You+Me+Your Manuscript = a Team, and teams stick together.
🧙♀️ I’m the story whisperer, and I’m here to help.
Passion for stories. That’s what drives me, and it’s why I do what I do. Nothing gets me more excited than falling in love with characters (or hating them, whichever floats the story’s boat), exploring worlds, and hanging on while conflicts rip everything apart.
As far as things I put on my resume, they include an MFA in Popular Fiction (Seton Hill University) and a BA in Psychology (Merrimack College), as well as 10+ years of reviewing, blogging, and otherwise working with books. If you want the full list, you can check me out on Linkedin, but my professional credentials are only the foundation of what I bring as an editor. Need help untangling story threads? I’m here. Want to make sure every line shines? I’ve got your back. Feeling overwhelmed or uncertain about your writing? I’ve been there, and I’m here to tell you no story mountain can’t be climbed. You, me, and your story—we’re a team, and teams stick together.
As the story whisperer, I tailer my discussions in terms of how much feedback you want. From beta reading to manuscript evaluations, to full-blown developmental editing, there’s a service for your place in the writing process and your budget.
I’m open to discussing most genre fiction, including works with literary-genre crossover. My specialties lie in the following:
- Fantasy (including “doorstopper” epics, romantasy, fairy tales, superheroes, contemporary)
- Science fiction (including soft scifi, dystopians, scifi romance)
- Young adult/Middle grade (including adventure, scifi/fantasy/paranormal, mystery)
- Mystery (including cozies, fantasy/paranormal, quirky)
- Romance (including all steam levels, fantasy/paranormal/scifi, suspense–contact me to discuss triggers if you think you have some)
If you don’t see your genre but think we’d be a good fit, I’m always up to discuss other stuff. Email me at mary@kitnkabookle.com. As a side note, if you’ve got pop culture references, uniquely amazing magic/technology, or an eccentric but lovable cast of secondary characters (or primary characters—multiple POVs are very much my thing), I’m your girl. I love whimsical and fun as much as I love lyrical and dark, and all the stuff in-between.
📖 Alpha Reading
You’ve probably heard of beta reading–the step closer to publication where you engage some readers of your genre to tell you what they think of your book. Well, my alpha reading service (which could also be called a manuscript evaluation/assessment) is beta reading’s cousin once removed. If your manuscript is a bit earlier on in the process but you’re still looking to see if your story hits home for the genre, tone, plot, etc., you’re looking for an alpha read. Think of it as a beta read with an editorial angle. I’ll give you my opinion as if I were a reader picking this up off the shelf while also offering some general feedback about how to make the story align with reader expectations, genre conventions, and general reception. And if you’re looking to cleverly subvert expectations, I can help with that too.
Rate: $5 USD/1000 words for projects 40,000 words and up.
For shorter projects or to ask about my alpha reading service, shoot me an email at mary@kitnkabookle.com.
🖊️ Developmental Editing
Looking to bring your manuscript length up several ten thousand words to really flesh things out? Or feel your story is a rudderless ship drifting through the ocean? Developmental editing is the service for you. This process involves a deep dive into the big-picture elements of the story (plot, characterization, conflict, etc.) as well as the writing to figure out what’s not working, where the trouble spots are, and (perhaps most importantly) how to bring everything together into one fully functioning piece.
Rate: $0.02 USD/word for projects 20,000 words and up.
For shorter projects or to ask about my developmental editing service, shoot me an email at mary@kitnkabookle.com.
🗒️ Self-Editing Assessment
I’ll be honest, I really didn’t know what to call this service. So instead of spending a lot of time figuring out a name, I’ll just tell you what it’s about. My Self-Editing Assessment is a tailored one-stop shop of tips and tricks to polish your manuscript. Basically, you send me 10k words from your manuscript, and I send you back a combination of comments, track changes, and overall notes you can use to see how you might self-edit the rest of the manuscript to really make your writing shine. If you’re thinking this sounds like a line edit, you’re right–it does. Only it’s a line edit on steroids at a lower price that teaches you to fish so you can feed your writing forever.
Rate: $250
Interested in this service who’s name might change without warning? Email me at mary@kitnkabookle.com.
So when you’re ready, I can help you…
- Chat with your manuscript
- Find out what it wants
- Bring out your story’s glory
And if you aren’t sure what exactly your manuscript wants, you can drop me a general message below for some help figuring it out. After all, I am the story whisperer. 🤫