Cindy Marsch - Editor

(Now booking for August 2022 and beyond, recommending the cost-effective Manuscript Assessment)

I'm an author and editor with an undergraduate degree in creative writing (short stories primarily) and a master's in literature, and I have been editing professionally for four years and teaching writing for more than three decades. I work with writers according to their needs, making the most of each one's strengths and working according to each client's direction. Because I am an author myself, my first novel and short story published in 2015, my second novel in 2021, I know you are looking for what an editor can do to enhance your own writing, to help you get from where you are to where you want to be.

Are you a confident writer and self-editor and just want a pair of fresh eyes on your manuscript? I can help you clear away any snags that might keep you from providing your reader the smoothest reading experience possible. One potential client commented that my sample edit showed how I could take her modern romance "from garage band to gold record."

Do you have a draft and a dream, but you know your work is not up to the high standard you want? Are you struggling with the big-picture issues of consistent characterization, story arc, style, and overall impression? I can work with you in developmental editing, drawing on my decades of teaching writing to come alongside and coach you in the things that will make the most difference the fastest. I have also developed the popular, economical Manuscript Assessment, a true overview of what is most promising and what needs most work as you revise, with detailed notes from my reading of the text--many clients have used the Manuscript Assessment in lieu of a more-expensive developmental edit.

As a lover of beautiful writing and as a novelist and short story writer myself, I have a deep commitment to quality fiction, and I am active in online groups of independent authors and editors. But as a long-time educator and writer and editor of curriculum and organization documents, I bring the savvy of long experience to the needs of non-fiction writers as well. I have provided editorial services for a sweeping novel of African history as well as works about Britain, China, Israel, Italy, Panama, Portugal, Rome, Spain, and the United States, ancient to modern. I work with short fiction and nonfiction as well. I have served both independent authors and small presses, and I enjoy reviewing my own leisure reads on Amazon and Goodreads. In previous years I developed writing, literature, history, and other curriculum for high school and college students and curriculum plans for schools in several U.S. states, and I've written and edited documents and procedure manuals in many venues of business, education, government, churches, and charities. Everywhere I go I find my writing and editing in demand.

I look forward to the opportunity to work with you on whatever your writing dream might be!

Note: Although I am open to some sensuality, violence, and strong language, I prefer not to edit extensive erotic content, graphic violent content, gratuitous strong language, nor occult material.

Please read my Reedsy reviews below that catalogue many productive partnerships with happy authors!