Matthew Patin – Editor

***Currently scheduling developmental edits and editorial assessments for February and March 2026***

Working with authors—more than a thousand so far—and their teams to bring stories and ideas to life, connect with readers, and advance literary careers has been my mission since I started in the industry as an author assistant and then a Big 5 junior editor nearly twenty years ago.

An omnivorous reader of fiction and nonfiction, I love exploring new worlds, fresh perspectives, bold ideas, and complex—and often contradictory—human drives and emotions. As an editor, I enjoy an eclectic mix across categories and genres—both fiction and nonfiction—as I find it keeps me sharp and helps me bring a fresh perspective to each new author collaboration. With fiction, I’m especially drawn to stories that merge literary prose, smart dialogue, psychological exploration, and sociopolitical themes with speculative, crime-fiction-like, or haunting settings and plots. With nonfiction, I'm especially drawn to personal narratives set in challenging times, places, families, and industries, and to explorations of subjects that blend authorial experience and voice with compelling research, historical perspective, and a vision of progress. LGBTQ+ authors, characters, and topics welcome!

In whichever way we work together—restructuring a novel or plugging plot holes, calibrating a message for a nonfiction audience, performing a fine-tuned line edit—my approach remains the same: warmth, clarity, candor, thoroughness, good humor, professionalism, and a commitment to a friendly, forest-and-trees, solutions-oriented collaboration.

Kind words:

"[Writing] a novel is like shooting a spaceship to the moon. There are so many things that can go wrong, and working with Matt gave me peace of mind. He was mission control. I trusted him, and he helped guide my story where it needed to be. . . . Matt [can] take your novel to the next level."

—J. D. Trafford, author, GOOD INTENTIONS

"Thanks . . . for all of your help and guidance these last several months, which helped me become a better writer and which helped strengthen this manuscript in so many ways. . . . You helped transform my first draft into the final text more than anyone else. I'm proud of the book we developed together and hope you are too."

—David Medina, author, SHAKESPEARE'S GREATEST LOVE

"Wow. . . . Amazing work. . . . [You] helped me turn the manuscript into a real book."

—Manu Saadia, author, TREKONOMICS

"I express a specific thank-you to Matt . . . You made this a stronger narrative. . . . Matt is there from beginning to end, is patient, and most of all helps make [the book] better. The two-way nature of the process, phone calls, and discussions—it made me a better writer."

—Gregory C. Randall, author, VENICE BLACK