AboutI’m the author of the novel Age of Consent, and co-author, with Sandra Newman, of UK-bestseller How Not To Write A Novel: 200 Mistakes To Avoid At All Costs If You Ever Want To Get Published. Our most recent collaboration, Read This Next, was published in the US by HarperCollins and in the UK by Penguin. I’ve reviewed books for the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and Kirkus Reviews. I’ve also published articles and essays in The Hollywood Reporter, the San Francisco Chronicle, the International Herald Tribune, the Village Voice, Mystery Scene, Writer’s Digest, and The New York Review of Science Fiction, as well as various business and art magazines. I’ve worked for most of the major publishers in New York, including Viking Penguin, HarperCollins, Scholastic, Simon u0026amp; Schuster, and Random House, as well as smaller houses, such as Kensington and Walker. As a freelance editor and collaborator, I’ve worked on dozens of novels and memoirs, two of which were New York Times bestsellers. Howard Mittelmark is more than an editor, or even a coach. He’s a book midwife — guiding, cajoling, reacting, and providing thoughtful companionship along the way. He improved both my written worku0026hellip;
EditorialI work on all kinds of fiction and non-fiction. I have a particular affection for and deep experience in science fiction, mysteries, thrillers, contemporary romance (i.e., chick lit), and memoir. I also have a lot of experience with literary and mainstream fiction, historical fiction, fantasy, and young adult fiction. I’ve edited a wide variety of non-fiction as well, including history, finance, science, and self-help. If you’ve read How Not To Write A Novel, you probably have a good idea of what not to do. Once I’ve read your manuscript, I can give you more specific guidance as to what you should do instead. I offer two basic services. I will read your manuscript and come back to you with an editorial letter, a long and thorough explanation of what’s working and what isn’t, and general suggestions about how to fix the latter. It will probably address plot, characters, structure, themes, pacing–all the macro issues. I follow that by citing specific instances of these problems and specific solutions, as well as specific instances of less general issues–a problem with a given scene, for example, or some bit of narrative logic that’s breaking down, or a drift in perspective. If there areu0026hellip;
Books(Click through titles for more about these books) Read This Next (with Sandra Newman) US edition: HarperCollins, November, 2010 UK edition: Penguin, December, 2010 How Not To Write A Novel (with Sandra Newman) US edition, HarperCollins, 2008 UK edition, Penguin, 2009 Spanish edition, Seix Barral, 2010 Italian edition, Corbaccio, 2010 Age of Consent, 2007, Penguin/NAL As Howard K. Trammel: True Books: Galaxies, Scholastic/Children’s Press, 2010 True Books: Solar Systems, Scholastic/Children’s Press, 2010 True Books: Wildfires, Scholastic/Children’s Press, 2009 Contributor: The Travels of Marco Polo (afterword), Signet Classics, 2004 The Mysterious Stranger, Mark Twain (afterword), Signet Classics, 2004 Newer York, ed. Lawrence Watt Evans (anthology), Roc, 1991 I don’t, as a rule, talk about specific books I’ve worked on as a collaborator or editor (confidentiality is part of the deal), but authors I’ve worked with will sometimes mention me in their acknowledgments. Books you can find me credited in include A Monk Swimming and Singing My Him Song, by Malachy McCourt; Big Government and Grant Speaks, by Ev Ehrlich; and Breaking the Code, by Lara Fox and Hilary Frankel.
ContactYou can reach me at mittelmark@gmail.com. If you’re interested in working with me, tell me about your book, what sort of help you think you could use, and anything you want me to know about your background as a writer. Don’t send me your book until we’ve discussed it.