Your editor is your best reader.
It’s your book. Your voice. Your vision. Your story.
My job is to make it bulletproof.
Publishers & Agents:
I’m available for commercial and literary fiction and non-fiction at any stage of development or production.
Editorial Services
I spent sixteen years as an editor at Doubleday, working on a wide variety of commercial and literary fiction and memoir. My job is to respect your work, and to help make it shine.
01. Global Edit
The first step in the editorial process is the global edit.
This is where I read your manuscript very closely. I’m a broken record but every manuscript, and every edit, is different. What I find always changes, but what I look for does not. I look for dissonance. I look for cohesion. I look for consistency in characters. I look for surprise in characters. I look for character arcs and I look for themes. I look for realism, if that’s what you are going for. Or maybe it’s absurdity. Maybe it’s both. I’m here to help you make it intentional, confident, and to make it count.
I’ll give you tons of notes in the margin of your manuscript. You’ll also get an in-depth editorial letter in which I’ll address your concerns for the overall shape of the narrative and tone, along with an analysis of character, themes, pacing, momentum, tension, and any number of questions particular to your manuscript.
This is where we identify that one passage that perhaps you hope no one will notice, or that scene you don’t want to make eye contact with—and more often than not, we’ll find that a solution has been there all along. (Seriously.)
After you get the editorial letter and notes, we’ll have a final call/zoom to discuss how best to navigate your revision.
02. Line Edit
The nitty gritty. Once you’ve addressed structural issues in your global edit, it’s time to examine the language line-by-line and get granular.
That means we’ll look at the transitions and pacing of each scene, focus on hitting dramatic/comedic/emotional beats, and drill down on the elusive flow and language tics that make up your voice.
Whether you’re writing memoir, literary fiction, horror, crime, narrative non-fiction, or any unique cocktail you’ve invented, this stage is essential.
This is where we make your manuscript bulletproof.
Rob Bloom
As an editor at Doubleday for sixteen years, I published books spanning thrillers, crime, horror, literary, memoir, experimental, satire, and anthologies (and a few that are tricky to categorize). They included New York Times bestsellers, Good Morning America Book Club selections, Indie-Next picks, Edgar Award winners, Amazon Best Book of the Month selections, and B&N Discover picks. The books and amazing authors I’ve worked with have landed on many end-of-year best of lists, and have been reviewed, interviewed, and profiled in major print, radio, and television media across the country. Every edit has been a new experience, but with each one the focus is on the author, their book, and their unique vision.
Books edited
Testimonials:
"Rob Bloom's editorial eye is so sharp, it borders on prescience. As a courageous advocate for both storyteller and story, he met my words where they were, illuminated just how far they'd take me, and walked steadfast by my side on the winding path to my true potential. A far greater potential than I could often see, and one he'd seen all along.”
— PJ Vernon, author of Bath Haus
“Rob Bloom will help you hone your voice, untangle your plot, sharpen your characters. His instincts are flawless, and his editorial guidance has been and continues to be invaluable to me.”
— Louisa Luna, author of Two Girls Down, The Janes, and Hideout
