I thought long and hard about being a hybrid author, and worried I wouldn’t find a developmental editor who would fit my needs. A friend recommended Chimera, and I decided to give them a try. I was blown away by Jami Nord’s thoughtful and thorough critique of my work. She is an editor who deeply cares about preserving my voice, yet one who truly wishes to make a manuscript the best it can be. I feel like Jami and Chimera are  at the core of my publishing team and I hope you will choose them for yours, as well.

Before Emmie got her hands on my manuscript, my first fifty pages were like a ramshackle hut with a torn canvas for a roof and walls draped over four sticks of bamboo shoved into loose soil. Emmie came along and poured a cement foundation, built wood-paneled walls, and gave me a shingled roof. She has an eye for detail, for those nuanced moments early in your story— the ones with the understated importance that you want to come back  and blow your reader away later in the book. She’ll get you to fill the loose skin of those moments with hard-packed muscle, setting your story up for the explosive capsheaf it deserves.

I found Chimera like I’ve found most of my writerly resources: through Twitter.  For a year, I was a regular in Brenda Drake’s contests with a manuscript I intended to publish. As I got more involved in the online writer world and entered more contests, I soon learned that there are these brilliant editorial types that help with pitches, synopses, query letters, etc.

One day, Brenda tweeted that her critique partners had created an editorial company, Chimera Editorial, and that she pretty much trusted them with her writer life. That’s a strong recommendation, so I decided to contact them. I got a quick and professional response, and we began work on my ailing query letter soon after.

And I loved all of their suggestions!

Because I loved the overhaul they did on my query letter, I turned to Chimera for help on a short story I wanted to submit to the Hidden Youth anthology. The story North, a YA paranormal based on my great-grandparents, was really personal to me, so I wanted to work with someone I’d trust to shine it up.

Jami’s critique was perfect, so perfect that I came back with two more short stories! The first one, my Great Migration ghost story, was selected for the Hidden Youth anthology, and will be published in November 2016 from Crossed Genres. It will be my first publication credit, and I’m beyond excited that Chimera could help me get there. I’d recommended Chimera to any writer that I know.

Emmie Mears provides the most detailed and insightful critiques. Her notes and observations helped me focus my editing process when I was bogged down in an endless cycle of drafts and revisions. A more well-read and perceptive critic for your manuscript would be hard to find.

After beta reading my manuscript, Jami’s thoughtful feedback was incredibly helpful as I prepared my next round of revisions. Her turnaround was quick, her notes professional, and her suggestions for how to improve weaknesses in my manuscript were on point. I have no doubts that Jami’s critique will help me to improve my manuscript.

Working with Jami at Chimera was a valuable part of my road to signing with an agent. She has a great depth of knowledge of the publishing industry and that gives her a unique perspective on manuscripts. She looks to help make your manuscript polished and well-paced, but also targeted to the right audience. She has a great ability to pick out what a manuscript needs to find its place in the industry. I am a believer that working with someone like that can only increase your chances of getting your manuscript where you want it to be, whether you are going traditional and trying to catch an agent’s eye, aiming at a specific small press, or honing in on your readership for your self-published project. If you’re looking for help with your manuscript I am happy to recommend the ladies at Chimera.

I recently worked with KT Hanna on my latest manuscript. She was a fabulous editor. She really has an eye for making structural changes that affect the quality and outcome of the whole book. She’s honest, yet encouraging. After reading her critique, I was really motivated to edit my manuscript, and felt that the final product was much stronger than what I sent it to her. I have to admit to being a bit of a crazy client — making little changes and continuously sending new versions, having computer problems, horse issues — but KT was amazingly patient through all of that. She answered my questions thoroughly and promptly, and was always really friendly. 

In addition, I felt like she took an interest in the placement and outcome of my work beyond the edits, talking to me about my query and through my submission list. I’m currently querying the manuscript, and thanks to her hard work and suggestions, I really do feel like I’m submitting the strongest book I possibly can. I would recommend Chimera to anybody, and will definitely work with KT again in the future!