Anna Prendella – Editor

I'm a book editor with extensive experience across picture books, middle grade, young adult, and adult titles. At Donadio & Olson, I managed the slush pile, writing rejections and reports on all queries. I also wrote editorial notes for our young adult and adult authors through multiple revisions, preparing them to go on submission. Simultaneously, I developed from scratch an independent client's private memoir, drawing from personal documents and interviews I conducted. At HarperCollins and Little, Brown, I edited dozens of outstanding children's books, including with high-profile authors and in special formats like survey books and interview collections. Many of these books were acquired very early on, so I am accustomed to working as a proactive, creative collaborator as well as an attentive editor from the development stage through to line edits. As a freelance editor for pub houses and for independently publishing authors, I have primarily worked on scifi-fantasy, romance, memoir, and young adult.

As an editor, I prioritize comprehensive critical support. I am a genuine partner, happy to talk through every challenge and share my market expertise so that you can write with informed deliberation and your book can excel. I edit with particular care for voice, narrative resonance, pacing, character dynamics, and thematic balance—in nonfiction and fiction alike—to make sure every part of a manuscript hits home. My goal is always to help your book accomplish your own vision, so I'm an editor with high standards who also listens closely: I'm less interested in telling you what I think your book ought to be than I am in ensuring it is the best version of the book you set out to write, polished and positioned for success.