Ellen Goodson Coughtrey – Editor

With ten years in the literary agency world, I bring an experienced eye, nurturing warmth, and big brainstorming energy to my editorial process. Whether you're stuck cycling through ideas or have all your words on the page, I can help your manuscript become its best self. My favorite thing about editing is the way it marries creativity and logic: I will bring my objectivity and distance to your close-up, in-too-deep creative dilemmas and help you find solutions that work with your authorial vision and satisfy your audience.

My particular passion lies with fiction, all sorts, from heart-stopping thrillers to heart-wrenching romance (spice welcome!). I unabashedly love a beautiful sentence, and I strive to make sure every story has enough urgency and plot to propel the reader along. I read with meticulous attention to detail, and while I critique as honestly as possible, I'll deliver the news, the praise and the criticism, with warmth and care. We're a team, writer and editor. I'm here to help you make your work shine, not shut you down.

One particular strength of mine lies in brainstorming. If you're feeling stuck, early or late in the process, and need a partner to read your work with care and depth and popcorn problem-plot-solving ideas around with, I offer a strategic assessment wherein I read your work and we schedule a call to go over challenges I identify in your work and What If some solutions together. It's cheaper than an editorial assessment, and while I don't create a master editorial letter for you, I do send any informal notes I've jotted down during my read.

Finally, if you find yourself near the finish line with your novel, let's talk submission letter and sample. I read dozens of query letters every week, and know all too well the pet peeves and pitfalls that get a pitch tossed out before it's been seriously considered. Together, we'll make your query letter and sample as bulletproof as possible.

So bring me your thorniest plot problems and character woes, your writer's block and your notebook of ideas, even your Best Man speech notes (we'll make them laugh or cry -- up to you!) and we'll get to work!