Jenna Blum – Editor

Hi! Thanks for checking out my profile. I'm Jenna, and I've been writing since I was four, a professional author since I was 16 (when I won Seventeen Magazine's National Fiction Contest!), and now I'm the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of four novels and a memoir, an audiocourse on writing fiction, and an historical podcast. I'm also one of Oprah's Top 30 Women Writers! Since graduating with an M.A. from Boston University in 1996, I've been running writing and novel workshops, and in those 27 years, I'm thrilled to have helped a LOT of authors get published.

My superpower is developmental "book whisperer" editing: helping authors who are getting that "so close but yet so far" letter from agents. I love contemporary, literary, commercial and historical fiction, and memoir, and like a true weirdo, I LOVE QUERY LETTERS--if you're seeking an agent, let's get your pitch in the best shape it can be!

I'm also a practicing writer; I just released my fifth book (and first thriller!), Murder Your Darlings, out from HarperCollins in January 2026; I'm touring with it now and coming up with my next novels, so I empathize with every step of the writer's journey, from ideating to promotion.

Here's how I work: I'll ask for sample pages to make sure I'm the right editor for you. I work in Word with Track Changes, and my feedback consists of a line-edit, structural assessment, an editorial letter summarizing my suggestions, and an hour of consultation. Although I *always* line-edit, my specialty is the Reverse Outline: I provide a chapter-by-chapter blueprint of your book with a summary of the action in each, to asses structure and pacing. Why? Because in the 27 years I've been editing books, the majority of them published!, the problems aren't with the writer's linguistic skill; they're with structure. We all need help with novel architecture.

When I'm done, I'll write you an editorial letter (usually 10 pages or more, you are forewarned! :), and then, once you've processed, we'll have an hour phone call/Zoom to discuss any questions you might have.

Different authors and different books have different needs, so if you want to modify this process, let me know. I work a la carte based on what your book demands.

As aforementioned, one of my VERY FAVORITE THINGS to do is QUERY LETTERS. I love them. They're my Sudoku! If you're an author seeking an agent and you need a query that works, let's make your pitch the most memorable and marketable it can be.

I'm most useful to writers who've taken a writing class/workshop and who have a completed book-length project.

Working with writers is my happy place. My favorite photo album in my iPhone is the covers of all the books I've had the privilege of bringing into the world. I hope yours is next!

Thank you, and I'm looking forward to working with you!

Jenna.