A Special Offer for Black Writers

These have been turbulent weeks. Both Jennifer and I unequivocally believe Black Lives Matter, and we have been working in our private lives to support protesters and the BLM movement how we can. In terms of Touchstone Editing, we've chosen thus far to amplify Black voices and Black authors, rather than shifting the focus to our outrage, our heartbreak, or our business. 

However, it comes as no surprise to anyone that traditional publishing has a bias against Black authors. Black stories matter, but they often do not get offers (or equivalent advances) from traditional publishers.

Because I do not currently work for a publisher, I have been considering what action I could take as an independent editor who does not influence acquisitions. Ultimately, I've decided the way to help is to do what I do best. So when I can, I will be offering free editorial letters to Black authors.

Please keep in mind I am only one person, and I will be fitting this work in around my clients. My ability to do this may be sporadic, and turnaround times may be longer than usual.

Details:

1. This is for Black writers. All you have to do is fill out the form below.
• It does not matter whether you plan to publish traditionally or independently.
2. Your story does not have to be Own Voices, but it's certainly welcome to be.
3. Your story can be up to 100,000 words.
4. I will take you at your word and will not be policing or confirming your identity in any way.
• Please don't be the jerk who signs up because of the word "free" even though you do not identify as Black.
5. Folks will be selected randomly from the responses. A maximum of one free editorial letter will be offered to any one writer.
6. Because this will be an ongoing effort, the form will remain open. I am aiming to contact the first writer on June 22nd.
• Your project does not have to be ready for editing before filling out this form. If you are selected, we will discuss scheduling that works for both of us.
7. If you are offered a free editorial letter, there is no obligation of any kind except warning me about any objectionable content, such as rape, incest, etc. While these do not disqualify your project from this opportunity, I will need to know details and context before agreeing to read your story.
• If your project contains content with which I'm uncomfortable or is otherwise not a good fit, I reserve the right to withdraw the offer.
8. Please note: I am generally not a good fit for anything gory, Thrillers, Horror, Hard Sci-Fi, or Epic Fantasy. 
9. Over time, I will provide these free editorial letters as I am able to, but I make no promises about getting to everyone who fills out this form.

Q&A:

• Why is only Anya participating at this time?
• Jennifer is currently going through something personal. If in the future she is able to offer her time, she will also be (randomly) selecting and reaching out to those who fill out this form.
• Why is my genre not listed?
• I have included the genres for which I feel I can be the most help. If your project doesn't fit, please choose "other." We can discuss details if your project is selected. Because folks will be selected at random, the genre you note is mostly informational at this point.
• If other editors get involved, they may have their own preferences for genre, so please do note what yours is in the "other" field, if applicable.
• What heat levels are you accepting for romance stories?
• Any heat level, as long as the story remains a romance and not erotica.
• If you write erotica, please put that in the "other" category.
• What if I need a developmental, line, or copy edit, not an editorial letter?
• This offer is specifically for editorial letters, also known as manuscript critiques, but of course Jennifer and I would both be happy to work with you in general! Check out all our services here.
• What's all this about "other editors"?
• The idea is to help Black writers, as many as possible. But I'm only one person, so if editors who hear about this would like to participate, I'm happy to let them. By asking whether you would be open to your responses being shared, I'm hoping to minimize the number of times folks are asked to fill out forms like this. 
  
  
  If you would prefer to work only with the Touchstone Editors, simply select the option not to share your responses.
• If you have a question and you feel others may benefit from the answer, please post it in the comments!
• If you would prefer to keep your question private, please contact me.
• I am an editor who would like to participate. How do I get involved?
• Please email me! It would be helpful if you include some information about your editing background, such as a link to your website.

Book Recommendations to Get You Through the Pandemic

We know the world is scary right now. The news is filled with warnings and grim statistics, grocery stores are chaotic (at best), and we're all being told to socially distance ourselves from our friends and families—or even shelter in place. Maybe you're self-quarantining, out of precaution or medical necessity.

Whatever you're going through right now, Anya and I wanted to let you know that we're here for you. We're all in this together, and it's more important than ever to practice kindness, both to yourself and to others. Take breaks from reading the news, limit the amount of time you spend checking your social media feeds, and don't forget to breathe!

For all the writers (and other creatives) out there, remember to be patient with yourselves. Some people may find comfort by diving into their work, using their own stories as an escape, whereas others may find themselves unable to write due to the stress and anxiety of our current situation. If you're in this latter category, go easy on yourself! Give yourself permission to wait until you have the mental space and energy to devote to your stories.

We're lucky to live in a time when we have so many options for communicating from afar, tools we can use to stay connected. It's important to remember that you are not alone. Make sure you keep in touch with friends and family you may not be able to see in person right now. If you can, get some fresh air (even if this just means opening a window). Do something that makes you laugh. Remember that this is temporary.

Personally, when I'm feeling overwhelmed and need to escape the real world for a little while, I turn to books. I bet many of you do, too. So Anya and I thought we would recommend some of our recent favorites for you.

Jennifer's recommendations:

• Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston — This was my favorite book of 2019, and I've been recommending it to everyone I know. It's a queer romance set in an alternate 2020 where a woman is president and coronavirus doesn't exist. As if that isn't enough, it's also laugh-out-loud funny.
• Witchmark by C.L. Polk — Another favorite of 2019, and another queer romance! This one is for the fantasy lovers. If the world and the magic don't leave you entranced, Polk's writing will. And book two just came out, so you don't have to wait for the sequel!
• The Princess Bride by William Goldman — This one isn't new, by any means, but it's a perfect blend of humor and nostalgia that's sure to relieve some stress. If you loved the movie, you'll love the book. And—and I don't say this lightly—the book really is even better than the movie!

Anya's recommendations:

• Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert — A lovely contemporary romance, this story thoughtfully showcases life with a chronic illness, as well as the immense emotional impact of how others treat us, all while never losing sight of its uplifting core story and delivering on the promised HEA.
• Uglies by Scott Westerfeld — I read this series many years ago, and in fact Westerfeld has now published two books in a derivative series set years later in the same world (Impostors). But I remember loving this fun, meaningful YA dystopian series about a world where every 16-year-old goes from regular "Ugly" human to joining the always happy, bubbly "Pretties." Planning to give this one a reread myself!
• One Good Earl Deserves a Lover by Sarah MacLean — For the historical romance lovers in the crowd, this one delivers. A heroine who's aware she isn't quite like everyone else, a considerate, sexy, tortured hero, and some incredibly hot sex scenes make this romance a perfect escape.

We'd love to hear any recommendations you have! And if you've read any of these, let us know what you thought of them. Above all, stay healthy!

Warm regards,

Jennifer and Anya

Statement Regarding Romance Writers of America

In light of the ongoing situation with Romance Writers of America (RWA), and the deluge of appalling older incidents also coming to light, Touchstone Editing is breaking our end-of-year social media hiatus. We stand with all the authors hurt and disenfranchised by the unconscionable actions of RWA. Racism and bigotry are never acceptable. Anya and Jennifer remain committed to supporting all marginalized authors in telling their stories and writing books readers will love.

The romance writing community is stronger than one deeply flawed organization, and we have faith that the many writers (and editors, publishers, booksellers, librarians, etc.) determined to embrace diversity and create a truly inclusive space will succeed. We'll be there, doing our utmost to help that happen.

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For details on this situation:

Links to the original complaints and decision

NY Post: Romance writer Courtney Milan suspended over ‘racist mess’ claims

Letter from the Cultural, Interracial, and Multicultural Special Interest Chapter to the RWA Board

Letter from multiple RWA chapter presidents

RWA's message to its members

Timeline of events compiled by Claire Ryan

The Sometimes-Glamorous Life of the Editor

Editing can be a pretty lonely business. For the most part, it means sitting in a room by yourself, in front of a computer screen, for hours upon hours. Depending on the length of the book, it can take weeks to edit a project and days more to formulate your thoughts into coherent, constructive criticism. Once you’ve sent your edits to the author, you might hear back right away with a confirmation that they received your email, follow-up questions to your edits, and maybe even a note of thanks (always nice to hear!).

But it’s pretty rare nowadays to get to meet your authors in person, especially outside of major industry conferences. So it was with considerable excitement that I attended the book release party for a book I edited: Zapata by Harper McDavid.

Zapata is a romantic thriller about Avery, an engineer who gets kidnapped by an infamous drug cartel and taken across the border to Mexico. Luckily for her, the cartel’s attorney, Alejandro, comes to her rescue, and hijinks (and romance) ensue as they try to escape the cartel and get Avery home safely. I had a blast editing this book (I mean, with that kind of a plot, how could I not?), and it was with no surprise that I heard from Harper that the book had won contest after contest (at least six, last she updated me) and had been accepted for publication.

So when Harper emailed me last month to invite me to her book release party, I was over the moon. Meeting her in person would have been exciting no matter what, but it was even more exciting to celebrate this milestone with her. Of course I would be there!

It was intimidating to walk into a bar/café filled with dozens of people who all already seemed to know each other. But as soon as I met Harper, she made me feel welcome. It was a surreal experience, meeting another writer from her writing group, who exclaimed, “Oh my gosh, you’re the editor!” And it was so much fun meeting Harper’s non-writer friends, who wanted to know what in the world an editor even did. Harper did a brief reading, signed some books, and even paused to take a picture with me.

I couldn’t be happier for Harper about her book’s success—or more grateful that she included me in the festivities! Check out Zapata if you get the chance, and look out for book two in the series at some point soon.

And, hey: maybe invite your editor to your release party. You never know when she’ll show up!

Touchstone Editing Turns 4!

I can still remember it like it was just last week. It was the middle of one of the worst droughts in California's history, yet the day Anya and I planned to meet for coffee, we got caught in an absolute downpour. I made a run for it from the car, but it was no use. I got soaked.

Anya and I had kept in touch online for years, but I'd just moved to California, and it was our first time living near each other since college. We were excited to see each other and decided to meet halfway. We figured, what do extroverts do? They meet people for coffee.

I don't drink coffee, but I knew I was in the minority—most of the world is completely addicted to the stuff. Surely Anya was one of the normal people who loved coffee and drank it all the time.

So we both showed up to an adorable coffee shop in Redwood City, found each other inside, and... assumed the other would order some coffee. Cue baffled laughter:

"What do you mean you don't drink coffee?"

"What do you mean you don't drink coffee?"

Once we'd finished laughing at ourselves, each other, and the situation, I ordered a hot chocolate and Anya got tea. We'd only planned to meet for an hour or two but ended up curled on one of the coffee shop's couches for much longer catching up. Then we got soaked again in the parking lot as we said our goodbyes.

Touchstone Editing was conceived at that coffee shop, but it was another seven months before the company officially launched. There was a lot to be done, after all: a website to create, a company philosophy to iron out, and endless delightful conversations about editing minutiae the likes of which only other editors would enjoy. And somehow, in the blink of an eye, here we are four years later.

To celebrate Touchstone turning 4, we're participating in the Build A Better Author Career Giveaway, hosted by Love Kissed Book Bargains. Anya and I are each giving away a FREE editorial letter. 

Enter here by March 25, 2019 for a chance to win! 

Be sure to check out the other offerings from all the participating author service providers, too.

We're also giving ourselves our first raises since we started the company: rates for developmental and copy editing are now $60/hour.

Finally, we wanted to do something exciting. Something intimidating. Something we've been working on behind the scenes for months. We decided to overhaul the entire website to make the overall aesthetic more modern.

I thought it would be fun to show you some before and after pictures to show how far we've come, so let's start with the homepage. The new version no longer has our testimonials, but you can still click over to the Testimonials page to read them all. We are by no means graphic designers, but we still had a lot of fun creating the images that you see on the homepage now.

Before:

After:

On other pages we've introduced cute, thematic header images. On our About page, in addition to the new header image, we've added the story I just shared with you of how Touchstone got started.

Before:

After:

And on the blog, as you can see, we've gone for a two-column look.

Before:

After:

Take a look around! We'd love to know what you think. Love the new look? Think the new header images are fun? Have ideas for more improvements we could make? Let us know in the comments here, or feel free to shoot us an email with your thoughts!

That's all for now. Thanks for being a part of our celebration!

Book Now to Lock In Pricing!

As we head into the final quarter of 2018, we know many of you are starting to plan your publishing schedules for next year. So we wanted to offer you a heads up and a deal.

Starting January 1st, 2019, Touchstone Editing will be raising prices for our editorial letters. As a reminder, an editorial letter critiques the main points of the story, including character development, world building, and plot. New prices will be as follows: 

• For manuscripts up to 30,000 words: $200
• For manuscripts up to 60,000 words: $350
• For manuscripts 60,000-80,000 words: $450
• For manuscripts 80,000-100,000 words: $525

We understand some of you may have been budgeting for our current prices, so we also have a special offer:

Schedule an editorial letter by 12/21/18 and lock in our current pricing!

The details:

• To take advantage of this offer, the scheduled start date for your editorial letter must be before March 1st, 2019.
• Your slot must be confirmed in Jennifer's or Anya's schedule before December 21st, 2018.
• It usually takes a few days from when you first contact us to go over everything before a slot can be confirmed, so please plan accordingly.
• A signed contract and a deposit are required to confirm an editorial slot.
• For more information on deposits and refunds, click here.
• Slots are first-come, first-served.
• This means if all available slots are booked, even if you contact us before the end of 2018, new pricing will apply. So get in touch soon!

And of course if you have any questions, let us know. We're looking forward to working with you!

2018 Writers For Hope Auction for @RAINN!

The fifth annual Writers for Hope Auction is happening this week! Each year, editors, agents, and authors contribute amazing auction items to raise money to combat sexual assault, and 100% of the proceeds go to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN), the United States' largest anti-sexual assault organization.


There are over 100 items being auctioned off this year. Whether you're looking for a critique opportunity, new books to read, or a great gift for a friend, this is a wonderful chance to get what you need while also standing up against sexual assault and supporting a wonderful organization that fights back. Bids start at only $10!

Bid here on an editorial letter from Anya

Don't forget: this year the auction goes all week, and bidding closes at 11:59pm EST (8:59pm PST) on Friday. Watch out for those last-minute bidders!

Authors Helping Houston

To support relief efforts following Hurricane Harvey, authors in a variety of genres have pledged to donate their royalties from the books on this page. I've been lucky enough to work with several authors among those participating, and I'm sure the books listed include some great reads!

So if you're looking to fill up your reading list, please consider purchasing some (or all!) of these books before September 17th. You can also show your support for the generosity of these authors by leaving an honest review after reading.

Click on the photo to learn more!

A Glimpse of the 2017 RWA Conference

Last week, I had the opportunity to drop by some of the national Romance Writers of America conference in Orlando, so I thought I'd offer you all a glimpse of the fun!

I got to see this year's very creative, "coloring wall" advertising from Avon:

Early on:

Toward the end:

And I had the pleasure of attending this year's RITA Award ceremony, where I got to hear the amazing Beverly Jenkins speak while accepting her Lifetime Achievement Award. I also had the chance to celebrate the fantastic Sarah Andre and her accomplishment of being named one of this year's RITA finalists in the Romantic Suspense category!

I spent plenty of time chatting with romance writers, authors, and lovers—including the aforementioned Sarah Andre, whom I finally had a chance to meet in person after years of working together:

And C.F. Francis, a new author in the Touchstone Editing family (pictured with Sarah after the RITAs):

Did you make it to RWA or another conference this summer? What was your favorite part? Share in the comments!

2017 Writers For Hope Auction for @RAINN01!

The fourth annual Writers for Hope Auction is happening today! Each year, editors, agents, and authors contribute amazing auction items to raise money to combat sexual assault, and 100% of the proceeds go to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN), the United States' largest anti-sexual assault organization.

There are over 100 items being auctioned off today. Whether you're looking for a critique opportunity, or new books to read, or a great gift for a friend, this is a wonderful chance to get what you need while also standing up against sexual assault and supporting a wonderful organization that fights back. Bids start at only $10!

Bid here on an editorial letter from Anya

Bid here on an opening pages critique from Jennifer

Don't forget: this is only a one-day auction, and bidding closes at 11:59pm EST (8:59pm PST). Watch out for those last-minute bidders!

Congratulations, RITA Finalist!

Yesterday, the finalists for the coveted RITA Award were announced, and I'm absolutely thrilled to share that among them is Sarah Andre's novel Tall, Dark & Damaged!

For those who may not know, the RITA is an award for outstanding works of romance, and even reaching the finals is quite an impressive career achievement. Even more impressive is that this is only Sarah's second book. I hope you're as excited for her future as I am!

Tall, Dark & Damaged is a romantic suspense that came out last summer, and I had the pleasure of editing it.

Sarah is the kind of author who dives into revisions head first, accepting editorial notes gracefully and then using those notes to transform her work into a gripping read. She's a pleasure to work with, and I'm so glad to have met her when editing her first novel, Locked, Loaded, & Lying. Beyond her talent for devising twisting, unpredictable plots, Sarah also invests hours of dedicated work to ensure her stories surprise, delight, and thrill her readers.

Winners won't be announced until July, but that just gives us more time to celebrate this marvelous achievement. Congratulations, Sarah!

Writers for Hope Auction for @RAINN01!

The 3rd Annual Writers for Hope Auction is happening today (April 4th, ET)! There is an incredible list of items donated by agents, editors, authors, and book lovers, all going to the highest bidders to raise money for the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network. Last year's auction was a huge success, and this year's is shaping up to be even bigger!

Photo credit: One Way Stock
via Foter.com / CC BY-ND

Among the auction items, you'll find editorial letters (full manuscript critiques) from each of the Touchstone Editors. We're thrilled to be able to support such a fantastic cause!

Click here to bid on an editorial letter from Anya

Click here to bid on an editorial letter from Jennifer

There are also books, literary gifts, consultations, and much more—over 100 items total!—up for auction. Bidding is open from 12:01AM to 11:59PM Eastern Time (9:01PM Sunday to 8:59PM Monday Pacific Time). Highest bid during that time wins the item, so watch out for those last-minute bidders!