Meet the Editors
Rebecca Blevins
Rebecca Blevins has been a freelance editor for ten years, working with indie authors and multiple publishers including Penguin, Tor, and Little, Brown. She is the author of five published books—two for children and three for adults, so she understands how it feels to have your work edited. Read More
Children's Middle Grade Contemporary Romance Romcom Science Fiction Nonfiction Contemporary Fantasy
Rebecca would love to read anything except dark erotica that contains excessive violence toward women or dark adult horror involving children. (She couldn’t sleep for days after reading Stephen King’s Cujo.)
Lune Dube
Lune was raised in two storytelling cultures. Whether it was the indigenous stories their father told them at bedtime, or ones from the Torah that they heard in school or synagogue, Lune has always been enchanted by the power of stories. By age 19, they were performing on stage as an improvisational actor and traditional Native storyteller.
Read MoreFantasy Horror Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Speculative Fiction Urban Fantasy Young Adult TTRPG’s Video Games Historical fiction
None!
Carrie Jacks
Carrie loves the entire process of publishing a novel—from developing that brand new, exciting idea to formatting the words to look perfect on the page.She is sometimes intimidated by editing her own words, but she loves to read other writers’ works in progress to help make them the best they can be. Read More
Young Adult Fantasy Dystopian Romcom
Dark Horror Heavy Sci-Fi Erotica
Erin Olds
Erin (she/her) is an experienced developmental and line editor with two secret skills: decreasing word count while retaining voice, and figuring out the one thing that needs to shift in order to make a story truly excellent. She loves working with beginner writers on craft and with experienced authors on in-depth skills like objective correlatives, theme, misbeliefs, and character arcs. Read More
Fantasy Historical Middle Grade YA Magical Realism Cozy Paranormal Mystery
Slasher Horror
Rochelle Burnside
Rochelle is an editor who enjoys stories in any medium, from novels to video games to fine art. She’s worked on the editorial teams of several magazines, compiling sci-fi/fantasy short stories with Leading Edge and nonfiction travel articles with Stowaway.
Read MoreFantasy Science Fiction Young Adult Nonfiction
Heba Elsherief
Heba Elsherief holds an MA in English Literature and a PhD in Language and Literacies from the University of Toronto. A former Islamic high school English teacher, she now teaches university classes in cultural studies and language education.
Read MoreAnything!
None!
Thais Carreira Afonso
Thais is an Associate Agent with Azantian Literary Agency. She has eight years of experience in publishing between Brazil, China, and the United States. More recently, she interned at Writers House, where she honed her skills while supporting the desks of Amy Berkower and Johanna Castillo, and she was mentored by Jennifer Azantian before stepping up to the Associate Agent role at ALA. Read More
Erotica Literary Fiction Queer Romance Romance fantasy women's fiction upmarket contemporary
Horror
Lydia Suen
Lydia (she/her) studied novel writing and editing at Stanford University. She specializes in helping authors create character-driven stories, increase emotional impact in scenes, sharpen plot points, nail their themes, and heighten tension for books readers won’t be able to put down. Lydia believes working with an editor should be fun and as low-stress as possible. Read More
Young adult Adult Urban fantasy
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Al Ross
Al Ross is a writer and story editor from beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia who jumped into story-telling early as a teenage Dungeon Master and never looked back. When not editing, writing, pitching or producing you can find Al at home weaving, listening to podcasts or watching reality TV with their fluffy grey cat Duchess and hamster Frisbee.
Read MoreAnything!
Any kind of romance/erotica with dubious or lack of consent
Mandy Ballard
Mandy (she/her) is a skilled developmental, line editor, and book coach who has worked with both traditional and indie bestsellers, taught at multiple writing conferences, and has a soft spot for beginning writers. Her cozy approach comes through in every edit; if you’re looking for an editor who is 100% on your team, Mandy is the editor for you! Read More
YA contemporary YA Speculative YA Fantasy YA Sci-Fi Dystopian Magical Realism Alternate History Post-Apocalyptic Steampunk Contemporary Romance Paranormal Romance Romcom Middle Grade Adult Literary Women's Fiction Inspirational Non-Fiction Personal Development
Slasher horror Erotica Regency Romance
Karen A. Parker, MFA
Karen A. Parker is a Black, queer, nonbinary, and neurodivergent Secular Buddhist. They are an author and editor of speculative fiction, and they’re determined to help you take your writing to the next level. After graduating cum laude from UC Irvine with a BA in English, a Creative Writing Emphasis in Fiction, and a minor in Japanese Language and Literature, they taught English in Gifu, Japan, for three years as an Assistant Language Teacher. Read More
Fantasy science fiction horror
Non-consensual sex scenes Christian fiction
Victoria
Victoria (she/her) is a second-generation Korean American writer who was born in Virginia. She currently supports college students with their academic and creative writing and leads creative writing workshops for teens. Victoria has published fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. She is a Kundiman Fellow, a VONA/Voices alumna, and was Co-Fiction Editor of Apogee Journal. She also received support from Vermont Studio Center and led creative writing workshops for New York Writers Coalition. She lives in New York City.
Read MoreContemporary adult fiction Personal essays Magical realism Science fiction Apocalyptic Dystopian stories literary fiction creative nonfiction history mental health psychology
Erotica
Helen Gould
Helen Gould is from the UK and specializes in reading manuscripts for POC, gender, sexuality, mental health, and other topics. She has worked as a freelancer writer, blogger, consultant, and writer. She speaks regularly about the socio-political impact of media (especially navigating race in films and games). Read More
Sci-fi Fantasy Horror
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April Jones
April Jones has read, written, or edited her way through dozens of fictional worlds. When she’s not working as a teacher or freelance editor, she spends her time pretending to practice Korean by binge watching Korean dramas. She received her bachelors in English and her M.F.A. in creative writing.
Read MoreFantasy YA fantasy regency romance mythology-based stories magical realism paranormal romance travel-based stories
Erotica
Nicole Hawken
Nicole is a passionate storyteller and consumer of stories in every form. As a neuro-spicy writer and editor, she vehemently believes audiobooks count as reading and is willing to arm-wrestle anyone who disagrees. Nicole particularly loves helping authors build complex worlds and develop compelling, authentic characters. Read More
Anything!
None!
Cameron Van Sant
Cameron Van Sant is an editor who wants to see every writer succeed. He has experience editing creative works, professional reports, and academic writing.
Read MoreScience fiction fantasy young adult romance drama comics
None!
Sachiko Suzuki
Sachiko is a Japanese-American with an insatiable appetite for good story. She understands character motivation on a deep level and can help you dig deeper into your character than you thought possible. Best of all, she’ll do it with her trademark enthusiasm and deep-heart kindness. Plus, if you need someone to spread punfetti through your manuscript, Sachiko has a party cannon for that. Read More
Fantasy Sci-Fi Romcom
None!
Tova Seltzer
Tova Seltzer is an editor, fiction writer, and poet. She holds a B.A. in creative writing from American University in Washington, D.C., and is a 2020 graduate of the Columbia Publishing Course. The great love of her life is working with stories in development and figuring out what they want and need to be the greatest they can be. Read More
Romcom Middle Grade Young Adult Low Fantasy
Horror Detailed medical stories
Akelah Adams
From a young age, Akelah has always had a passion for reading. She loves the different characters and worlds that she could discover when she read and she knew she wanted to work with authors and writers to put their work out there. <!–more–> She graduated with a B. Read More
Young adult fiction/fantasy contemporary romance middle grade humor fantasy children’s books
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Justin Ho
Justin Ho (he/him) is a writer who grew up in Hawaii but spent most of his time in online worlds. Now a bit more grounded, he’s currently pursuing traditional publishing, keeping up with YA releases, and learning Korean (code for watching too much TOMORROW X TOGETHER and BTS content).
Read MoreContemporary Sci-Fi Fantasy
Horror Gore Erotica
Jordan Merica
Jordan Merica (she/they) is a former university-level writing tutor who bounced around strange jobs for a few years post-college before deciding to branch out into freelance sensitivity reading, editing, and hosting writing workshops. It was there Jordan fell in love with the timelines and stories of her own peoples, who always seemed to be extracurricular options.
Read MoreScifi Fantasy Graphic novels Memoirs Historical Fiction Sci-Fi Fantasy Short Stories Poetry Afro-Futurism Indigenous-Futurism Plays
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Leila Halimo
A wild child of the chaotic arts, Leila is a creative soul with a proclivity for colorful, vivid imagery in her artwork and writing. She enjoys bold, brilliant splashes of color in everything and anything. When not nose-deep in a book, she can be found playing video games and writing critical analyses on the pop culture/media she consumes. Read More
Anything queer (especially with interracial or black-focused gay stories) Comics Manga Anime Fandom Geek Horror Mystery Noir Whodunnits Erotica Sci-fi Fantasy Urban fantasy LGBTQ comics video games YA
None!
Veronica Vega
Veronica Vega is a sensitivity reader and copyeditor who has worked with bestselling authors and novice writers. Her experience as a freelancer has led her to work with major publishing houses like Penguin Random House, Tor, and Bloomsbury Press in various genres, including Young Adult, Romance, Literary Fiction, and YA. Read More
Literary Fiction Women’s Fiction Young Adult Mystery Paranormal Science Fiction
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Fatin Marini
Fatin Marini (she/her) is a developmental and sensitivity editor. Her attention to detail and the overall narrative allow her to help authors
Read MoreYoung Adult Contemporary Historical Romance Romance Fantasy Middle Grade Memoir Picture books
Erotica Sci-Fi