About Holly J Stratford
I love editing.
All my favorite things growing up always had something to do with either people or stories. Everything from reading and sharing books with my friends to writing my own stories and discovering my incredible community of creative storytellers.
I remember the fear of editors as I thought about my books and worried about someone coming in and “wrecking everything”. But then I started to meet actual editors and learn just how amazing it is when someone becomes so invested in my half baked strange little idea of a novel that they are willing to go line by line and give me feedback and encouragement. This inspired me to begin pursuing the idea of bringing my love of people and my love of stories closer than I thought they could be.
Now, I know that I’ve got an editor’s set of instincts. My love of story has grown to a passion for the craft of creating well written novels and my love for people has become a desire to come alongside authors as they pursue excellence with their manuscripts.
After years of helping my author friends and filling all the unofficial roles of beta reader, brainstormer, guinea pig and line by line critiquer, I’ve decided to make it official and take on the role of editor for as many people as I can.
My Mission Statement
As a follower of Christ and lover of story, I strive to help storytellers realize their vision, to encourage goodness, beauty and truth in their craft and to do my part to bring more God-honoring novels into the world. My dream is to walk alongside writers as they do their very best to tell stories that will impact the hearts of readers and call them to something greater.
Why pick me as your Editor?
When you go to pick an editor, you’re not only looking for someone who has that professional taste and reasonable price, you’re looking for someone who will understand your story and the genre it’s in. Here’s a brief overview of what I specialize in and the types of novels I’m comfortable with editing.
- Fantasy: I am extremely familiar with this genre and most of its sub genres. Fantasy is not only my comfort zone, it’s my favorite.
- Science Fiction: I have dabbled in this genre enough to be familiar with many of the “rules” and expectations and find it exciting and versatile.
- Historical Fiction: I am a great lover of history in general and have read enough in this genre to feel confident in my knowledge of the expectations of the typical His-fic novel.
- Contemporary: I am unfamiliar with this genre. As of yet, I have hardly read anything that would fall into the contemporary category but I am willing to work with it.
- Romance: I love a good romance novel but I will not work with any material containing explicit content. Please reach out and contact me if you have any questions.
- Horror/Thriller: I am not comfortable with these genres and won’t work with anything strictly for the purposes of unsettling the reader, though I understand horror can be a very powerful subgenre to fantasy and sci-fi. Please reach out and contact me if you have any questions.
- Non-Fiction: I have little to no experience editing non-fiction manuscripts but I am willing to attempt it if you think I’m the right editor for you in spite of my lack of experience.