Judi Lauren

YA Author

Special Young Adult Sale: 50% Off Full Edits for YA Manuscripts

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I’m really super excited to be able to run this sale! One of the first writers that I ever mentored wrote a gorgeous YA that’s coming out in one month! I loved working on this book with Lynn, and I’m so proud of her! To celebrate, I’m offering full manuscript edits for ANY young adult book at a 50% discount. Don’t have a young adult manuscript? I’m offering any partial edit at 33% off for every age category.

What I do:

I can help you polish your manuscript and get it publication-ready. I work on big-picture issues, such as goal, motivation, conflict, character development and growth, plot structure, tension, and stakes. But I don’t just spot these problems, I also offer ideas on how to fix them, so that when you send your book to an agent or editor, it’s the best it can be.

The discount runs for this week only, meaning there are ten spots available. These spots typically go pretty quickly, so if you want one, send me an email at judi@judilauren.com today.

A bit about me:

I’m an assistant editor at Entangled publishing, working with Stacy Abrams, where I help make writer’s dreams come true. Some of the books I assisted with at Entangled include:

  • Kiss of the Royal by Lindsey Duga (July 2018)
  • Garden of Thorns by Amber Mitchell (March 2017)
  • Playing Her Secret Crush by Casey Griffin (2018)
  • Hiding Lies by Julie Cross (2018)

I’ve also been a PitchWars mentor, where I worked with promising writers to make their manuscripts shine. One of my mentees recently signed a two-book deal with Liz Pelletier at Entangled Teen. My first mentee sold his book to Candlewick Press. The mentee whose book is coming out next (!!!) month sold her book to Owl Hollow Press. You can add it on Goodreads here!

Testimonials and a full list of my editing services are below!

Judi was amazing at seeing where I needed to develop on big picture area (character development, theme), the craft of my words (I think she had ‘show, don’t tell’ pasted on repeat) to mechanics of the English language. My manuscript wouldn’t be what it is today without her help.

-Adam Schmitt (Author of SPEECHLESS, Candlewick Press, 2018)

The best thing I ever did was submit my ms to Judi during Pitch Wars! She took my work on outside of the contest, something I never expected and fully appreciated! Judi has an eye for plot and character, and she really helped dig into my ms and find exactly what I couldn’t see. Working with her was an amazing experience, and she truly loves helping writers become stronger. I recommend her services to everyone!

-Lynn Vroman (Author of INTO THE HOLLOW, Owl Hollow Press, 2018)

Judi is an extremely talented editor. She has an almost eerie knack for knowing what edits will make a book stronger. When I received my edit letter, I was amazed by how on point all her suggestions were. Things I hadn’t even considered suddenly made so much sense, and I couldn’t imagine my book without her great ideas being included. She doesn’t force any of her suggestions on you, but they’re so good that you’ll most likely want to use them all anyway. She won’t shy away from telling you what isn’t working, but she’ll also praise what is working so much you’ll be blushing behind your computer screen. She taught me so much, not just about my novel, but about writing and revising overall, and that’s knowledge I have under my belt now for future projects. I’m genuinely so happy I got to work with her and build a relationship with her not just as her mentee but as a friend. She helped me find my enthusiasm for reading and writing again, and when someone believes in you as much as she does, it’s impossible to give up.

-Danielle Thurby (2017 Pitch Wars Mentee)

Partial MS Edits:

Query Edit-$35 (Sale Price: $23)

Working on queries is one of my favorite parts of editing. It’s the first thing an agent or editor will see, and it’s incredibly important that you’re not missing anything crucial. For this service, I’ll go through your query, including bio, and give suggestions on where to cut or add, and also what might be missing. I work with the voice, stakes, motivations, goals, and more, making sure they get into the query.

Query and First Chapter Edit-$60 (Sale Price: $40)

Along with edits on your query, this package includes your first chapter too. If you’re getting a lot of rejections on the querying front, it may be time to get feedback on the query and first chapter. With this, I’ll be able to give you insight on what might be the reason behind rejections.

Query and First 50 Edit – $95 (Sale Price: $62)

Many major problems of manuscripts can be caught in the first fifty or so pages. I offer critique and editing on your query and first 50 pages.

For this, I read over both and make suggestions on what to cut and what to add, where you need to up the tension, input on your characters’ overall goals, motivations, and conflict. I also proofread during this process, looking for typos or any other grammatical errors.

Full MS Edits:

Edit Letter Only — $275 (Sale Price: $137.50)

If you’re seeking edits on plot, characters, goal/motivation/conflict, tension, dialogue, and more, this service focuses on the big picture. My edit letters outline your strengths and weaknesses, as well as ideas on how to fix them. My edit letters are usually between 4-7 pages in length, but may be longer depending on the shape your book is in.

This service doesn’t include in-line comments in the MS.

Submission Package — $550 (Sale Price: $275)

If you’d like this full MS edit WITHOUT the query and synopsis, I offer that for $420 (Sale Price: $210).

For those looking for the whole package critique: query, synopsis, edit letter, and in-line comments, I have a submission package.

I will read the manuscript over once for content editing, where I’ll make in-line comments and suggestions. I will also work on the query and synopsis.

This submission package doesn’t focus on grammatical errors. The main focus of edits is to be certain your plot is structured, your characters are three-dimensional, and your dialogue is fresh. During an edit and critique, I focus primarily on your story and making sure it’s the best it can be before you start sending it out.

This edit will contain an edit letter, usually between 4-7 pages where I will detail some of the bigger problems the story has and some thoughts on how to fix them.

The overall thoughts focus on whether or not your story holds attention, where things can be cut or added, and suggestions for how to make the manuscript tighter.

-Contact me to book a slot today.

Special Middle Grade Sale: 50% Off Full Edits for MG Manuscripts

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I’m really super excited to be able to run this sale. The first writer I ever mentored was for a middle grade book that’s coming out in three months from today! To celebrate, I’m offering full manuscript edits for ANY middle grade book at a 50% discount. Don’t have a middle grade manuscript? I’m offering any partial edit at 33% off for every age category.

What I do:

I can help you polish your manuscript and get it publication-ready. I work on big-picture issues, such as goal, motivation, conflict, character development and growth, plot structure, tension, and stakes. But I don’t just spot these problems, I also offer ideas on how to fix them, so that when you send your book to an agent or editor, it’s the best it can be.

The discount runs for this week only, meaning there are ten spots available. These spots typically go pretty quickly, so if you want one, send me an email at judi@judilauren.com today.

A bit about me:

I’m an assistant editor at Entangled publishing, working with Stacy Abrams, where I help make writer’s dreams come true. Some of the books I assisted with at Entangled include:

  • Kiss of the Royal by Lindsey Duga (July 2018)
  • Garden of Thorns by Amber Mitchell (March 2017)
  • Playing Her Secret Crush by Casey Griffin (2018)
  • Hiding Lies by Julie Cross (2018)

I’ve also been a PitchWars mentor, where I worked with promising writers to make their manuscripts shine. One of my mentees recently signed a two-book deal with Liz Pelletier at Entangled Teen. The mentee whose book is coming out in three (!!!) months sold his book to Candlewick Press. You can add it on Goodreads here!

Testimonials and a full list of my editing services are below!

Judi was amazing at seeing where I needed to develop on big picture area (character development, theme), the craft of my words (I think she had ‘show, don’t tell’ pasted on repeat) to mechanics of the English language. My manuscript wouldn’t be what it is today without her help.

-Adam Schmitt (Author of SPEECHLESS, Candlewick Press, 2018)

The best thing I ever did was submit my ms to Judi during Pitch Wars! She took my work on outside of the contest, something I never expected and fully appreciated! Judi has an eye for plot and character, and she really helped dig into my ms and find exactly what I couldn’t see. Working with her was an amazing experience, and she truly loves helping writers become stronger. I recommend her services to everyone!

-Lynn Vroman (represented by MacKenzie Fraser-Bub of Fraser-Bub Lit)

Judi is an extremely talented editor. She has an almost eerie knack for knowing what edits will make a book stronger. When I received my edit letter, I was amazed by how on point all her suggestions were. Things I hadn’t even considered suddenly made so much sense, and I couldn’t imagine my book without her great ideas being included. She doesn’t force any of her suggestions on you, but they’re so good that you’ll most likely want to use them all anyway. She won’t shy away from telling you what isn’t working, but she’ll also praise what is working so much you’ll be blushing behind your computer screen. She taught me so much, not just about my novel, but about writing and revising overall, and that’s knowledge I have under my belt now for future projects. I’m genuinely so happy I got to work with her and build a relationship with her not just as her mentee but as a friend. She helped me find my enthusiasm for reading and writing again, and when someone believes in you as much as she does, it’s impossible to give up.

-Danielle Thurby (2017 Pitch Wars Mentee)

Partial MS Edits:

Query Edit-$35 (Sale Price: $23)

Working on queries is one of my favorite parts of editing. It’s the first thing an agent or editor will see, and it’s incredibly important that you’re not missing anything crucial. For this service, I’ll go through your query, including bio, and give suggestions on where to cut or add, and also what might be missing. I work with the voice, stakes, motivations, goals, and more, making sure they get into the query.

Query and First Chapter Edit-$60 (Sale Price: $40)

Along with edits on your query, this package includes your first chapter too. If you’re getting a lot of rejections on the querying front, it may be time to get feedback on the query and first chapter. With this, I’ll be able to give you insight on what might be the reason behind rejections.

Query and First 50 Edit – $95 (Sale Price: $62)

Many major problems of manuscripts can be caught in the first fifty or so pages. I offer critique and editing on your query and first 50 pages.

For this, I read over both and make suggestions on what to cut and what to add, where you need to up the tension, input on your characters’ overall goals, motivations, and conflict. I also proofread during this process, looking for typos or any other grammatical errors.

Full MS Edits:

Edit Letter Only — $275 (Sale Price: $137.50)

If you’re seeking edits on plot, characters, goal/motivation/conflict, tension, dialogue, and more, this service focuses on the big picture. My edit letters outline your strengths and weaknesses, as well as ideas on how to fix them. My edit letters are usually between 4-7 pages in length, but may be longer depending on the shape your book is in.

This service doesn’t include in-line comments in the MS.

Submission Package — $550 (Sale Price: $275)

If you’d like this full MS edit WITHOUT the query and synopsis, I offer that for $420 (Sale Price: $210).

For those looking for the whole package critique: query, synopsis, edit letter, and in-line comments, I have a submission package.

I will read the manuscript over once for content editing, where I’ll make in-line comments and suggestions. I will also work on the query and synopsis.

This submission package doesn’t focus on grammatical errors. The main focus of edits is to be certain your plot is structured, your characters are three-dimensional, and your dialogue is fresh. During an edit and critique, I focus primarily on your story and making sure it’s the best it can be before you start sending it out.

This edit will contain an edit letter, usually between 4-7 pages where I will detail some of the bigger problems the story has and some thoughts on how to fix them.

The overall thoughts focus on whether or not your story holds attention, where things can be cut or added, and suggestions for how to make the manuscript tighter.

-Contact me to book a slot today.

The Importance of an Irresistible Query Letter

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I’ve worked with a lot of slush piles–from Pitch Wars to my job as an assistant editor at Entangled Publishing. The query is so important to your writing career. It’s the pitch that could help you land an agent or a book deal. Yet I’ve come across writers who don’t think the query is that important. Some believe if the agent or editor or mentor just gets to the sample pages, they’ll definitely request. This is a self-sabotaging way to think about your query for two big reasons:

  1. When you send a poorly written query to an agent or editor, it sends them a message that you don’t care enough about your book to give it a proper query. And if you don’t care about your book, why should they? If a writer can’t be bothered to make the book sound interesting, with the goals, conflict, motivations, stakes, etc., why should an agent or editor bother to read it?
  2. Not every agent and editor reads sample pages. It’s tough, but true. There are agents that only want to see a query letter in the submission, no sample pages. If you don’t have an irresistible query letter, you’re not moving forward with your submission.

Agencies and publishing houses can get 100+ queries a week. Part of my job is going through that general slush pile and pulling things I think my boss would love to work on. A couple months ago, I pulled one just from the query letter; I didn’t even read the writing sample before alerting my boss to it because from the query, I knew the story itself would be good. We acquired it just a few weeks later. In just a couple hundred words, the writer made me intrigued enough to care about her characters before I’d even opened the sample pages.

Just because you’ve written a great book doesn’t mean you can write a terrific query, and that’s okay. But if you know that’s an issue, invest in an editor for it, or run it by CPs and beta readers until you’re satisfied. Take that extra time to give your manuscript the chances it deserves.

For some quick tips on query letter writing, check out my post on conflict and stakes. There’s also this unbelievably thorough post on writing query letters from Jane Friedman.

And I’m giving away a free query edit to one writer. To enter, simply comment on this post, OR comment/retweet this tweet.

Writing Around Unsupportive People

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Writing is hard. Chuck from Supernatural learned it the hard way—the same way every writer learns it. Those who say writing and getting an agent and/or book published is easy are just kidding themselves. Fortunately, the writing community is full of people who’re willing to be critique partners, beta readers, or just plain friends as we all take our different paths in publishing.

They’re all pretty awesome. But some people aren’t.

I’m talking about people in your life—maybe even other writers—who don’t support your dream or don’t believe in you.

I had people like that in my life. Fortunately, they’re not in it anymore. The truth is, I don’t know why some people are like that. I’m not sure why some people have to spend their time putting others down.

But I have countless writer friends whose mom/dad/stepparent/spouse/sibling/best friend doesn’t believe in them. Sometimes it’s not just one person, but a whole bunch of people.

Being around unsupportive people can not only wear you down, but can also have a negative effect on your writing. It’s so, so easy to allow what others think to have an impact on everything you do. You’re not alone; everyone does it.

So how do you keep writing despite unsupportive people in your life?

I started by talking less to these people and spending more time with those who were supportive and encouraging. My relationships with the ones who weren’t eventually just sort of fell apart.

If it’s anyone—other than a spouse obviously—on the list above, try cutting back on the time you spend with them. A lot of writers credit someone who didn’t believe in them as a catalyst that pushed them to go for a dream. I’ve been there too. What can I say? I’m pretty competitive and don’t like to be told I can’t do something.

But even those who’re very determined that they’re going to achieve their dreams can be worn down over time by negative people. Think of the sea pounding away at rocks for years. Eventually, the ocean is going to win because the rocks can’t go anywhere. Can do nothing but take the brunt of the ocean.

It can be hard to cut back on the time you spend with people who’re unsupportive of you—especially if they’re friends you’ve known a long time, or relatives. But if your dream is to be an author, then you owe it to yourself and your writing to surround yourself with people who believe in you and want your dream to come true. If you don’t want to walk away or cut back, then try to surround yourself with more positive people than negative ones. Find a balance so the negativity isn’t all you hear.

No one can make your dream come true for you. No one will put in the time, effort, and heart you will to achieve what you want—not even your supportive people. If you don’t do it, your dream’s not going to come true.

So if you’re reading this, I’m someone who supports you. I don’t have to know what your dream is to believe in you, to know that you’re someone with amazing ideas inside of you just waiting to be words on paper. And I can’t wait to see what you do with them.

Don’t forget, I’m running a sale on partial and full manuscript edits right now. Check them out here.

Should You Split from Your Critique Partner?

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One of the best things you can do for your writing–ever–is find some solid critique partners. I’ve had quite a few over the years, and I’ve found some really solid ones. I’ve also had to walk away from a few. Not because I didn’t like them, but because we weren’t a good fit.

There’s nothing wrong with walking away from a critique partner. There are a lot of writers that won’t do it because they don’t want to hurt their CP’s feelings. That’s a legitimate worry. But if you want to be published, you need to treat writing like a job. You need to surround yourself with people who will help you. And you need to be willing to do the same for them.

Your critique partner should fit you. The best CPs I have are ones where I clicked really well with their personalities. I think that’s why so many writers have a hard time finding solid CPs. They don’t get along with the person behind the writing. And that’s okay. You don’t have to be their best friend, but there needs to be a certain level of respect and understanding between the two of you.

Your critique partner should be understanding of your time.There have been days where I’ve told my critique partners that I’m going to need extra time on something of theirs because my schedule just got too busy. There have been times when one of my CPs has said the same thing to me and it’s cool–we get it.

But if they’re constantly missing deadlines they set to get your stuff back to you, or they’re taking months (and months) they may not be a good fit for you. It’s important to have someone who cares about your writing and your writing journey, and you need to be returning the favor. If you can’t meet deadlines and you can’t seem to help them ever, don’t be surprised if they’re the ones who take a step back.

Your critique partner should be offering constructive criticism. I once had a CP who called my writing/characters stupid. And we didn’t last long. Do not stay with a critique partner who talks down to you. I’m going to say that again just because I feel like it bears repeating.

The writing community can be a pretty amazing place. I’ve met writers, like my longest-running CP Amy, who’ve become my friends. We talk about rejections, plot holes, and we brainstorm together. One of my favorite things about knowing my CPs is getting to celebrate with them when something great happens. In the last six months, two of my CPs have signed with agents, and I got to celebrate with them.

But you’re also going to meet people in the writing community who aren’t so amazing. There are going to be writers who tear you down for nothing. If you have a CP and he or she is just ugly about your writing, or about you, there’s a very good chance that relationship needs to end.

There’s a difference between offering constructive criticism and just being a jerk. I once got an email about edits from a CP on a book that was really close to my heart. She pointed out everything wrong with it, and it was kind of like “Ouch!” But she was right. And more importantly, she pointed out the problems in the kindest way possible. Honesty and kindness are two of the most important traits you can find in a critique partner.

I’ve had writers tell me they’re worried about dropping a CP that’s not working because they think they won’t find another one. Don’t do that. A bad critique partner is worse than not having one at all. Your writing is important, and it deserves a critique partner that’s going to help you nurture it. Reach out to writers. Some won’t work out and some will tell you no, but others are going to be the best critique partners you’ll ever have.

Don’t forget, I’m running a sale on partial and full manuscript edits right now. Check them out here.