Julia Scheeres - Editor
NYT-bestselling author and editor. I've helped dozens of clients write their books and get published. I'd love to work with you!
Request a quote
Verified identity
Overview
Julia Scheeres is the author of the memoir "Jesus Land," which was a New York Times and London Times bestseller and was named by Entertainment Weekly Magazine as one of the "Top 10 Memoirs" -- ever. Her second book, the critically acclaimed "A Thousand Lives: The Untold Story of Jonestown," was included in The Guardian's "Top 10 Books About the 1970s" list and was optioned by an Academy Award-winning actor for a movie.
She's a regular contributor to the New York Times Book Review and teaches creative writing for many venues, including Stanford University. Her private clients have successfully published books, essays, and articles.
Julia charges more than the average Reedsy editor because of her experience. Her editing fee for a book-length manuscript averages $3,500 -- see below for details on how she works. And -- congratulations for making it to this point in the writing process! That's a terrific milestone, getting the story down -- even a roughish draft.
From her website:
· For developmental editing of manuscripts that are relatively polished, I charge a flat fee of $10 per page, calculated at 250 words per page. This includes an initial conversation with the author (by Zoom or phone), editing and margin notes on the pages, a detailed editorial letter, and a second conversation. The editorial letter addresses the manuscript’s strengths and weaknesses, narrative arc and theme. It looks at how the entire book coheres and offers specific opportunities to improve it.
· For a read-through analysis of rough drafts or of manuscripts that need a final look, I charge a flat rate of $6 a page, calculated at 250 words per page. A read-through includes an initial conversation, light comments on the pages, a detailed editorial letter, and a follow-up call or video chat.
Best wishes,
Julia
Languages
English (US)
Non-Fiction
Biographies & Memoirs
Education & Reference
History
Humanities & Social Sciences
Political Science & Current Affairs
Fiction
Historical Fiction
Literary Fiction
Awards
- New Visions Award
- American Library Association's "Alex" Award
- Northern California Independent Bookstores' "Book of the Year" Award
Work experience
Teacher, Stanford Writing program
Stanford University
January, 2015
–
Present
(over 6 years)
I teach several writing classes through Stanford University, including memoir, proposal writing and a general craft class called "How to Grab Your Reader."
Book Reviewer
The New York Times
May, 2006
–
Present
(over 15 years)
Review fiction and nonfiction for the New York Times Book Review. (I have been doing this since 2006, but the Reedsy software won't allow me to change the year, for some reason.)
Content editor and writing coach
Self-employed
February, 2005
–
Present
(over 16 years)
I've written two critically-acclaimed narrative nonfiction books and have worked with dozens of other writers on their own projects. Some have landed contracts with major publishers, some with indie presses, and yet others have self-published.
My speciality is story development - helping authors tell their stories in the most compelling way possible. This means nailing down theme, character and narrative arcs, creating tension, and writing in a clear and concise fashion.
Reporter
Wired News
January, 2000
–
March, 2003
(about 3 years)
Wrote stories on Internet culture, including an applauded series on child pornography and another on a chat room for folks wanting to commit suicide.
Reporter
The Los Angeles Times
February, 1996
–
March, 2000
(about 4 years)
Reporter for the nation's largest daily paper, writing everything from features stories to breaking news pieces.
Reporter
El Financiero de Mexico
February, 1994
–
February, 1996
(about 2 years)
Reporter for Mexican daily, writing and reporting in Spanish on topics ranging from immigration to maquiladoras.
Portfolio (12 selected works)
Queen Sugar: A Novel (TV Tie-In)
Natalie Baszile
The inspiration for the acclaimed OWN TV series produced by Oprah Winfrey and Ava DuVernay, returning for season two on June 20th“Smart and heartfelt and highly recommended.” —Karen Joy Fowler, author of The Jane Austen Book ClubReaders, booksellers, and critics alike are embracing Queen Sugar and cheering for its heroine, Charley Bordelon, an African American woman and single mother strugglin... read more
What if for just one year you let desire call the shots?The project was simple: Robin Rinaldi, a successful magazine journalist, would move into a San Francisco apartment, join a dating site, and get laid. Never mind that she already owned a beautiful flat a few blocks away, that she was forty-four, or that she was married to a man she'd been in love with for eighteen years. What followed—a ye... read more
Good Cop, Bad Daughter’s Karen Lynch was raised by a counter-culture tribe in summer of love Haight-Ashbury, where she was taught to despise “The Man.” But when the San Francisco Police Department was court ordered to hire women, she found herself compelled to prove to the world that women could cut it as cops, a betrayal that caused her police-loathing mother to brand her a Nazi. Lynch reflec... read more
WINNER OF THE 2012 USA BEST BOOK AWARD FOR MULTICULTURAL NON-FICTION FINALIST IN THE 2013 ERIC HOFFER BOOK AWARDS AND THE INTERNATIONAL BOOK AWARDSFEATURED IN ROBERT MCKEE'S BYLINE --- THE LEGENDARY MCKEE IS THE GURU OF HOLLYWOOD'S TOP SCREENWRITERS.Strap yourself in for a wild ride! "Dodging Machetes" is sometimes dramatic and thrilling, other times flat-out funny. And it's always compelling!... read more
Jesus Land: A Memoir
Julia Scheeres
Julia and her adopted brother, David, are sixteen-years-old. Julia is white. David is black. It is the mid-1980s and their family has just moved to rural Indiana, a landscape of cottonwood trees, trailer parks, and an all-encompassing racism. At home are a distant mothermore involved with her church’s missionaries than her own childrenand a violent father. In this riveting and heartrending m... read more
A Thousand Lives: The Untold Story of Jonestown
Julia Scheeres
“A gripping account of how decent people can be taken in by a charismatic and crazed tyrant” (The New York Times Book Review).In 1954, a past or named Jim Jones opened a church in Indianapolis called Peoples Temple Full Gospel Church. He was a charismatic preacher with idealistic beliefs, and he quickly filled his pews with an audience eager to hear his sermons on social justice. As Jones’s be... read more
The Ponzi Princess
Mark Morewitz
Recently married and settling in to a new home in Brooklyn, Mark Morewitz feels something is missing from his life. He is intrigued when his neighbors introduce him to Laurie, the charismatic entrepreneur from Long Island helping them earn enough money to buy and renovate their huge home. Soon the Long-Island fairy-godmother gives Mark an opportunity to invest in her high-return deals and then... read more
Veiled and Unveiled in Chechnya and Daghestan
Iwona Kaliszewska, Maciej Falkowski
Offering an unflinching portrait of life in Daghestan and Chechnya and focusing on its girls and women, this book presents the north Caucasus today through the eyes of two Poles, an anthropologist and a journalist, who travelled there amid a locally rooted but newly assertive Islamic revivalism. Shadowed by Russian secret police, the authors participate in Muslim rites in villages which penali... read more
Laura was ten, crouched outside her parents' bedroom, when she overheard that her father had made her oldest sister pregnant. For the next eight years, she and her four sisters struggled to survive the nightmare of sexual and emotional abuse.As an adult, she buried memories of her family's dysfunction and tried to build the most perfect life she could imagine. But when she discovered that her ... read more
Those Who Eat Like Crocodiles
Laura Fitzgerald
Those Who Eat Like Crocodiles is for anyone who has tried tounderstand - and be understood - in an alien environment. It is foranyone who knows what it’s like to reach a crossroads in life andrealise that, somewhere along the way, the rules of the gamechanged and you weren’t notified. It’s for anyone who has had toconfront an unwelcome and disappointing discovery: that you maynot be the person... read more
How to Read an EEG
Jadeja, Neville M.
Julia has 4 reviews
Professionalism
Professionalism
Quality
Quality
Value
Value
Communication & Punctuality
Communication & Punctuality
Given Julia's impressive experience, I had high expectations of what it would be like to work with her. She far exceeded those expectations. I am so lucky to have found her! Julia gave me feedback on the sample chapter that I sent to her. I saw that she is compassionate and understood what I was hoping to convey in my book. Not only did she write a long editorial letter, give an overview of...
Read more
Muriel Adams, January 2021
Reply from Julia Scheeres
Julia offered intelligent, thoughtful, and useful feedback. She is a sharp reader—she scrutinized scenes in addition to offering valuable insights as to the bigger picture of my story. I am very grateful. She’s not only an amazing writer, but editor as well. Thank you, Julia! You made my writing so much better.
Janis Crowe, October 2020
After a lot of careful research, my father and I retained Julia to help us with our book that we have been working on for ten years, and I can say, without a doubt, that we choose the right person.
Julia was always easy to contact and always responded promptly to our emailed comments and questions.
Julia’s services have breathed new life into our book. All of Julia's suggestions and recomm...
Read more
Peter Dunnaville, May 2019
Read more
Reply from Julia Scheeres
I chose Julia because of who she is and her track record - a writer, a memoirist, a teacher of memoir, an editor and book reviewer, and so much more. She brings perspectives that many editors just don't have. And she's published an award-winning, bestselling memoir herself! ("Jesus Land" - it's fine work, and sometimes harrowing. Also a more recent non-fiction book about Jonestown, "A Thousand ...
Read more
Cameron Powell, November 2017
Explore the Reedsy Community
Reedsy is a community of top publishing professionals. Join Reedsy today to browse 1000+ profiles.
Paul Fulton
A long-time wordsmith, I am able to copy-edit (or beta read) with creativity and precision.
Tunbridge Wells, United Kingdom
Theresa Noll
I specialize in editing memoirs. Let's get your story ready for the world to read.
