Julie Tibbott

Julie Tibbott – Editor

I'm an editor with nearly two decades of experience in publishing, most recently at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Overview

Based in New York City, I have nearly two decades of experience in publishing as an editor, author, and agent.

Until 2017, I was a senior editor at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers, acquiring mainly young adult and middle grade fiction. Before that, I was at Scholastic and Barefoot Books. I am the author of MEMBERS ONLY: SECRET SOCIETIES, SECTS, AND CULTS EXPOSED (Zest Books, 2015), among other titles. I also worked briefly as an agent with the Jill Corcoran Literary Agency.

Drawing on my extensive background in the book business, I can advise aspiring authors on their own paths to publication. I'll help you zero in on what makes your book marketable and understand what to expect from the publishing process. I can help you refine your prose in a manner that will enable you to view your work in a new light, and improve your writing going forward. I am committed to offering high-quality, incisive editorial feedback to make your work stronger, sharper, and viable for publication.

In my time as a freelance editor, I have taken on a variety of projects: revising manuscripts across a wide range of genres, doctoring book proposals and query letters, drafting promotional copy for businesses, developmental editing, and more.

Let me help you get your writing in the best possible shape to present to the world!
Services
Fiction
Dystopian Fantasy Historical Fiction Middle Grade Mystery & Crime Science Fiction Short Story Thriller & Suspense Young Adult
Languages
English (US)

Work experience

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Jun, 2004 — Apr, 2017 (almost 13 years)

Portfolio

No need for secret handshakes or passwords - Members Only is your all-access guide to the secret societies, clandestine cults, and exclusive associations that you've always wondered about. Profiling fifty groups, from the centuries-old Freemasons to the snooty... read more
It’s the end of junior year, and summer is about to begin. The Summer of Passion, to be exact, when Jory Michaels plans to explore all the possibilities of the future—and, with any luck, score a boyfriend in the process. But Jory has a problem. A big problem. ... read more
Freefall

Ariela Anhalt

Three guys from the Briar Academy fencing team went up to the cliff that night for a hazing ritual—but only two came back alive. Now Luke’s best friend, Hayden, is in jail and the pressure is on Luke to report what he saw. But what did he see? An accident—or a... read more
The Faerie Door

B. E. Maxwell

Long ago the Faerie Queen created portals between our world and hers, so that children could summon help from faeries whenever the need arose. But a wicked entity called the Shadow Knight is endeavoring to control the doors between the two worlds, and only evi... read more
The Clearing

Heather Davis

The Clearing
Wherever You Go

Heather Davis

"The closeness is maddening. You're so full of the desire to be seen, you must be freaking glowing. I'm here. You try to reach her with mental tricks, with all your powers of concentration, with all your love distilled into a single thought. See me." Rob's gho... read more
The Well

A. J. Whitten

If Hamlet thought he had issues, he should have talked to Cooper Warner.His mother’s normally sunny demeanor has turned into something—homicidal.And what’s worse, she has help in her hunt for Cooper: A ravenous monster living at the bottom of the old well in t... read more
Breath

Jackie Morse Kessler

Contrary to popular belief, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse aren’t just harbingers of doom—they actually keep life in balance. But what happens when their leader and creator, Death, becomes suicidal? Before the first living thing drew its first gasping bre... read more
Fifteen-year-old Billy Ballard is the kid that everyone picks on. But things changedrastically when Death tells Billy he must stand in as Pestilence, the White Rider ofthe Apocalypse. Now armed with a Bow that allows him to strike with disease froma distance, ... read more
Rage

Jackie Morse Kessler

FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. Sixteen-year-old Missy copes with being an outcast at school and stress at home by cutting herself with a razor blade, until Death chooses her as one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, War, and offers her a new blade.
"Thou art the Black Rider. Go thee out unto the world." Lisabeth Lewis has a black steed, a set of scales, and a new job: she’s been appointed Famine. How will an anorexic seventeen-year-old girl from the suburbs fare as one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocaly... read more
Jungle Crossing

Sydney Salter

Kat can think of dozens of good reasons not to go on a boring family vacation to hot, grungy Mexico. Number one: missing her friend Fiona's minicamp. If she's not there, she'll begin eighth grade as a social reject. Despite her reluctance, Kat ends up on a tee... read more
The Elementals

Saundra Mitchell

Kate Witherspoon has lived a bohemian life with her artist parents. In 1917, the new art form of the motion picture is changing entertainment—and Kate is determined to become a director. Meanwhile, midwestern farm boy Julian Birch has inherited the wanderlust ... read more
The Springsweet

Saundra Mitchell

When seventeen-year-old Zora Stewart arrives in the frontier town of West Glory, Oklahoma, to help her widowed aunt, she discovers that she possesses the astonishing ability to sense water under the parched earth. When her aunt hires her out as a "springsweet"... read more
The Vespertine

Saundra Mitchell

It’s the summer of 1889, and Amelia van den Broek is new to Baltimore and eager totake in all the pleasures the city has to offer. But her gaiety is interrupted by disturbing,dreamlike visions she has only at sunset—visions that offer glimpses of the future.So... read more
You’d think Polly Martin would have all the answers when it comes to love—after all, her grandmother is the famous syndicated advice columnist Miss Swoon. But after a junior year full of dating disasters, Polly has sworn off boys. This summer, she’s going to f... read more
The people of Nightshade, California, are dying in their sleep, and fifteen-year-old paranormal warrior Jessica Walsh is determined to find the killer . . . or killers. Justice isn’t the only thing on Jessica’s mind, however. Some days she’s not sure which is ... read more
High school freshman Jessica Walsh is a Virago-a woman warrior who must protect her hometown from danger. And in Nightshade, California, trouble is always lurking. At the town's Battle of the Bands, Jess's boyfriend, Dominic, and his band, Side Effects May Var... read more
Jessica Walsh is starting her freshman year at Nightshade High and trying to forgetabout the tragic events surrounding her brother’s graduation. She wants to have a normalhigh school experience. But that’s easier said than done in Nightshade.There’s a new guy ... read more
It’s springtime of senior year, and psychic sleuth Daisy Giordano is preparing to say goodbye to Nightshade High. But no college acceptance letters have arrived yet, and she’s beginning to worry about where she’ll end up come fall—and if it will be anywhere ne... read more
As the creepy little town of Nightshade prepares to celebrate its 200th anniversary—on Halloween, of course—many of its paranormal residents are receiving mysterious blackmail letters. Psychic teen Daisy Giordano and her sisters set out to find out who is behi... read more
A creepy, campy new mystery seriesWelcome to Nightshade, California—a small town full of secrets. It’s home to the psychic Giordano sisters, who have a way of getting mixed up in mysteries. During their investigations, they run across everything from pom-pom- ... read more
Something very strange starts happening in Nightshade the summer that the eldest Giordano sister, Rose, gets a job working at Dr. Franken's research laboratory. People are starting to see double. Doppelgängers of Nightshade residents are popping up all over to... read more
Welcome to Nightshade, California—a small town full of secrets. It’s home to the pyschic Giordano sisters, who have a way of getting mixed up in mysteries. During their investigations, they run across everything from pom-pom-shaking vampires to shape-shifting ... read more
Haven Terra is still recovering from an internship that brought her literally to the brink of hell when a trip to New Orleans leads to more trouble. There, while taking part in a student volunteer program, Haven and her friends Dante and Lance run across an en... read more
* “Smart, well-crafted and sophisticated; without a doubt, this belongs on the top of the stack of the current crop of angel books. More, please!” —Kirkus Reviews, starred reviewHaven Terra is a brainy, shy high school outcast. But her life changes when she is... read more
Young Charley Darwin hated school—he much preferred to be outside studying birds’ eggs, feathers, and insects. And so, at the age of twenty-one, he boarded a ship called HMS Beagle and spent five thrilling but dangerous years sailing around the world, studying... read more
Mary Stuart was just five years old when she was sent to France to be raised alongside her future husband. But when the frail young king dies, eighteen-year-old Mary is stripped of her title as Queen of France and set adrift in the harsh world, alone.Determine... read more
In this latest installment of her acclaimed Young Royals series, Carolyn Meyer reveals the dizzying rise and horrific downfall of the last queen of France.From the moment she was betrothed to the dauphin of France at age fourteen, perfection was demanded of Ma... read more
Rogue (Croak)

Gina Damico

Lex, a teenage Grim Reaper, has the power to Damn souls, and it’s getting out of control. Her boyfriend, Driggs, is dead . . . sort of. She’s a fugitive, on the run from the maniacal new mayor of Croak and the townspeople who want to see her pay the price for ... read more
Scorch (Croak)

Gina Damico

Sixteen-year-old Lex Bartleby is a teenage grim reaper with the bizarre ability to Damn souls. That makes her pretty scary, even to fellow Grims. But after inadvertently transferring her ability to Zara, a murderous outlaw, Lex is a pariah in Croak, the little... read more
Croak

Gina Damico

Fed up with her wild behavior, sixteen-year-old Lex’s parents ship her off to upstate New York to live with her Uncle Mort for the summer, hoping that a few months of dirty farm work will whip her back into shape. But Uncle Mort’s true occupation is much dirti... read more
After a plague of vampires was unleashed in the world, Katie was kicked out of the safe haven of her Amish community for her refusal to adhere to the new rules of survival. She enters an outside world of unspeakable violence with only her two friends and a hor... read more
The Hallowed Ones

Laura Bickle

Katie is on the verge of her Rumspringa, the time in Amish life when teenagers can get a taste of the real world. But the real world comes to her in this dystopian tale with a philosophical bent. Rumors of massive unrest on the "Outside" abound. Something murd... read more
Mistwalker

Saundra Mitchell

When Willa Dixon's brother dies on the family lobster boat, her father forbids Willa from stepping foot on deck again. With her family suffering, she’ll do anything to help out—even visit the Grey Man. Everyone in her small Maine town knows of this legendary s... read more
Hellhole

Gina Damico

A devil is a bad influence . . . There was a time when geeky, squeaky-clean Max Kilgore would never lie or steal or even think about murder. Then he accidentally unearths a devil, and Max’s choices are no longer his own. The big red guy has a penchant for couc... read more
"Nail-biting suspense, magically-written characters and plot twists that no one sees coming . . . you'll devour every minute of it."—Teenreads.com Mermaids have been sinking ships and drowning humans for centuries, and now the government wants to exterminate t... read more
"Enchanting."—Carolyn Turgeon, author of Mermaid: A Twist on the Classic TaleAfter parting ways with her troubled mermaid tribe, Luce receives news that the tribes queen wants her dead. Dorian, the boy Luce broke mermaid law to save, is determined to make her ... read more
Fourteen-year-old Luce reaches the depths of despair when she is assaulted and left onthe cliffs outside of her grim, gray Alaskan fishing village. She expects to die when shetumbles into the icy waves below, but instead undergoes an astonishing transformation... read more
What is it like to be the daughter of the most beautiful woman in the world?Hermione knows . . . her mother is Helen of Troy, the famed beauty of Greek myth. Helen is not only beautiful but also impulsive, and when she falls in love with charming Prince Paris,... read more
Wax

Gina Damico

Paraffin, Vermont, is home to the Grosholtz Candle Factory. There, seventeen-year-old Poppy finds something dark and unsettling: a room filled with dozens of startlingly lifelike wax sculptures. Later, she’s shocked when one of the figures—a teenage boy who do... read more
Nita and Kit return from their wizardly holiday, looking forward to getting back to their everyday routine. But there's trouble brewing. A strange darkness of the mind and heart is about to befall the older wizards of the world, stealing away their power. Soon... read more
In the hotly anticipated ninth installment of the Young Wizards series, Kit and Nita become part of an elite team investigating the mysterious “message in a bottle,” which holds the first clues to the secrets of the long-lost inhabitants of Mars. But not even ... read more
Every eleven years, Earth's senior wizards hold the Invitational: an intensive three-week event where the planet's newest, sharpest young wizards show off their best and hottest spells. Wizardly partners Kit Rodriguez and Nita Callahan, and Nita's sister, form... read more
Stay on the roads. Don’t enter the woods. Never go out at night. Those are the rules in Rowan’s Glen, a remote farming community in the Missouri Ozarks where Ivy Templeton’s family has lived for centuries. It’s an old-fashioned way of life, full of superstitio... read more
Flip the Bird

Kym Brunner

Mercer Buddie wants two things in this world: a girlfriend and the chance to prove to his master falconer father that he’s not a flake. With hunting season fast approaching, fourteen-year-old Mercer has only a short time to work with Flip, a red-tailed hawk he... read more
Tentacle and Wing

Sarah Porter

Twelve-year-old Ada is a Chimera, born with human and animal DNA thanks to a genetic experiment gone wrong. Because being a “kime” is believed to be contagious, she has kept her condition—complete with infrared vision—hidden. But a surprise test outs her, and ... read more
Esther is one of the Special Ones: four young spiritual guides who live in a remote farmhouse under the protection of a mysterious cult leader. He watches them around the clock, ready to punish them if they forget who they are—and all the while, broadcasting t... read more
Waste of Space

Gina Damico

Cram ten hormonal teens into a spaceship and blast off: that’s the premise for the ill-conceived reality show Waste of Space. The kids who are cast know everything about drama—and nothing about the fact that the production is fake. Hidden in a desert warehouse... read more

Julie has 92 reviews

Professionalism

Quality

Value

Responsiveness

Hilary G.

Hilary G.

Oct, 2024

Julie’s expertise has been invaluable in shaping my manuscript. She has an incredible eye for detail, providing insightful feedback that enhanced both the flow and structure of my story. Her ability to balance constructive critique with encouragement helped me develop my ideas in a way that felt true to my vision.
George J.

George J.

Sep, 2024

I have worked several times with Julie on two of my books and have her booked for two new books, too. She's an experienced editor and a good person who is willing to answer any questions you might have, even if not totally related to pure editing. I keep giving her more work, so that tells you all!
Carlos D.

Carlos D.

May, 2024

Attention to detail! That is the first thing that comes to mind when it comes to Julie. She went through my work and addressed any issues that she saw that would hamper the flow of my writing. She also made sure to emphasize where to focus on for my follow-up edits and guided me on the next steps after finishing the manuscript. I will definitely look to working with her again in the future.
Mark G.

Mark G.

Apr, 2024

I researched several editorial sites and ultimately chose Reedsy. Having previously self-published a book and gone through the editorial process, I was pleased with the way Reedsy allowed me to communicate directly with my editor. I selected Julie Tibbott to do a copy edit and developmental edit of my manuscript. My decision was swayed by the fact that Julie works in NYC, she has an extensive...
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Jennifer E.

Jennifer E.

Apr, 2024

Julie was amazing. So insightful and helpful. She immediately understood the work and my needs. The book is finished and I'd already gone through developmental edits to ensure the storyline held up. But I needed someone to read it with fresh eyes, and let me know areas I could polish it up before I begin submitting it to agents. She found some areas where I could improve characters, language th...
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