Proofreading is the final step every manuscript should go through before it’s submitted for publishing. Our experienced proofreaders will correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors. We use the Chicago Manual of Style.

Changes are made in-text via Word’s Track Changes. Please send your manuscript as a Word or Google Doc, 12 pt, Times New Roman, 1" margins, double spaced.

If you have questions about our process or one of our editors, please email us at hello@saltandsagebooks.com!

Meet the Proofreaders

Larissa Pienkowski
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Larissa Pienkowski

Larissa Melo Pienkowski is a freelance editor and sensitivity reader, as well as the assistant publisher of Dottir Press. She holds a Bachelor’s in Social Work from Simmons University and a Master’s in Publishing and Writing from Emerson College. As the queer daughter of Brazilian and Polish immigrants,

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Prefers
Young adult  literary fiction  memoir  narrative nonfiction  romance/erotica  anything LGBTQ+  middle-grade  coming-of-age stories  horror in the vein of Carmen Maria Machado  magical realism  social justice essay collections  books on beauty and aesthetics 
Avoids
Military  Slasher horror  Fantasy  Sci-Fi 
Melli

Melli

Melli champions diverse books, both in her day job at a Big Five publishing house and as a freelance sensitivity reader. It is powerful when representation is done well, and Melli is committed to helping authors portray characters, settings, and lived experiences authentically so that readers can see themselves reflected in stories.

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Prefers
Fiction  YA  Middle Grade  Romcom 
Avoids
Horror 
Jordan Merica

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.

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Prefers
Scifi  Fantasy  Graphic novels  Memoirs  Historical Fiction  Sci-Fi  Fantasy  Short Stories  Poetry  Afro-Futurism  Indigenous-Futurism  Plays 
Avoids
None!
Neha Patel

Neha Patel

Neha loves playing around with words to weave engaging sentences that tell meaningful tales. As an editor, she insists on using Oxford commas but will allow sentences to end with prepositions. But hey, it’s all about helping writers tell their incredible stories to readers.

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Prefers
Nonfiction  Fiction  Mystery  Magical realism  Thriller  Science Fiction  Fantasy  Anything 
Avoids
 
April Jones

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.

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Prefers
Fantasy  YA fantasy  regency romance  mythology-based stories  magical realism  paranormal romance  travel-based stories 
Avoids
Erotica 
Candice Roma
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Candice Roma

Candice has dedicated her life to words. Initially she had dreams of going to medical school, but when she was faced with the choice of Inorganic Chemistry or taking a Creative Writing class, she ran screaming from the science lab and into the amazing world of creative fiction.

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Prefers
Sci-fi  thrillers  horror  literary fiction  sociology 
Avoids
Erotica  Christian 
Heidi Robbins
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Heidi Robbins

Heidi Robbins has a Masters in Education with an emphasis in library media, with additional degrees in Theater and Speech Education with a minor in English!

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Prefers
Historical Non-Fiction  Historical Fiction  Contemporary Fiction  Fantasy  Young Adult Fiction  Children's Fiction  Sweet romcom 
Avoids
Horror  Erotica 
Jeigh Meredith
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Jeigh Meredith

Jeigh is a copy editor with several years of experience. She is super quick and super accurate. Her fiction placed first in the LDStorymakers

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Prefers
Young adult  regency  middle grade  fantasy 
Avoids
Erotica 
Carrie Jacks

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

Prefers
Young Adult  Fantasy  Dystopian  Romcom 
Avoids
Dark Horror  Heavy Sci-Fi  Erotica 
Taye Timko
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Taye Timko

Taye Timko is a Jack and Jill of all Trades and the Master of Some—primarily an educator of color at an African centered high school on the East Coast, teaching (sometimes) reluctant young writers by day and is a writer and freelance editor by night.

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Prefers
Urban Fiction  SciFi  Fantasy 
Avoids
None!
Trisha Tobias
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Trisha Tobias

Trisha Tobias is an associate developmental editor at book packager Dovetail Fiction. She was also an associate fiction editor for FORESHADOW: A Serial YA Anthology, a 2018 Walter Dean Myers Grant recipient, and a 2019-2020 Highlights Foundation Diversity Fellow.

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Prefers
YA  Middle Grade  Fantasy  Contemporary  Light Sci-Fi  Thriller/Suspense   
Avoids
Horror  Historical   
Rachel Taylor
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Rachel Taylor

Rachel Taylor is a copy editor and proofreader. She reads for all genres, with a special interest in short fiction, autobiography/memoir, history, and scholarly nonfiction. She is Native American (Iñupiaq/Alaskan Native) on her mother’s side and settler on her father’s. She was born and raised in the beautiful unceded territories of First Nations in British Columbia, Canada, and currently lives in Stz’uminus territory on Vancouver Island. Read More

Prefers
Scholarly nonfiction  science  history  philosophy  pulp fiction  true crime  science fiction  literary criticism  essays  short stories  memoir  autobiography 
Avoids
None!
Julia Allen
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Julia Allen

Julia has nearly 20 years of editing experience, with strengths in character arcs and story structure. She’s also talented at

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Prefers
Historical  Regency  Contemporary  Women's Fiction  Sweet Romance  Sweet romcom  YA Contemporary  Historical Romance  memoir 
Avoids
Horror  Erotica 
Lee Anne Cooksey
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Lee Anne Cooksey

Lee Anne Cooksey has worked for a local government agency for 30 years. She currently supervises four (4) team members who are responsible for procuring

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Prefers
Romcom  Romance  comedy  any about animals  autobiographies  history related 
Avoids
None!
Rochelle Burnside

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.

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Prefers
Fantasy  Science Fiction  Young Adult  Nonfiction 
Avoids
 
Trinica Sampson
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Trinica Sampson

Trinica is currently on hiatus.

Trinica Sampson is a writer and freelance editor with experience as an Editorial Assistant at Utne Reader and The Antioch Review. She loves working with writers to make their novel, comic, video game dialogue, poetry, or personal essay the best version of itself that it can be.

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Prefers
Romcom  fantasy  fairytale  dystopian  humor  mystery/suspense  action/thrillers  YA  NA  sci-fi  speculative fiction 
Avoids
None!


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