Overview
"I feel like I've learned more in the last two weeks [working with you] than the last two years."
MY MOTTO:
"Let's grow your best story!"
My goal is that you will...
Grow as a storyteller.
Grow your writing craft.
Grow your confidence.
Grow your author career.
MY APPROACH:
I have a coaching-forward approach to editing, which means in working together, you'll be challenged, pushed, and encouraged to grow as a writer. What you learn in working with me will help you not only write the best version of your current manuscript, but also help you write better stories for years to come.
If you have been missing the collaborative aspect of editing in the past, or find yourself overwhelmed and struggling to move forward when 10+ pages of "things to fix" land in your lap, then you are in the right place. Instead of delivering edits to you and walking away with a "good luck!" I'll be there through the revision process with you. We will discuss your vision for the work and how we can take your work to the next level. I'll provide you with the tools and knowledge to confidently move forward in your revisions and throughout your career as an author.
I have two main ways of working with writers:
Manuscript Strategy Session or a VIP Plot-Your-Book-In-One-Day session (sometimes spread out in smaller sessions).
I love to meet writers on Zoom before we work together to make sure we are aligned in your goals.
WHAT IS REQUIRED OF YOU:
Have an open mind and be ready to work. I promise it will be worth it!
"Katie is a rare find. She is invested in the manuscript from the beginning and beyond. She is special in that she critiques and encourages at the same time. She also gives fantastic feedback as a reader and lets you know where something may not make sense to the average reader. I can’t say enough about what a wonderful experience it has been working with Katie. She’s fantastic!" – Tracy Ewens, A LOVE STORY series
BIO:
KATIE M. is a developmental editor and book coach based in Los Angeles. She’s been helping authors grow their best stories since 2012. Many of her authors have gone on to land literary agents and publishing deals, and several have won awards. Her editing specialties are memoir, sci-fi/fantasy, dystopian, contemporary, and romance for YA and adult audiences.
She is a founding editor of Revise & Resub (RevPit), a contest for emerging writers. She judges multiple writing contests, was a Reedsy Prompts judge, and also mentored teen girls in creative writing through WriteGirl, a local organization. She's also a podcaster.
Katie is a first-time mother who drinks too much coffee, over-cuddles her allergy-inducing cats, and watches The Vampire Diaries (and its spin-off series) on repeat.
Services
Non-Fiction
Biographies & Memoirs
Self-Help & Self-Improvement
Fiction
Contemporary Fiction
Contemporary Romance
New Adult
Psychological Thriller
Social & Family Issues
Women's Fiction
Languages
English (US)
Certifications
- BA, Creative Writing & Communication
- RWA (2014 - 2021)
- Pitch to Publication Editor (2015, 2016)
- EFA (2011 - 2016)
- ShoreIndie Editor (2017)
- Revise & Resub (RevPit) Co-Founder & Editor (2017- 2021)
- ALLi (2018-2019)
- WriteGirl Mentor (2018-2019)
- YA4YA mentor (2019)
- Final Judge of the Lone Star Contest (2019)
Work experience
Self-employed
Jan, 2012 —
Present
I work with writers and authors of all kinds (self-published, first timers, those seeking agent representation) and in several genres to help a writer develop their story into the best possible version it can be. I LOVE seeing authors succeed, and my goal is that working together will be a stepping-stone in getting you there!
I work with authors to create the best possible version of a story by evaluating the content and providing detailed suggestions/edits that keep the “voice” of a product while making it the strongest version possible.
Genres of interest:
FICTION:
Adult: romance, women's fiction, upmarket, contemporary, suspense, thriller, sci-fi, fantasy.
YA sci-fi, fantasy, contemporary, romance, suspense, thriller.
NA contemporary, romance.
NONFICTION:
Memoir
Portfolio
If only life came with instructions.Boyd McNaughton is working on balance. He is a father, a brewmaster, and the oldest brother of four. When he’s not running Foghorn Brewery with two of his brothers, his days are packed with carpools, teenage angst, and well-... read more
An Incredible Journey of Determination and RecoveryIn 2005, Ted W. Baxter was at the top of his game. He was a successful, globe-trotting businessman with a resume that would impress the best of the best. In peak physical condition, Ted worked out nearly every... read more
******MULTI-AWARD WINNING BOOK BY NEW AUSTRALIAN AUTHOR******APRIL 2017: 'FAT CHICK GOES AWOL' WINS BEST FIRST BOOK - NON FICTION IN THE INDEPENDENT PUBLISHER BOOK AWARDSMAY 2017: 'FAT CHICK GOES AWOL' THE SOLE WINNER OF THE HUMOR CATEGORY IN BOOK FEST AMERICA... read more
If only life were as simple as making a reservation.Makenna Rye Conroy was living the dream—with an amazing husband and a beautiful new baby daughter—when one night changed everything.Almost six years after Adam’s death, Makenna and her daughter Paige have bui... read more
On a battlefield in Afghanistan, Sgt. Ryder Bronson makes an oath to protect his dying friend’s wife from a rogue cop—and from the passion that will threaten to overwhelm them both. ALONE... After surviving a deadly Taliban attack on his unit, Sgt. Ryder Brons... read more
When a collision of two parallel worlds creates a portal, Ella’s eyes—and heart—open to the impossible.Eighteen-year-old, tell-it-like-it-is Ella Beuchene is about to graduate from a prestigious high school, and yet she’s never felt more trapped. Her family is... read more
Beth Duke, Author of #1 Best Seller It All Comes Back to You, delivers an emotional and inspiring novel about family, from the roots that ground us to the branches that allow us to take flight."Beth Duke is a poet disguised as a Southern novelist.Tapestry made... read more
When a blizzard prevents teacher Caroline Crawley from getting home for the first Christmas after her mother’s death, a stranger makes her an offer she can’t refuse. Dr. Colin Pepper is traveling home, but without the non-existent girlfriend his family is expe... read more
Chloe wasn’t looking for a new friend, never mind a love interest. Gavin’s plan to run into his high school crush worked perfectly. His appearance to help plan their high school reunion pushes everything into place. For Gavin it all worked out. For Chloe, Gavi... read more
Having thrown in the towel where men are concerned, Charlotte Cavanuagh devotes her energy toward expanding her design business and finding a new place to live.Despite his love of family, recent losses have left Luke Anderson with no desire to embark upon a ne... read more
Born to a position of privilege in a world embittered by war, Hope McKenzie is destined to live a life of duty and obedience.Leading the barbarian horde, Aleksander Ros seeks only to conquer with no care for the price he will pay for victory.Sworn enemies, the... read more
Growing up amidst alcoholism and knowing firsthand of its dire consequences, Val relives her family horrors even as she moves away for college. Having an up-and-coming career as a talented filmmaker, Val is bursting with creative energy, but not all of that is... read more
If only life were as simple as breathing in and letting go.Millie Hart has made a career writing happy endings. While her real life is often less than enchanting, at least she has her stories, featuring strong, vibrant women ready for any challenge and men who... read more
The spellbinding first installment of Taralynn Moore’s KING series.Three hearts.Two loves.Unending lies.Bria has no idea her life is a carefully woven tapestry of design and predestination. Until a helicopter, a quiet beach cove, and the pull of piano chords u... read more
Deprived of everything you are, who do you become?Exiled from her home. Healer status revoked. The man she loves in the hands of a madman. Natalie Desmond takes refuge amongst a group of spies and elite operatives, convinced life couldn’t get worse. Spies find... read more
The dead cannot be allowed to possess the living.Judith is an angel, a guardian called to watch over the souls of the deserving in paradise. But when a rift between realms is opened in the wastelands of the wicked, every sword is needed. While the archangels w... read more
A seductive spy. An alpha vampire. A deadly assassin after them both...When a rogue vampire group emerges from the shadows to enslave mortals, research scientist Cerissa Patel is the only one with an inside track to stop them.The catch - she must go undercover... read more
Could love be waiting in the wings? Author of Invisible Anna and Summer Rules, Coralie Moss returns with a sizzling intrigue between a talented costume designer and an upper-crust Bostonian with a bad-boy reputation. Chase Witherell’s preferred milieu is any p... read more
DO YOU FEEL… Lucy Jones isn't like other teenagers. She has spent her entire life feeling. Feeling everything from the anxiety of an upcoming test, to despair that runs so deep it threatens to shatter her. The catch? She can’t tell if these feelings are her ow... read more
COMING UPAfter finally making the break from an abusive ex, Gracie Jordan wants to invest her whole heart into the unexpected relationship she found with her best friend Jake, who offers hope, comfort, and solace. She expects the summer before their senior yea... read more
IS HOPE ENOUGH Kale Montgomery is stuck with a father who hates her, a mother who left her, and a town that pities her. Getting out of this life seems impossible, and yet she knows staying is the fastest way to lose her soul. When Wyatt McCade, her best friend... read more
Her choice won the war, but may have cost her future… Rie should be praised as a hero. She won the Battle of the Arches and stopped the next Great War. Instead, she’s hiding out under the strict watch of her mentor, Lord Garamaen Sanyaro. But when Sanyaro’s ow... read more
For Emmaline Kincaid, Police Chief Bradley Gallagher makes hating cops…problematic. Reconsidering Her OptionsStalwart, honest, a stand-up guy – high praise, right? Wears his jeans just right, single, a catch – pretty much everyone in Hangman’s Loss, a quirky l... read more
You’ve witnessed your best friend’s murder, taken her son on the run, and the police want to "talk" to you - where do you go? - to the man who’s always hated you, of course.THE WORST THING THAT CAN HAPPENIf asked, Gwendolyn Ballard would admit she co-parented ... read more
When Elle Christiansen's rebellion leads to her father's expulsion from a parsonage in small-town Ohio, the forlorn pair is forced to move to Oklahoma to live with an aunt neither of them has ever met. Here she encounters her aunt’s neighbor—Maverick Mason, th... read more
Max is a bright young man looking for a way to change a broken world that he sees around him. An idea takes hold and won’t let go. He’s driven to create a secret group with the eventual aim of putting each of its members into the most powerful and influential ... read more
Tattooed with a glowing mark, Livvy knows she doesn’t belong to the family that abandoned her to a mental institution. She can’t explain how she ended up with a serial killer in her brain, or how she knows everything he knew, all his military training and mart... read more
Her choice won the war, but may have cost her everything…Rie should be praised as a hero. She won the Battle of the Arches and stopped the next Great War. Instead, she’s hiding out under the strict watch of her mentor, Lord Garamaen Sanyaro. But when Sanyaro’s... read more
The Territories prided themselves on their ability to make each generation smarter, stronger, and healthier. With their plans, the future meant all humans would be born perfect. And to those who were Planned even before conception, perfection was already in th... read more
If only life were as simple as a clever pickup line.Cade McNaughton is the last man standing. His brothers have all found love. Despite his recent oh-so-revealing Instagram nightmare and his family’s subsequent disappointment, Cade is ready to fall for a woman... read more
During her days as a student Bridhe of the Isles Abbey, Healer Natalie Desmond never imagined being a wartime Healer. Her heart aches as she treats the worst wounds she's ever seen. Each day she hopes her missing former teacher, Healer Jules Rayvenwood, will r... read more
In A Man for Every Purpose, we explore the story of one woman's very personal and refreshingly honest exploration of relationships (the good, the bad, and the strange) and all that comes with searching for the “right” one. For years, Katie thinks she has it ma... read more
Gracie Jordan knew maintaining a serious relationship in college would be complicated, but she never thought the day Noah Foster said, "I love you" should have been the day she walked away from the wreck that would become her life. TO WIN HER HEART Gracie Jord... read more
On the run, and he’s still trying to figure out how that happened, Trask Sinclair must keep psychic Allys Joel from getting captured, or killed, before they get to the safe haven promised in Mystic, Wyoming. HOW CAN A GOOD DEED GO SO WRONG Trask Sinclar is a r... read more
In this prequel short story to “Emerald’s Fracture” (Isles of Stone Book One), Natalie Desmond struggles in her new role as a wartime Healer now that the nearby country of Lorelan declared war on the Isles. Her new duties prevent her from pursuing a mystery – ... read more
If only life came with a guarantee.Patrick McNaughton wants more. More people drinking Foghorn’s beer, more money to push their brewery past the competition, and more cooperation from his brothers, who have no sense of urgency. He’s all about conquering one ch... read more
"The perfect blend of action, danger, and heart-wrenching drama, this is a truly breathtaking gothic fantasy." ~ Bestselling author, Sherry Ficklin"Almost hyperventilating from the non-stop action, sacrifice, betrayal and fight for justice that was displayed i... read more
Her secret is unraveling. One dangerous quest could end it all... Rie thought she was an ordinary human. After she’s named heir to Sanyaro, the truthseeker and mediator of the nine faerie realms, life becomes a lot more complicated. As she struggles to control... read more
Monster. Murderer. Oathbreaker. Three years after the events leading to the deaths of her friend and lover, twenty-one-year-old Alena Kozlov is still trying to outrun her past. But the darkness within her is not something she can simply leave behind. The night... read more
Sent off the grid after a social media catastrophe, seventeen-year-old Zoe Black tries to rebuild her life. NO ESCAPEZoe Black is a seventeen-year-old on a mission: graduate from high school in Boulder, Colorado, as quickly as possible and take the Ivy League ... read more
Everybody loves marketing whiz Charlie Solanger—except the woman he really wants.Creative genius Charlie Solanger has it all: good looks, money, intelligence, charm. And when he swoops in to save Reynolds Paint Company with a brilliant marketing campaign, he h... read more
A woman without a past.An empire with an ancient secret.A darkness preparing to unleash.Sofia. A name. And a single, terrible memory. The only things Sofia can call her own. Washed ashore on a desolate beach, she struggles to make sense of it all: Who is she i... read more
Sometimes a life filled with love needs a little bit of itching powder…Amber thought that marrying her childhood sweetheart would transform her life into a dream. It didn’t take long to learn that navigating the trials and tribulations of marriage would take a... read more
If only life were as simple as smiling for the camera. After years of braving the Arctic’s frigid temperatures or endless hours tracking the Spirit Bear to capture the perfect shot for National Geographic, Meg Jeffries decides to move back to the city—San Fran... read more
After an accident at seventeen takes her memory, there is something the adult Skylar Danes has to remember in her old hometown…but only her heart knows what. LET YOUR HEARTBE YOUR GUIDETragedy. Misery. Pain. Skylar Danes longs to forget those feelings and the ... read more
If only life came with a script. Anna Jeffries has spent the last thirty-two years blending in, content in her worn-out reading chair—her happy corner of the world—spinning romantic scenarios she’s certain reality can’t deliver. After three years of teaching S... read more
This year, under the mistletoe, the leading man of aspiring playwright Yardley Lemmon's Christmas play will rewrite their relationship forever. A CHRISTMAS PROMISE Aspiring playwright Yardley Lemmon's wildest fantasy is about to come true: her play has been ch... read more
Alena Kozlov is one of the last of a dying kind. As the first water mage to be inducted into the Sanctum in over fifty years, she has the opportunity to help the old order destroy a band of rebel mages who threaten the principles the Sanctum is founded upon.Bl... read more
In the year 2069 the Apocalypse came and went, but Jesus didn’t show up, as some expected. Instead, a cataclysmic war, natural disasters and pandemics eradicated 90 percent of earth’s population. Now, in 2131, a totalitarian government rules the world from the... read more
If only life were as simple as filling a vacancy.Hollis Jeffries is a “dynamo” as her father likes to say. She’s the youngest vice president at Dobbins Capital. She wows investors, runs marathons, and speaks three languages. As the oldest, Hollis is always fir... read more
If only life were as simple as choosing between shaken or stirred.Sage Jeffries grew up an overachiever. She studied, excelled, and became a mechanical engineer for a firm in San Francisco. Yet much to her family’s surprise, at age thirty, she made a bold move... read more
Even before conception, the population of Potentia is meticulously genetically engineered, making disease and premature death barbaric memories of the past. This has allowed most of society to enter into a contrived utopia founded on the prioritization of cert... read more
Warleader. This is what the people of Y’Dan used to call the proud warrior Azhani Rhu’len. Banshee. Oath breaker. Murderer. These are words that slip off their tongues now. Azhani Rhu’len, once one of the greatest of Y’Dan’s warriors, is now just a common crim... read more
If only life were as simple as choosing between Toaster Strudel and Fruit Loops.Katherine Galloway is two years divorced and still living out of boxes. Between her brothers (cops that work with her ex) and her mother’s constant reminders that her clock is tick... read more
If only life were as simple as following a recipe.In her twenties, Kara Malendar found herself at Le Cordon Bleu culinary school in Paris, thousands of miles away from the harsh media coverage of her political family. But Paris ended abruptly when she was summ... read more
Colleges and employers continue to grapple with the fact that students in the United States are not prepared for the demands of higher education and the workforce. Students scramble to figure out where to go to school, how to get in, what to study, and how to ... read more
A highly successful but unscrupulous health mogul promises his followers 120 years of robust life if they stick to his “Bible-based” regimen and buy his products. Through his vast Wellness 120 empire, based in the Portland, Oregon area, the charming and charis... read more
This Bestselling Romantic Suspense is now FREE for a limited-time to introduce you to this hot new serial. We hope you enjoy!I glanced over my shoulder and looked down the sheer fifty-foot drop into the churning waters below. As my heart pounded, I tried to re... read more
An escape route from feeling trapped to freedom has been spelled out by retired Mixed Martial Arts fighter, Jerome "Jay" Isip, a success first in business and then as an author, who has published his second book focusing on a darker time in his life when alcoh... read more
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