ages Fantasy stories since 2017.
- Works published in Carleton and Alongquin student journals and Fantasy fiction anthologies,
Content Creation
- Posting for various blogs and social media pages since 2017.
- Reviews and Pop Culture commentary.
- Curating an official Emona Literary Services™ Spotify playlist.
- Creating video content since late 2025, focusing on short-form trivia videos for YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram.
- Providing exclusive content to subscribers on Patreon and Substack.
More information about my specific rates and services here:
Ready to work with me?
You can contact me by email via info@emonaliterary.com, or by filling out the form below. Please allow up to 36 hours for me to respond.
And if you’re ready to for a initial consultation with, book via Calendly. These initial consultations are complimentary and come with no obligations or fees.
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And one more dragon for good luck:
Emona Literary Services 
