Nicole Fiorica

Nicole Fiorica – Editor

Editor of bestselling and acclaimed books for kids and teens (YA, MG, PB) at Simon and Schuster. Let's collaborate to reach your vision!

Overview

I'd love to help make your story the best it can be, and offer editorial assessments, developmental edits, and query reviews for both novels and picture books.

A passion for books is what got me into publishing, but helping authors find their voice and allowing their stories to shine is the real reason I love what I do. As an editor of stories for children and teens, I work on fantasy, contemporary, romance, mystery/thrillers, picture book fiction and nonfiction, and more.

During my early publishing days at Penguin Random House, W. W. Norton, and Macmillan/St. Martin's Press, I worked across age categories and genres to bring incredible stories out into the world, and it's also during this time that I realized my passion for children's books! I started at Margaret K. McElderry Books at Simon & Schuster in 2017 and never looked back. During this time, I worked with New York Times bestselling authors including Cassandra Clare, Margaret Rogerson, Amanda Foody, and F.T. Lukens, and have edited bestselling titles including New York Times and USA Today bestsellers THE WAY I AM NOW by Amber Smith, LOVE OFF THE RECORD by Samantha Markum, and NOODLE AND THE NO BONES DAY by Jonathan Graziano and Dan Tavis; and critically acclaimed titles including STEEL & SPELLFIRE by Laura E. Weymouth, I KILLED ZOE SPANOS by Kit Frick, and A STONE IS A STORY by Leslie Barnard Booth and Marc Martin.

I'm excited to work with you to make your story shine!

Services
Non-Fiction
Children’s Non-Fiction
Fiction
Middle Grade Middle Grade Fantasy New Adult Picture Books Romance Social & Family Issues Young Adult Fantasy
Languages
English (US)

Work experience

Simon & Schuster

May, 2017 — Present
Acquires and edits picture book, middle grade, and YA titles for Margaret K. McElderry Books.

Macmillan

Jan, 2017 — May, 2017 (4 months)
My professional editorial journey began at St. Martin's Press, where I gave editorial feedback, wrote sales copy, and transcribed edits for editors throughout the division on titles including adult romance, literary fiction, and teen fiction.

Penguin Random House

Sep, 2015 — Aug, 2016 (11 months)
I worked at the Crown Publishing Group drafting press releases and creating media mailing lists, working to get our titles (including fantasy and literary fiction, and commercial nonfiction/memoir) into the hands of readers.

Portfolio

Developmental Editing
Developmental Editing
The Roommate Arrangement

Markum, Samantha

Margaret K. McElderry Books

Developmental Editing
Steel & Spellfire

Weymouth, Laura E.

Margaret K. McElderry Books

Developmental Editing
Developmental Editing
Heart Check (Varsity)

Charlotte, Emily

Margaret K. McElderry Books

Developmental Editing
Love, Off the Record

Markum, Samantha

One Day This Tree Will Fall

Barnard Booth, Leslie

Developmental Editing
Developmental Editing
Conditions of a Heart

Mangle, Bethany

Developmental Editing
Developmental Editing
The Voice Upstairs

Weymouth, Laura E.

Developmental Editing
The Reunion

Frick, Kit

Developmental Editing
All the Right Reasons

Mangle, Bethany

Developmental Editing
A Stone Is a Story

Barnard Booth, Leslie

Developmental Editing
A Rush of Wings

Weymouth, Laura E.

Developmental Editing

Nicole has 14 reviews

Professionalism

Quality

Value

Responsiveness

Remi O.

Remi O.

Nov, 2025

Nicole's review of my manuscript was both insightful and encouraging! She gave me excellent tips on how to address the areas of opportunity she identified and bolstered my confidence to move forward on to the next steps. This was definitely worth my while.
Myra N.

Myra N.

Sep, 2025

Nicole went above and beyond in helping me prepare for the agent search process. Her attention to detail while polishing my query brought the heart of my story to the forefront of my letter in the most gripping way! In addition to her incredible help in ensuring my query stood out while checking...
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Lorie C.

Lorie C.

Aug, 2025

Nicole was great! She answered all my questions and gave great suggestions and explanations. I would definitely work with her again.
Jessie V.

Jessie V.

May, 2025

Nicole is a great editor. She worked on five separate, but connected stories, and addressed them each from a high, conceptual point of view, a marketing point of view, a story point of view, and a language point of view. Everything she wrote was thoughtful and useful. Some of her comments were...
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John P.

John P.

Oct, 2024

It was a pleasure working with Nicole. She is very professional and gave a detailed review of my manuscript that was extremely helpful. Her skill in crafting stories is amazing.

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