Melissa Frain – Editor

I am a voracious reader and lover of books with more than 15 years of experience editing with New York’s biggest publishers. I have taught writing at a variety of universities and writers’ conferences, including the Highlights Foundation, SCBWI, and San Diego State University, and have served as speaker at many conferences and conventions, including New York Comic Con, the American Library Association Annual Conference, Romance Writers of America Annual Conference, and the World Fantasy Convention.

For over a decade I worked at Macmillan for Tor Books, the world’s leading publisher of science fiction and fantasy. I am also a trained copyeditor and proofreader (NYU) with a portfolio of well over 100 novels, including as a final line editor of romance at Samhain Publishing.

As an independent editor, I now edit on a per-project basis for most of the largest publishers and directly with authors of all experience levels. Books I've edited have been:

#1 New York Times, USA Today, and international bestsellers;

featured on NPR, Cosmopolitan, Buzzfeed, Huffington Post, and Entertainment Weekly;

winners of major awards including RWA’s RITA Award, the National Readers’ Choice Award, the Bram Stoker Award, and the ITW Thriller Award;

finalists for the Andre Norton Award, the Edgar Award, the Nebula Award, the Hugo Award, the Anthony Award, and others;

Indie Next and Best of the Year selections in a variety of venues, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Goodreads, NPR, Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, New York Public Library, and others.

I have extensive editorial experience in a variety of genres, but am best known for my work in romance, fantasy, and young adult. I love commercial fiction of all kinds.

“Melissa is a creative and thorough editor. Her feedback is invaluable, always allowing me to take a step back and look at the novel with fresh eyes and perspective. I trust my novels in her hands."

— Jennifer L. Armentrout, #1 New York Times and internationally bestselling author

“Melissa is one of the best editors I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with—and I’ve worked with many!"

— Danielle L. Jensen, USA Today bestselling author of DARK SHORES and THE BRIDGE KINGDOM

“Editorially, Mel has an expert sense of story and character; I can’t recall any of her notes that didn’t resonate, or advice I didn’t take. Professionally, she is timely and communicative. And personally, I will always consider her a friend. I really can’t recommend her highly enough.”

— Kendare Blake, #1 New York Times bestselling author

“I like my books when I turn them in to Melissa. I love them after we work on them together.”

— Kristen Simmons, author of the Edgar Award and Anthony Award finalist THE DECEIVERS

“With tons of experience and a fun, compassionate personality, Melissa is a perfect editor for authors in any stage of their career.”

— Cora Carmack, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author

Read about Reedsy author Tanya Lee's experience with me here!: https://blog.reedsy.com/stories/tanya-lee/