Mel makes everything better. Her editorial insights are clever, helpful, and clearly designed to improve whatever she is working on. Any project that gets Mel involved will be better off for having her. As an author, I feel very lucky to have been able to work with her. I value her opinions on my work, and I value the way she presents them. She is very good at improving a story without reworking it or rewriting it herself. A few suggestions here and there, a bunch of minor surface error correction, and a once over from Mel improves any work by orders of magnitude.
Dr. Joe Weinberg, Author of the “Sam Archer” series.
Ellis joined Mythic Table in 2020. While they’ve been with us they’ve been instrumental in helping us improve our marketing and messaging copy. They are professional, diligent, and very good. We have come to rely on their expertise over the past year and we consider them to be a big part of Mythic Table.
Marc Faulise, Mythic Table
The only other time I used an editor (for another book) was a nightmare. That editor did not even read the story and asked me to make stupid changes that would not make sense. Since then, I was reluctant to work with one.
Working with Ellis was however a delight. As a non-native English speaker, it was nice to learn writing stuff I had no idea of. Some of their suggestions really helped me to improve my writing, and we both can see that Although, I should have told them more about the lore of the story.
Jokes aside, some misunderstandings of the text can easily be solved by me returning to them (since this was for just a few short stories so far.) All in all, I would love to work with them again.
Lied Etal
I had the great good fortune to find E. Prybylski and their WordPress blog about writing years before I began to write my first novel. their explanations were clear and concise. E. proffered straightforward examples to reinforce that day’s blog. Regardless of the questions or comments they received, their responses were thoughtful and considerate. Each answer they provided added something of value to the topic at hand.
Fast forward a few years. I completed my own edit of KEEP ME SAFE, but knew I needed a professional developmental editor to pull the story together. I had always had Ellis’s, E’s, name filed safely away. I knew they had the editorial skill I needed, and they had the level no-nonsense temperament best suited to deal with a debut author. I was learning to write by the seat of my pants and needed an editor with both great skill and great patience.
Over the time we worked together, I learned E. did far more than a developmental edit, always with unfailing good humor and courtesy. And their suggestions sometimes astounded me, they were so exceptional.
Do I recommend other writers consider E. as their editor? You bet I do. This is one editor who knows the ABCs of the job and applies the skills with honesty and integrity. Their hand lies lightly on the work to retain the author’s intent. They compliments where compliments are due and gently, gently teases a manuscript into its final polished form.
And E. became my friend, though we’ve never met. That’s the icing on the editing cake.
Helen Bellamy, author of “Keep Me Safe”
E. has edited four of my books, and they’ve done an amazing job every single time. I’ve learned so much about how to improve my stories from their guidance, and each one needs just a little less revision. Their comments are always kind, thoughtful, and helpful – even when they’re pointing out a fatal flaw in my plot or character.
When it comes to stylistic choices, E. doesn’t stick to any hard and fast rules, but lets the author make their decision about how they want to do things and then makes sure the rest of the story conforms to that guide.
Overall, they’re the best editor I’ve ever worked with, and their guidance has made me a better author than I ever could have managed on my own. I look forward to working with E. many more times in the future, and I’d recommend them to absolutely anyone who wants to publish the best possible story.
Leslie Heath, author of the Nivaka Chronicles
Sharing a story can be a nerve-wracking experience, especially in the case of ours. Our series has been with us, worked and reworked and expanded upon, for a decade. Sharing it means sharing a piece of each of us, and a key facet of our friendship. I’m so pleased we trusted E with it. I really feel they understood the personal importance of our work, while simultaneously keeping the criticisms about the work itself. Even the biggest criticisms were always grounded in an us-vs.-the-problem mentality without judgement of us as the writers. No one likes to be told they’re wrong, but E always turned that into a lesson in how to become right. Their eyes were with ours, focused only on the best possible finished outcome. E feels like a member of our team, a part of our literary journey. Their advice cast our series in a new light, and we look forward to the changes we now know we can make. Our conversations were fun and informative, our correspondence was quick, and their work was efficient.
This was everything I could hope for in an editing experience.
E. Marsett, (work forthcoming)
Ellis heard my pre-debut launch anxiety and immediately offered their expertise. They asked and educated without judgment and threw in humor as well. They are worth absolutely every minute and penny for consulting.
Nikolai Wisekal, author of Galaxy Waffles