Lynne Marie

Lynne Marie – Editor

Lynne is a multi-published, award-winning picture book author. She wears many hats, including acquiring editor -The Little Press Publishing.

Overview

Lynne has worked as a literary agent intern, creative director, and developmental editor. She is the Editor and Agent Spotlight columnist at Children's Book Insider. On Thursday evenings, she runs a free Zoom Meeting called Mentor Text Talk, where she explores books and craft and also features Guest Authors in Ask An Author Sessions. She currently works as an Editor at the Little Press and runs her own independent publishing company.

She has extensive kidlit experience and has created a career in helping aspiring writers bring their writing and storytelling to the next level. She has helped cultivate many ideas and drafts to publication. She's a highly editorial and honest mentor and critiquer, offering idea consultations, as well as line edits, big picture suggestions, and underlying craft and storytelling guidelines and concepts.

She's excited about the prospect of helping you to make your work shine!

Services
Fiction
Children's
Non-Fiction
Children’s Non-Fiction
Languages
English (US)

Work experience

Seymour Agency

Jan, 2024 — Dec, 2024 (almost 1 year)
Worked as a Literary Agent Intern Assistant under Marisa Cleveland. Was offered a position as Agent, but declined due to another offer.

Self-employed

Mar, 2010 — Present
I have had the pleasure of being developmental editor to many successful projects over the year, as well as a coach for many successful authors on story ideas, current projects, cover letters and more. I have an extensive teaching / speaker's portfolio, as well.

Portfolio

Developmental Editing
Abuelita's Gift: A Día de Muertos Story

Ríos Ramírez, Mariana

Knopf Books for Young Readers

Developmental Editing
Developmental Editing
JoJo and the Fashion Show

Clayton, Annette M

Lerner Publications ™

Developmental Editing
Developmental Editing
Mama Won't Mind

Bahr, Kathleen

Knopf Books for Young Readers

Developmental Editing
Developmental Editing
Home Away From Home

Akbari, Nazneen

Barefoot Books

Developmental Editing
The Mithai Box Is Not Empty

Agarwal, Namrata

Holiday House

Developmental Editing
Fishing with Grandpa and Skye

Spizzirri, Candace

Clear ForkPress

Developmental Editing
Developmental Editing
Stanley's Secret

Sullivan, John

A Paula Wiseman Book/Beach Lane Books

Developmental Editing
Ethan and the Strays

Sullivan, John

A Paula Wiseman Book/Beach Lane Books

Developmental Editing
Can I Keep It, Please?

Sullivan, John

Beach Lane Books

Developmental Editing
Developmental Editing Copy Editing Editorial Assessment
Bella's Recipe for Success

Siqueira, Ana

Beaming Books

Developmental Editing

Lynne has 10 reviews

Professionalism

Quality

Value

Responsiveness

Sue M.

Sue M.

Oct, 2026

Project is still in process. I can not say it is completed on time. For that reason I clicked no. We are still in collaboration. She's encouraging as well as patient. This is my first attempt at publishing with an editor. I appreciate her time and expertise.
Lynne M.
Video consultations are a bit more challenging to time of course as it depends on when the revisions are complete and our schedules. It's great we could extend to accomodate our schedules and revis...
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Minor M.

Minor M.

Oct, 2026

First off, it is very nice to see a dear friend in writing from way back, and to avail her expertise again for feedback is a great opportunity through Reedsy. Her thoughts and in-depth analysis are spot on. She goes through each line and corrects it. I appreciate her suggestions. She even suggest...
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Cyra D.

Cyra D.

Oct, 2026

Her grammatical editing suggestions were appreciated. However, I did not find the extensive focus on realism particularly helpful, as the story is a children’s book intentionally rooted in fantasy and imagination rather than real-life circumstances. Some of the criticism seemed to evaluate the st...
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Lynne M.
Hi, Cyra. Thank you for your feedback. I'm sorry my comments didn't resonate with you. I can assure you I have extensive background and experience and offered sound advice with the intention of ass...
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Radha D.

Radha D.

Oct, 2026

Working with Lynne for my book coaching session was a very positive and valuable experience. She was professional, knowledgeable, and genuinely engaged with my children’s picture-book project. During our session, Lynne quickly identified important areas where the story could be strengthened, par...
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Lynne M.
Thank you, Radha -- it was a pleasure to work with you and I hope to work with you again!
Brian S.

Brian S.

Sep, 2026

Lynn recently reviewed my book, 1941: From Incredible to Infamy a Biography of a year, and I truly appreciated the time, care, and attention she gave to my manuscript. Her review was extremely thorough, thoughtful, and professional. This is my first book; I am always looking for honest guidance ...
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Lynne M.
Thank you for your kind words. I am grateful to be on your path to publication -- You have lots of talent and drive and I know you'll travel far! Wishing you all the best. LM

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Most recent contributions

What makes a good character flaw?

In picture books, a good flaw is often part of the story solution. For example, in NED THE KNITTING PIRATE by Diana Murray, it was a problem that Ned knit instead of being a proper pirate, but in the end, his knitting offered solutions to the problems. Likewise, in THE STAR IN THE CHRISTMAS PLAY ...
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How do editors and agents evaluate whether a manuscript has commercial and craft potential?

As an editor for a small children's book press, I first read the story to see if the manuscript is well-written, and the story is well told. If I get to the end (there are many reasons that editors and agents will stop reading and go on to the next cover letter and story), then I evaluate whether...
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What factors influence the ideal paragraph length in nonfiction writing?

For Children's Writers and Authors: There's a lot of good tips to mine here, but here's an example specific to my genre. I wrote a creative non-fiction childre's picture book published by Beaming Books, and I was told approximately 25 words for the text on each spread, and approximately 25 words ...
Read more

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