Our Team
Naomi Kim EAgleson
founder
Naomi Kim Eagleson is the founder of Artful Editor. She began as an assistant editor at MĀNOA: A Pacific Journal of International Writing in Hawai‘i, where she was raised. Since launching Artful Editor in 2010, she and her team have helped hundreds of writers with their manuscripts. Naomi has an MFA in creative writing from the Iowa Writers' Workshop and is the author of Radiant Field. Her writing has appeared in Ms. Aligned: Women Writing about Men, Words without Borders, the Asian Review of Books, and Century of the Tiger: One Hundred Years of Korean Culture in America. She lives with her husband in Santa Monica, California. When she’s not managing projects for authors, she's working on a novel about consciousness and time.
LISA WONG
editorial assistant
Lisa Wong is a freelance editor specializing in developmental and manuscript evaluations. When she is not assisting Artful Editor with business and editorial tasks, she works as an assistant editor for Art + Deco Agency, LCS Literary, and as an in-house editor and ghostwriter for ArtHouse Literary. She also freelances for Monterey Bay Parent and the Davis Enterprise and has her own editing business, where she offers manuscript development services as well as query letter critiques. Lisa holds a BA in Communication from UC Davis and resides in Woodland, California with her partner. In any spare time, you can find her following one of several pursuits: reading, writing a novel about resentment, learning languages, or playing soccer.
Our Artful Editors
Click on an editor’s name to read their bio
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Jenny Bartoy has nearly two decades of experience in literary editing, magazine publishing, digital content creation, and marketing. When she is not managing projects for Artful Editor, Jenny works as a freelance developmental editor. She is managing editor for Literary Mama magazine, serves on the editorial committee for the nonprofit Creative Colloquy, and previously edited Quiltfolk magazine. Her writing has been published in literary publications as well as in sewing anthologies. Jenny is an alumna of the University of Washington's editing program and holds an MA in sociocultural anthropology from Columbia University. She grew up in the north of France and now lives with her husband, three kids, and one overwhelmed kitty in Tacoma, Washington. You can often find her reading, gardening, stitching, or strolling rocky beaches with her family.
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Amanda Kruse is an editor and a grammatical expert with over a decade of experience in publishing. She has a BA in creative writing from the University of Colorado at Boulder as well as graduate-level publishing certification from the University of Denver. She specializes in editing fiction and nonfiction, working closely with both new and established authors to hone their language and elevate their prose to clean, concise works of art. With a background in folklore, fairy tales, and classical literature, Amanda loves books that reflect and reinterpret the words of wisdom and lessons learned from ages past. When she’s not writing or editing, Amanda spends her time reading, riding her horse, or adventuring around the world.
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Crystal Watanabe is a professional editor and works from her home in Honolulu, Hawaii. A science fiction and fantasy fan from her elementary school days, she considers helping authors refine their manuscripts a dream career. Thus far Crystal has worked on over 120 novels and 190 shorts. She is a former hardcore gamer, a mom to three, and would probably have lived in District 11 of Panem (if Panem were real).
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Christi Martin specializes in copyediting and proofreading for speculative fiction and creative nonfiction. She is passionate about equipping writers with the skills they need to publish excellent books. Her bachelor’s degree in communication nourished her love for the book editing world, which she has lived and breathed ever since. The Editorial Freelancers Association gained her membership in 2017, and there, she furthers her professional education and strives to enrich her local editing and writing communities. If you want to dive into the depths of her mind (and understand why she loves fantasy and science fiction), ask her about conifers or hyracotherium. On a beautiful day off, you will often find her on a forest trail or at a park enjoying time with her family and friends.
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Michael J. Totten is an award-winning journalist and the author of nine books. His first, The Road to Fatima Gate, won the Washington Institute Book Prize. His fifth, Resurrection, has been optioned for film. He edits books for major publishers, provides the full spectrum of independent publishing services (from editing to paperback and e-book design), coaches beginning and semiprofessional writers, and knows how to write the kinds of book proposals that traditional publishers want. While he used to sneak into police states without authorization and dodge incoming rocket fire as a war correspondent, he now lives quietly in Oregon with his wife and two cats.
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Lauren Humphries-Brooks has worked as a freelance editor since 2015, amassing a resume that includes literary fiction, sci-fi/fantasy, romance, LGBTQ+, mystery/thrillers, academic publications, and film and television. She’s worked with St. Martin’s Press, Tor, Prometheus, Intellect Books, Amazon Publishing, Kirkus, Audible, and Erewhon Books. Her clients run the gamut from experienced, award-winning authors, to new writers looking for guidance through the editing process, and include Pulitzer Prize nominees, first-time fantasy authors, family historians, and film critics. A writer herself, with a master’s in creative writing from the University of Edinburgh, Lauren is passionate about editing and helping authors create something splendid, something of which they can be proud.
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Nicole Maggi began writing poems about unicorns and rainbows at a very early age. She holds a BFA from Emerson College, and after a decade of performing lots of off-off-off-Broadway Shakespeare in NYC, she and her husband hightailed it to Los Angeles. She is the author of What They Don’t Know (Sourcebooks Fire), The Twin Willows Trilogy (Medallion Press), and the nonfiction middle-grade book Hidden Wonders (Lonely Planet), as well as The Forgetting (Sourcebooks Fire) which was a 2016 International Thriller Writers Thriller Award Finalist, a 2015 Junior Library Guild selection, and a #1 Kindle Bestseller. Nicole enjoys editing all genres of fiction and has worked the gamut from contemporary YA to political thriller.
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Katie McCoach is a developmental editor working with traditional and self-published authors. Her motto is, “Let’s create your best story!” In the past, she worked at a publishing house and apprenticed at a literary agency, where she evaluated agent queries. Many of her authors have gone on to land literary agents and publishing deals, and several have won awards. Her editing specialties are sci-fi, fantasy, and romance for YA, NA, and adult audiences. She is a PRO member of Romance Writers of America, a member of ALLi, and she mentors teen girls in creative writing through WriteGirl. She is a founding editor of Revise & Resub (RevPit), a contest for emerging writers. With a coffee shop on every corner in Los Angeles, you’ll never find Katie without caffeine.
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Paul Neuviale is a developmental editor of nonfiction specializing in memoir, self-help, and how-to. His favorite themes to work with include psychology, philosophy, spirituality, relationships, and personal development. Born and raised in France, Paul completed an MA in English from Université Bordeaux-Montaigne after writing a master’s thesis about a case of literary censorship. Paul has worked with first-time authors looking to self-publish. His clients have included thought leaders, course creators, life coaches, holistic health educators, and professional athletes. When he isn’t editing a manuscript, Paul enjoys traveling around the world and hiking the many trails of beautiful Toronto, Canada, where he resides with his husband.
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Kara Aisenbrey specializes in fantasy and science fiction. She loves collaborating with authors so their prose sings and their characters capture hearts. She has a degree in English, a certification in editing from UC Berkeley, and years of experience guiding independent authors on their book journeys. Kara has a passion for helping writers craft narratives that are inclusive and authentic, and she consistently pursues education on socially responsible language. She grew up traveling between the US, Europe, and Africa, and though she never had much suitcase room for books, she likes to think she carried stories along inside. She currently lives in Seattle, spending her free time exploring pine forests and new corners of the city.
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Ashley Henshaw is a fiction and nonfiction editor, copywriter, and ghostwriter. She has been a contributing writer for a number of online publications, including The Huffington Post, USA Today, SF Gate, LIVESTRONG, and AOL City's Best. She has a BA in English from Loyola University Chicago and previously worked for a publishing house. If she could, she'd spend every spare minute on the beaches of Lake Michigan, but Chicago's weather has proven uncooperative.
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Cheryl Murphy Lowrance has been editing and coaching authors for over thirty years. She started proofreading for the Department of Defense Contracting Office on an army post at fifteen years old as part of a work-experience program, then later earned a certificate in editing from UC Berkeley, and has worked with words ever since. An unwavering descriptivist, Cheryl believes life’s too short to get mad if someone doesn’t use an Oxford comma. She loves helping authors reach those aha moments with their writing, when things suddenly click into place and the heavens open up. Her specialties are science fiction and fantasy, comic books, and screenplays.
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Jackson Palmer is the author of The Meek, The Monster, and The Man, a dystopian trilogy. He studied drama, acting, and playwriting at the University of Montana before moving to Los Angeles almost ten years ago. Since then he has pursued an acting career as well as penned his first novels, various screenplays, and short stories. An avid reader, science-fiction and fantasy usually find their way to the top of the mounting book pile next to his bed. Growing up, and now returned to, northwest Montana, Jackson prefers to be outside, whether it be camping, hiking, or playing in the rain. He is a cutthroat Scrabble player and throws axes to combat writer’s block.
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Michael Jauchen has been a freelance editor for over fifteen years, working with authors at all skill levels and across many different genres. He has a PhD in creative writing from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, where he specialized in fiction writing. Before becoming a full-time editor, Michael taught creative writing and literature at Colby-Sawyer College in New Hampshire. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Santa Monica Review, the Rumpus, and many other venues. He currently lives in Texas, and when he’s not working, he tries to get out and disc golf as much as he can.
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Lyric Dodson is a line editor and copyeditor specializing in self-help, personal development, and spirituality books. She earned a BA in English and a certificate in creative nonfiction writing from Northern Illinois University. With over seven years of freelance experience, she's worked on over 50 titles for both independent authors and publishing houses, like Hay House, Hardie Grant, and University of Illinois Press. In her free time, she enjoys studying astrology, gardening, snuggling with her cat Cali, and exploring the great outdoors near her home in southern Colorado.
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Michelle Hope has an MFA in Fiction and a background working in-house at a trade publisher, a literary agency, and various literary journals. She has taught university-level writing classes and edited more than two hundred titles, many by best-selling and award-winning authors, including George R. R. Martin, Blake Crouch, and Terry Brooks. She brings her writing and publishing experience to each new editorial project and is dedicated to helping authors polish their manuscripts to publishing-house quality. Based most of the year in Seattle, Michelle considers herself a part-time digital nomad, editing books from her laptop around the world.
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Kim Stoker has over fifteen years of professional editing experience. She specializes in academic writing and works of literature. She has an MFA in poetry from Antioch University and an MA in Asian Studies from the University of Hawaii. She was an editor for the Literature Translation Institute of Korea's trade magazine Korean Literature Now from its inception in 2008 to 2017 and has worked extensively with LTI Korea editing literary works of all genres, including subtitles for film and animation. After living outside the continental US for most of her adulthood, she's now based in the Mountain West.
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Ernesto Mestre is an award-winning novelist, editor, writing coach, and translator. He has taught at several prestigious MFA writing programs over the last two decades, and his work has been awarded fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the New York Foundation for the Arts. His novels, The Lazarus Rumba and The Second Death of Única Aveyano, have received critical acclaim from the New York Times Book Review, the Washington Post Book World, The Baltimore Sun, and Kirkus. A third novel, Sacrificio, is forthcoming from Soho Press this year. He has edited many novels for various New York publishing houses.
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For more than twenty years, Christina Palaia has assisted both authors and publishers in preparing fiction and nonfiction manuscripts for publication. She specializes in editing fiction, narrative nonfiction, creative nonfiction, and scholarly trade nonfiction in the natural sciences and social sciences on the topics of anthropology, natural history, culture, agriculture, ecology, environment, and health and medical. Publishers she has edited for include Perseus Book Group/Hachette, Cambridge University Press, McGraw-Hill, Wiley, and Microsoft Press. She lives in Colorado and shares her humble homestead with an ancient horse and pony and two wild mountain kitties who keep the chipmunks at bay.
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Robin Samuels is an essayist and occasional content writer, but her detail-obsessed heart belongs to copyediting and proofreading. She has been an editor for over ten years, working primarily with independent authors but also for several small publishers and business clients. Originally focusing on finance and business books, she has since expanded to memoirs, romance, thrillers, romance, sci-fi/fantasy, and romance. Always and forever a New Yorker, she now lives in North Carolina where she is a devoted cat-mom, sometime webcomic author, and expert-level binge-watching Netflix junkie.
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Todd Summar writes essays and fiction and serves as an editor for publishers and individuals. His work has appeared in Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet, PANK, Literary Hub, and Joyland, among others. He is the founding editor of Goreyesque, an online literary journal that featured fabulist fiction, poetry, and artwork, and he also edits short stories for The Masters Review. He has taught at StoryStudio Chicago and Columbia College Chicago, where he earned an MFA in creative writing, and is a frequent contributor to Artists Book House, an organization that promotes the literary arts and the craft of book making.
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Denise Logsdon is an editor and ghostwriter. She began her career more than twenty-five years ago as an in-house technical editor for environmental scientists. Since then, she has worked with countless scholars, journalists, and authors of literary fiction and memoir. She has edited a broad spectrum of genre fiction from middle grade to erotica but feels most at home in science fiction, fantasy, and historical fiction. A California native, she ventured out of state long enough to earn an MFA in creative writing from Columbia University and promptly returned to the San Francisco Bay Area.