As the author of fiction and nonfiction books for children and adults, a one-time children’s book editor, and a long-time manuscript editor, I have an insider’s knowledge of book publishing from both the writer’s and the editor’s side of the desk. I’ve made plenty of mistakes, but I’ve had successes too.
Over the course of my editing and writing career, I’ve read thousands of queries and drafts by writers of everything from picture books to scholarly monographs. I am intimately aware of the ways they go wrong.
Since 2010 I’ve been researching and blogging advice for writers and copyeditors nonstop. As a contributing editor and blogger for The Chicago Manual of Style, I understand how fiction writers can make the best use of this authoritative reference book to negotiate effectively with the agents, editors, and copyeditors who handle their work.
My own book The Subversive Copy Editor is all about win-win strategies for editors and writers. Publishers Weekly says, “Saller writes with wisdom and a great generosity of spirit. . . . An ideal complement to any style guide: practical, relentlessly supportive and full of ed-head laughs.”
Publications, Creative Writing
- “8 Hard Truths about Self-Publishing Children's Books.” Prairie Wind, November 2024.
- Maddie’s Ghost. Chicago: Duckweed Books, 2023.
- “Urban Odyssey: Communing in Chicago’s Japanese Garden.” Newcity, June 19, 2019.
- “Stickling for Words.” Review of Lane Greene, Talk on the Wild Side. Times Literary Supplement, January 18, 2019.
- “The Substance of Style.” Research Information, July 30, 2018.
- “Toward Accuracy, Clarity, and Consistency.” In What Editors Do, ed. Peter Ginna. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2018.
- The Subversive Copy Editor: Advice from Chicago; or, How to Negotiate Good Relationships with Your Writers, Your Colleagues, and Yourself, 2nd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2016 (orig. 2009).
- Foreword to But Can I Start a Sentence with “But”? Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2016.
- “The Correctors.” Creative Nonfiction 53 (Fall 2014).
- Eddie’s War. South Hampton, NH: namelos, 2011.
- (more children’s books)
Appearances
- Evangelical Christian Publishers Association, Chicago, November 2024
- University of Chicago Service League, February 2023
- Society of Midland Authors, at the Book Cellar, Chicago, interview with author Joseph G. Peterson, February 2023
- Pens & Pilcrows book group, November 2022
- Kent State Editing and Publishing, October 2022
- S&P Global, online, June 2022
- Editorial Freelancers Association, Chicagoland Chapter, June 2022
- Creative Nonfiction webinar, “Think Like a Copyeditor: Make Your Submission Shine,” March 2022
- Pace University Publishing Program, online, February 2022
- George Washington University College of Professional Studies–Publishing, online, January 2022
- International Association of Professional Translators and Interpreters (IAPTI), online, November 2021
- Editors Canada Student Affiliate Book Club, online, November 2021
- The Editing Podcast (3-part series), with Louise Harnby and Denise Cowle, September–October 2021
- Beardstown CUSD #15 Elementary School, online, September 2021
- Boston University Pardee School of Global Studies, online, August 2021
- Willamette Writers Conference, Portland, OR, online, July–August 2021
- Brigham Young University, online, June 2021
- University of North Carolina Hussman School of Journalism and Media, online, April 2021
- Anne M. Dorner Middle School, Ossining NY, online, February 2021
- Pace University Publishing Program, online, February 2021
- Voss Middle School, Bourne, TX, online, February 2021
- Premier Charter School, St. Louis, MO, online, February 2021
- Leaman Jr. High School, Fulshear, TX, online, February 2021
- Editors Victoria, Institute of Professional Editors, Victoria, Australia, online, November 2020
- University of Roehampton, London, online, October 2020
- University of Nebraska–Lincoln, online, October 2020
- University of North Carolina Hussman School of Journalism and Media, online, October 2020
- “That Word Chat” with Mark Allen, online, October 2020
- Bookends and Beginnings “Literary Lunchbreak” with Benjamin Dryer, online, August 2020
- University of Georgia, Athens, GA, online, July 2020
- Midwest Writers Workshop, Muncie IN, online, July 2020
- Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP) Toronto, online, June 2020
- Editors Canada Kitchener-Waterloo-Guelph, online, June 2020
- CIEP Cloud Club West, online, June 2020
- Whitireia Graduate Diploma in Publishing, New Zealand, online, May 2020
- Oregon State University, online, May 2020
- Novelists, Inc., St. Pete Beach FL, September 2019
- Chicago Women in Publishing, Chicago, September 2019
- Editorial Freelancers Association conference, Chicago, August 2019
- Printers Row Lit Fest, Chicago, June 2019
- Creative Nonfiction Writers Fellowship webinar, April 2019
- Diamonds in the Rough, Phoenix, February 2019
- Abu Dhabi Publishing Forum, Abu Dhabi, UAE, January 2019
- American Library Association webinar, Chicago, November 2018
- First-Look Play Festival, Prairie Players Civic Theatre, Galesburg IL, October 2018
- International Association of Business Communicators, Montreal, June 2018
- #MeToo Play Festival, 2nd Act Players, Evanston IL, May 2018
- American Society for Editing, Chicago, April 2018
- U-W Writers' Institute, Madison WI, April 2018
- Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP), Tampa, March 2018
- Minnesota Book Publishers’ Roundtable, Minneapolis, November 2017
- Northwest Independent Editors’ Guild, Keynote, Seattle, September 2017
- American Library Association, Chicago, June 2017
- Editors’ Assoc. of Canada, Ottawa-Gatineau, Québec, June 2017
- American University Presses, Austin TX, June 2017
- Int’l Assoc. of Translators and Interpreters, Keynote, Buenos Aires, April 2017
- American Society for Editing (ACES), St. Petersburg FL, March 2017
- Chicago Humanities Festival, April 2016
- Board of Editors in the Life Sciences, Keynote, Denver, October 2016
- Chicago Public Television, WTTW, Chicago Tonight, 2015–2017
- University of Chicago Graham School, Editing Program guest lecturer, 2014–
Blogging
- Chicago Manual of Style Shop Talk (Editor’s Corner, 2014–2018; Fiction+, 2019–).
- The Subversive Copy Editor (2010–).
- Lingua Franca, Chronicle of Higher Education (weekly, 2011–2012).
- SCBWI-Illinois Prairie Wind. “Promoting Your Book: Is There Any Point?”
- Terry Farish, The Elephant Rag. “Braiding the Verse Novel: Carol Fisher Saller.”
- Nancy Bo Flood, The Pirate Tree: Social Justice and Children's Literature. Review and Interview.
- Chris Eboch, Write Like a Pro!. “Did I Really Write Eddie’s War?”
- Pam Torres, So I'm Fifty. Interview: “Only You Can Write Your Book.”
- Illinois SCBWI Prairie Wind. "The Character Who Got Away.”
- Cynthia Leitich Smith, Cynsations. “Details from a Diary: Mining a Family Treasure for Fiction.”
- L L Owens, Children's Writing. “Poetry Friday Q&A.”
- Darcy Pattison, Fiction Notes. “Shrunken Manuscript X-Treme: A Writing Trick.”
- Clara Gillow Clark. “Celebrating Eddie’s Launch on Publication Day.”
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