Overview
As an author and an editor, I bring a unique perspective from both sides of the desk to my edits. I will challenge your story on every layer, helping not only to get what's in your head on to the page but also to push the story to a new level. I specialize in making manuscripts emotionally resonant and helping tie all the layers together so that each one amplifies the others, and the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts. I've worked with major publishing houses as an acquiring editor, copy editor, and developmental editor, and have taught workshops with RWA, Writers' Digest, the Romantic Times Convention, the Idaho Writers' Guild, YA Thriller Con, and more. Books I have edited include The 99 Boyfriends of Micah Summers, Kirkus star recipients Island of Exiles by Erica Cameron and Sick Kids in Love by Hannah Moskowitz, USA Today bestsellers No Kissing Allowed by Melissa West and Knocked-Up Cinderella by Julie Hammerle, and Nebraska Book Award winner The November Girl by Lydia Kang, as well as a Kirkus Indie Book of the Month, 2 Junior Library Guild selections, a Goodreads Best Book of the Month, a Locus Magazine Best Book of 2017, and an A-Grade recipient from Smart Bitches, Trashy Books.
Services
Fiction
Fantasy
LGBTQ Fiction
Middle Grade
Paranormal Romance
Thriller & Suspense
Women's Fiction
Young Adult
Languages
English (AUS)
English (CAN)
English (UK)
English (US)
Awards
- Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Best YA Novel nominee
- Writers's Digest Website of the Week Award
Work experience
Page Street Kids-Macmillan
Jun, 2020 —
Present
YA futuristic thriller released Nov 23, 2021.
Working Partners
Jan, 2020 —
Present
I work for a book packaging company at an entertainment group, concepting and workshopping story concepts, plots, and hooks, and joining them together to make a riveting, marketable story with heart and imagination that just needs the right voice to bring it alive. This gives me daily experience building novels from the group up, and a unique eye for plot solutions and maximizing your story potential. I'm analyzing story elements daily, and it's a dream job.
Breakthrough Writers' Boot Camp
May, 2018 —
Present
• Writing coaching and mentoring for career authors through platform building, craft development, and career planning.
• Community building and moderating in a Slack team.
• Teaching through webinars, editing on live video, career consultations, prose analyses, and artistic vision development.
• Project development from the premise through final stages on WIPs.
Lerner Publishing Group
May, 2018 —
Jan, 2020
(over 1 year)
Copyediting and proofreading YA and MG manuscripts for Carolrhoda Lab, Carolrhoda Books, and other imprints using CMOS.
Simon Pulse
Nov, 2014 —
Present
How We Fall, a young adult suspense novel released in hardcover. Positive reviews from Kirkus, SLJ, VOYA, Booklist, and The Horn Book Guide. Nominated for Killer Nashville’s Silver Falchion Best YA novel award.
Entangled Publishing
Aug, 2014 —
Aug, 2018
(about 4 years)
• Acquiring and editing approximately 8-12 manuscripts per year in adult romance, women’s fiction, and all YA genres.
• Writing cover and catalog copy and marketing materials, providing concepts for cover art creation.
• Author support, project development with authors for work on proposal
• Development and talent sourcing for special projects pre-contract
• Bringing in new authors through pitch contests and conferences, developing relationships with agents, speaking on panels/presenting at RWA, Romantic Times Convention, Pikes Peak Writers, Midwest Writers, and more
• Management of a team of 6-10 interns and assistant editors.
Month9Books
Apr, 2013 —
Aug, 2014
(over 1 year)
• Developmental editing of adult romance, YA, and new adult manuscripts.
• Overseeing manuscripts through copy edits and proofreading, input on cover copy and cover design.
Self-employed
Jan, 2013 —
Present
• Editing 350+ manuscripts and submission packages for clients of Dystel, Goderich and Bourret, The Bent Agency, New Leaf Literary, and other established authors.
• Teaching summer writing workshops for teen and adult writers at Sioux Center Public Library and Northwestern College.
• Creating and executing the Fiction Writers’ Boot Camp, a weekend writing conference that drew 35 writers from a 4-state area, featuring 20 lectures, workshops, discussion panels, and networking sessions from New York Times bestselling authors Tosca Lee and Nicole Baart, myself, and library director Becky Bilby.
Portfolio
USA TODAY BESTSELLER AND 2019 RITA NOMINEEI'm a walking contradiction.School principal who liberally drops the F bomb.Fiercely independent yet willing to auction myself off for charity.Serial monogamist who's down for a no-strings one-night stand.Except now I'... read more
Isabel has one rule: no dating.It’s easier―It’s safer―It’s better――for the other person.She’s got issues. She’s got secrets. She’s got rheumatoid arthritis.But then she meets another sick kid.He’s got a chronic illness Isabel’s never heard of, something she ca... read more
April Fletcher has died nineteen times... but she doesn't know it.As far as April is concerned, she's just a normal seventeen-year-old, looking forward to spending spring break with her friends and going to college in the fall. April doesn't know she has never... read more
Never judge a dragon by her human cover… Sixteen-year-old Kitty Lung has everyone convinced she’s a normal teen—not a secret government operative, not the one charged with protecting the president’s son, and certainly not a were-dragon. The only one she trusts... read more
A new adult romance from Entangled's Embrace imprint...No kissing. No touching. And definitely no falling in love...Armed with her besties, an embarrassing number of shots, and her list of 10 Wild Things To Do Before Adulthood, recent grad Cameron Lawson is pa... read more
Per her 537 rules, Harper Campbell keeps her life tidy―academically and socially. But the moment Sterling Lane transfers into her tiny boarding school, her twin brother gets swept up in Sterling’s pranks and schemes and nearly gets expelled. Harper knows it’s ... read more
To save her, he must ruin her.Lord Sebastian St. John, dedicated bachelor and a co-owner of Fallen, the most scandalous pleasure club in London, is known as Sin for good reason. Orphaned by a shocking accident, Sin long ago vowed a life of solitude and decaden... read more
It’s not chemistry between Tinka Foster and Sam Anderson that made them agree to fake date. With her parents trying to set her up with an annoying pro-track golf student, and intentionally single Sam’s family pressuring him to bring a date to his brother’s wed... read more
Danny Garland is so out of Holly’s league. And her family is only back in North Pole, Minnesota, long enough to sell Grandma’s house and say “Merry Christmas.” So telling her basketball-star, too-hot-to-be-real long-time crush that she’d like to kiss him under... read more
Elena Chestnut has been chatting with an anonymous boy late into the night. It’s a very You’ve Got Mail situation, and she has no idea who he is. He can’t be Oliver Prince, hot-and-bashful son of the family running the rival sporting goods store. Their fancy s... read more
Luke can uncross almost any curse—they unravel themselves for him like no one else. So working for the Kovrovs, one of the families controlling all the magic in New York, is exciting and dangerous, especially when he encounters the first curse he can't break. ... read more
Julia Bishop has led a very sheltered life. Protected by her family from those who might ridicule her for her secrets, she stays hidden away in the country. But she longs for more, if only for an evening. To kiss a rake in full view of the stable boy. Unchaper... read more
Kiki Nichols might not survive music camp.She’s put her TV-loving, nerdy self aside for one summer to prove she’s got what it takes: she can be cool enough to make friends, she can earn that music scholarship, and she can get into Krause University’s music pro... read more
While vacationing in Greece in 1956, Lily Tassos, the hard-partying daughter of a powerful arms dealer, has a sudden change in plans. After her sometime boyfriend —a CIA agent— is murdered before her eyes, she finds herself holding a ticket to Moscow and a mys... read more
In the surreal and paranoid underworld of wartime Prague, fugitive lovers Felix Andel and Magdalena Ruza make some dubious alliances – with a mysterious Roman Catholic cardinal, a reckless sculptor intent on making a big political statement, and a gypsy with a... read more
Cyclo, the first and largest biological ship of its kind, is dying. A small crew of mercenaries have handed over the rights to their life to document the death of the ship, but the abandoned ship is anything but abandoned―one girl has been left behind.Hana has... read more
Disinherited by his parents and estranged from his wife, Fallen pleasure club co-owner Lord Grayson ‘Devil’ Deveraux long ago learned to place his trust in ledgers rather than people. But his ice-cold reserve hides the scandalous truth: he’s a man who craves p... read more
A horse race in trousers on Rotten Row. Visiting a gaming hall in a dress that would make her mother faint. Sneaking an invitation to a masquerade ball attended by only the wickedest, most debauched members of society… None of these things are scaring off book... read more
Something is wrong in Hidden Creek. The sleepy Alabama town is more haunted than any place fiend hunter Grisham Caso has ever seen. Unearthed graves, curse bags, and spilled blood all point to an evil that could destroy his gargoyle birthright. The town isn’t ... read more
LOCUS Magazine: A Best Book of 2017! I am Anda, and the lake is my mother. I am the November storms that terrify sailors and sink ships. With their deaths, I keep my little island on Lake Superior alive.Hector has come here to hide from his family until he tur... read more
“A rare gem of a book....[and a] fresh, original series starter.” ―Kirkus Reviews, starred reviewIn Khya’s world, every breath is a battle.On the isolated desert island of Shiara, dying young is inevitable. The clan comes before self, and protecting her home m... read more
Kate has 5 reviews
Professionalism
Quality
Value
Responsiveness
Kory V.
May, 2022
Jenny F.
May, 2022
Tanya S.
Mar, 2022
Laura H.
May, 2019
Ryan J M.
Sep, 2018
