Jon Michael Darga – Editor

I'm an agent at Aevitas Creative Management and a former editor at Penguin Random House with experience editing across genres, from bestselling and award-winning non-fiction (Sarah Horowitz's THE RED WIDOW, Ann Marks' VIVIAN MAIER DEVELOPED, Lynette Rice's HOW TO SAVE A LIFE, Sheri Fink's FIVE DAYS AT MEMORIAL) to fiction (Angel Di Zhang's THE LIGHT OF ETERNAL SPRING, Krysten Ritter's BONFIRE) to platform-driven memoir (Patty Lin's END CREDITS, Geena Rocero's HORSE BARBIE, Anthony Chin-Quee's I CAN'T SAVE YOU, Sarah McBride's TOMORROW WILL BE DIFFERENT) and poetry (Nico Tortorella's all of it is you.). You can find more details on the books I've edited below, and I'm happy to discuss or answer any questions about my involvement with them.

I'm here to help you develop your manuscript in any way that would be helpful, across any stage of development. I've provided longer editorial letters detailing a complete restructure and revision of a book. I've provided shorter editorial letters to accompany in-text comment bubbles about where character development or world-building could be fleshed out. I've done final passes of manuscripts making line-edits in track changes to make sure that the language is polished and sings. And everything in-between, including tweaking query letters and agent submissions. If you're unsure what stage your manuscript is in, I'd love to read it and have a conversation about what might best serve you and your manuscript.

Please note that my services as a freelance editor are separate from my day job -- that is, any project that I review or edit as a freelancer I cannot consider for representation in order to avoid any implied "pay for play." What I can do is give you an expert and insider perspective on how to optimize your manuscript or query materials to draw the attention of other agents!