Becoming a published author takes a team.
Do you have the seed of an idea for a children’s book? Are you wondering what the next step is for your manuscript? Does your story need a big picture edit or polish to be ready for submission? Catherine Frank Editorial Services, LLC specializes in children’s writing and publishing and offers personalized editorial expertise.
Hello, I’m Catherine.
I’ve been a children’s book editor for nearly twenty-five years. I began my career as an editorial assistant at Viking Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Random House, just two weeks after my college graduation. I spent more than a decade at Viking, learning from some of the best editors in the business and rising through the ranks to become Executive Editor. After eleven years of working in Manhattan, the time was right to return home to New Orleans with my family. I established Catherine Frank Editorial Services in the spring of 2011 with the goal of continuing to do the work that I love.
As the editor of award-winning fiction and nonfiction children’s books ranging in format from board books to novelties and picture books to young adult fiction, I have a broad editorial perspective. Books acquired and edited by me have received honors including: nomination for the National Book Award; The Boston Globe Horn Book Award, the Golden Kite Award, the Charlotte Zolotow Award, the New York Times Best Illustrated Award, the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.
Through Catherine Frank Editorial Services I work with authors, agents, packagers, and publishers large and small. I edit picture book texts, chapter books, nonfiction books for older readers, and middle grade and YA novels. I’m a member of the SCBWI.
In conjunction with my freelance editorial work, in 2020 I joined Peachtree Publishing as an editor at large, acquiring and editing a limited number of projects. For more information, please visit www.peachtreebooks.com/.
Catherine Frank Editorial Services, LLC offers consultation, editorial feedback, and general guidance about the world of children’s publishing. I can help you turn the dream of just wanting to be published into a reality.
Portfolio
My editorial experience runs the gamut from photographic, award-winning nonfiction to highly commercial, older YA and everything in between. This is a sample of the published books and projects I have recently worked on as a freelance editor (click on a book jacket to learn more).
Editorial Expertise
With nearly twenty-five years of experience in children’s publishing—including over a decade in the trenches at a Big Five publisher—I know the ins and outs of how to craft a query letter, how to find the right agent, and, most importantly, how to develop a manuscript into the best possible version of itself. And sometimes my four-legged editorial assistant even helps!
Services
Here are the details about my available editorial services. Please get in touch with questions, or if you’re looking for something specific that might not be mentioned below. I’m happy to tailor my work to suit your needs, whether you’re an author, illustrator, publisher, or agent.
My favorite part of the editorial process is diving into a manuscript, seeing where it takes me, and envisioning how that journey could be strengthened. I can help deepen characters, focus plots, and improve a story’s pacing, whether it’s a 100-word picture book text or a YA narrative nonfiction manuscript.
Reviews
A selection of comments from some of the people I’ve had the privilege of working with.
Catherine is great. She is smart, experienced, thorough, and diplomatic. (I could pile on a bunch of other superlatives—patient, tenacious, and unflinching come to mind—but she’d just suggest I cut them.) She has a surgeon’s eye for detail and she grasps the whole. There are suggestions she made, both major and minor, that made the story so much stronger that I don’t even want to talk about it.
J.T. Allen
Author Daisy and the Pirates, Sumus Press