Meg Storey

Meg Storey – Editor

Developmental editor, copy editor, and proofreader with fifteen years of experience working on literary fiction.

Overview

I began working as a freelance copy editor and proofreader in 2004. My first clients included the academic journal Literature and Medicine and the literary magazine Tin House. In 2005, I became an assistant editor at Tin House Books and quickly moved on to acquisitions and developmental editing. Over my career I have edited novels and short story collections and copy edited novels, short stories, articles, essays, and poetry. During my time at Tin House Books, novels I edited won the Giller Prize, the Goldberg Prize for Debut Fiction, and the Oregon Book Award for Fiction. As copy editor of Tin House magazine, I worked on the writing of authors as varied as Alice Munro, Etgar Keret, Ursula K. Le Guin, Anthony Doerr, Tayari Jones, Karen Russell, and Jim Shepard.

In my freelance work, I offer developmental editing for those who want feedback regarding the big-picture elements of their manuscript, line and copy editing for those who feel the overall work is ready but needs another set of eyes to refine the details, and proofreading for those who feel their book needs a final polish before going to the printer.

I believe that my job is to help an author make the work the best it can be and that the end result should feel true to the author’s vision and voice. I consider myself a guide through the editing process, and I think the greatest satisfaction as an editor is to point out a problem in a manuscript, suggest a few ways to address it, and help the writer navigate it, then let the writer determine the best solution. If you are interested in editorial feedback at any stage of the process, I am happy to discuss how we can work together on your manuscript.

“I’m more than happy to tell pretty much anyone that my experience being edited by Meg at Tin House Books was the best of my publishing experiences. I’ve been edited by five different editors at four different houses, and I imagine I’m a pretty annoying author to edit given that by the time a manuscript gets to my editor, it’s been gone over and gone over by not only me but also by my first and last reader, my husband, Jim Shepard, who’s the best close reader in the universe. So, to be my editor, you really have to make your case, and I've never felt more challenged and taken care of than by Meg. She’s whip-smart and generous, and manages to reveal to an author the author’s best version of herself as a writer. She has helped me travel the road I was on faster and better than I could manage on my own. She’s like my own turbo-charged sports car, and I couldn’t be more grateful for the places she’s taken me.”
--Karen Shepard, author of The Celestials and Kiss Me Someone

“Meg is an incisive, subtle, and meticulous editor--someone who makes manuscripts into books.”
--Sean Michaels, author of the Giller Prize-winningUs Conductors

“Meg is incredible. As a copy editor and editor, she sweats every last tiny detail—nothing escapes her—and at the same time manages to fully grasp plot, character, tone, and consistency. Countless authors have come back to me humbled, thanking Meg for making their work as good as it can be.”
--Rob Spillman, editor of Tin House magazine
Services
Non-Fiction
Biographies & Memoirs
Fiction
Literary Fiction Short Story
Languages
English (US)

Work experience

Self-employed

Jan, 2017 — Present

Work closely with individual authors and publishing companies at all levels of the editorial process, including developmental, line, and copy editing, as well as proofreading, with the goal of making the work as strong as possible while staying true to the writer’s voice and intention.

Tin House magazine

Jul, 2011 — May, 2019 (almost 8 years)

Executed line and copy edits on short stories, nonfiction essays, and poetry for quarterly literary magazine.

Tin House magazine

May, 2005 — Jun, 2011 (about 6 years)

Proofread short stories and nonfiction essays for quarterly literary magazine.

Tin House Books

Apr, 2005 — Dec, 2016 (over 11 years)

Acquired fiction and nonfiction titles for an independent literary press. Worked closely with authors from the developmental editing stage through the publication of a book. Communicated with authors, designers, and agents. Oversaw production of books.

Literature and Medicine

Jan, 2004 — May, 2007 (over 3 years)

Executed line edits, copy edits, and fact-checking of essays for academic journal published biannually by the Johns Hopkins University Press. Communicated with editors-in-chief and authors regarding edits. Proofread final copy.

Portfolio

Just Pervs

Jess Taylor

Two sex addicts meet and fall in love. A woman catches her husband cheating on her with their dog and escapes to her sister's horse farm. Four friends—fellow pervs—grow up and drift apart, pining for each other in silence until one of them is murdered.In Jess ... read more
Polar Vortex

Shani Mootoo

"Polar Vortex is a powerful, fraught, and inventive exploration of the impossibility of ever really knowing the people we come to love. Told in urgent, incandescent prose and effortlessly spinning in and out of time, the book is an intimate and starkly honest ... read more
The Scamp: A Novel

Jennifer Pashley

Mysterious, chilling, and told a breakneck pace, The Scamp will thrill readers of Daniel Woodrell’s Winter’s Bone and Roxane Gay’s An Untamed State.Rayelle Reed can’t escape in her small town, where everyone knows everything and not enough: All the guys she sl... read more
The Last Taxi Driver

Lee Durkee

"A wild, funny, poetic fever-dream that will change the way you think about America." --George Saunders Written by a former cabbie, The Last Taxi Driver is equal parts Bukowski and Portis, and an homage to a dying American industry.The Last Taxi Driver is a da... read more
The Sleep Garden

Jim Krusoe

The Sleep Garden explores and pushes the boundaries between fact and imagination, real and surreal, and life and the afterlife.In an underground apartment building called “the Burrow”--essentially purgatory—“twilight souls” inhabit the space between life and d... read more
The Revolution of Every Day (Tin House New Voice)

Cari Luna

Inspired by the midnineties squat evictions on New York's Lower East Side, Cari Luna's gritty debut novel vividly imagines the lives of five squatters, showing readers a life that few people, including New Yorkers who passed the squats every day, know about or... read more
The Boatmaker

John Benditt

Part fable, part allegory, The Boatmaker is the haunting and passionate story of a voyage of self-discovery.A fierce and complicated man wakes from a fever dream compelled to build a boat and sail away from the isolated island where he was born. Encountering t... read more
Wyoming

JP Gritton

A cross between Daniel Woodrell and Annie Proulx, Wyoming is about the stubborn grip of inertia and whether or not it is possible to live without accepting oneself. It’s 1988 and Shelley Cooper is in trouble. He’s broke, he’s been fired from his construction j... read more
The Wilds

Julia Elliott

Teetering between the ridiculous and the sublime, The Wilds blends Southern gothic strangeness with dystopian absurdities, sci-fi speculations, and fairy-tale transformations. At an obscure South Carolina nursing home, a lost world reemerges as a disabled elde... read more
Us Conductors: A Novel

Sean Michaels

Us Conductors is the story of the man who created the most magical musical instrument in the world, the theremin. It's a tale of electricity and espionage, jazz and kung-fu, Harlem and Siberia, and the way even doomed love can keep you alive.Locked in a cabin ... read more
Tin House Magazine Volume 20 Number 4 2019 The Final Issue

Various

Tin House Magazine
Trompe l'Oeil: A Novel

Nancy Reisman

Set against a backdrop of Rome, Renaissance artworks, and images of Mary Magdalene, Trompe l'Oeil portrays the ripple effects of a family tragedy and the ways in which its members perceive and misperceive themselves and each other.During a vacation in Rome, th... read more
Ghosts of Bergen County

Dana Cann

Set in New York City and New Jersey on the cusp of the financial crisis, Ghosts of Bergen County is a literary mystery with supernatural elements. Gil Ferko is a private-equity lieutenant who commutes to Manhattan from the New Jersey suburbs. His wife, Mary Be... read more
After James

Michael Helm

For fans of Joshua Cohen and Ben Lerner, After James captures the dystopian strangeness of our current world.A neuroscientist walks out of her life and isolates herself in the woods, intending to blow the whistle on a pharmaceutical company and its creativity ... read more
Little Sister: A Novel

Barbara Gowdy

A New York Times Book Review Editor's ChoiceOne of Kirkus Reviews' Best Books of 2017"[A] supernatural domestic thriller and a crackling tour de force." —The New York TimesThunderstorms are rolling across the summer sky. Every time one breaks, Rose Bowan loses... read more
Kiss Me Someone: Stories

Karen Shepard

A New York Times Book Review Editors' ChoiceA Best Book of Fall at The Washington Post, BuzzFeed, BUST, and more"Dark yet sensitive explorations of family and love—of all kinds—from a masterful writer. The women at the centers of these stories are sharp-edged ... read more

Meg has 7 reviews

Professionalism

Quality

Value

Responsiveness

Janis W.

Janis W.

Jul, 2024

As an unpublished writer, my experience working with Meg Storey has been positive in every step of the process. She kept me informed on her progress; professional in every way. In addition, she treated me with kindness, wit and clarity—and managed to cut my 143,000 project down to 95K. Quite the feat! Does this sound brutal? It was not. She kept the bones of the story and showed me ways the na...
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Mark P.

Mark P.

May, 2024

Meg was professional and responsive throughout the process. She went beyond just proofreading, providing insights and suggestions that enriched the prose and the short stories. She worked diligently within budget and met the schedule requirements. I highly recommend Meg Storey and look forward to working with her again.
Enma Karina E.

Enma Karina E.

Jul, 2020

I loved working with Meg. She gave me detailed notes on how to improve, what to consider, and what could be cut or expanded. I truly felt that she took her time and thought carefully about each character and the overall story. She was prompt to respond and listened to my concerns openly. I 100% recommended her skills and expertise and hope to work with her again in the near future!
Zander S.

Zander S.

Jun, 2020

I determined that I needed a professional editor to critique the novel I'd been working on for some time, a work based to a great extent upon familial history. Up until then, the individuals who'd read the work provided helpful comments, but often they found it difficult to separate me or my family's history from the work, and no one, myself included, could claim any experience as a professiona...
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Bill K.

Bill K.

May, 2020

Meg was super. She was very precise regarding what my expectations were and met them in every capacity. I look forward to working with her again.

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