Happy New Year, writer.

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I hope it's off to a good start for you. Have you taken time yet to appreciate all the things you accomplished last year? You might be surprised at how much you managed to get done, all things considered. Whether you measure in love, coffee spoons, fingers, fingers, or books, you made it through The Year That Wasn't, and that means you're a survivor.

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Against all odds, we got a decent amount of work done last year, which we owe entirely to the trust and flexibility of our amazing clients. It was a good year for hibernating with a mission, and many of you went deep with projects you'd been wanting to complete. Here's the end-of-year report on our clients' accomplishments.

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Seventeen of our clients' books were published in 2020.

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Naira Babayan's Family Portrait: Memories I Will Never Forget​

Bobo Blankson's A Day to Forget​

Terri Buschmann's Livin' the Hand I Was Dealt​

Brooke Davis's Adventures of an Urban Homesteader: The Diary of Kendall Whitney​

Barbara Dzikowski's Last Moon Before Home​

Shannon Evans's The Leveling​

Julie Gilbert's Cemetery Song​

Georgie Herz's Hurdles (privately published)

Kate Mathieson's Just As You Are​

J.E. Nelson's The Power Unleashed​

Ken Oder's The Princess of Sugar Valley: A Whippoorwill Hollow Novel​

Joseph C. Polacco's Giovanni: Street Urchin of Naples​

Ana Catalina Reynoso de la Garza's (the rain) a liquid fantasía​

Eleanor Rogers's Aphrodite Stumbles​

Janet Wertman's The Boy King: Book 3 of the Seymour Saga​

James Mikel Wilson's Ghosts of Presidents Past: A Reckoning -- contact me for a free download code!

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Four of our clients' books won awards in 2020 (that we know of!).

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Vee Kumari's Dharma: A Rekha Rao Mystery -- winner of a 2019 Chanticleer Award

Ken Oder's The Judas Murders: A Whippoorwill Hollow Novel-- winner of a 2020 IPPY Award

Julie Shafer's Loved: Relationship Rules for Women Who Thought They Knew the Rules-- winner of a 2019 Best Book Award, two International Book Awards, and a National Indie Excellence Award

Renée Stilson's The Balanced Pet Sitter: What You Wish You Knew Before Starting Your Pet Care Business -- winner of a 2020 Best Book Award

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Forty-one clients kept us busy enough to stay relatively sane through Pandemic Year 1.

Rhonda and I copyedited 10 manuscripts together. I critiqued 10 novels and 4 nonfiction books. Matthew critiqued 10 novels, 1 short story, and 3 scripts, and mentored three writers through story development. We found beta readers for 4 novels and 1 business book. We created Book Description Toolkits for two clients' new books.

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I rebuilt this website from scratch with the help of Clay Steakley at Outer Voice, met my Goodreads Reading Challenge by finishing 60 books, and got engaged to the love of my life. Rhonda was blessed with a new grandbaby -- her fourth! Matthew began hosting interviews with authors and other creatives, a socially distanced story hour, and conversations with his brothers about movies and food on his YouTube channel.

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We're ready for 2021.

I'm starting the new year with a rush of gratitude for Matthew Arkin and Rhonda Erb, whose editorial expertise, passion for mastery, and beautiful humanity have given me room to breathe and build this business in between editing projects. The prospect of filling their calendars with projects they enjoy keeps me energized.

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If I've missed anything, please drop me a line. Every one of these books represents years of dedication, love, angst, and labor, and we're honored to have been invited on the journey. Here's to a healthy, safe, happy 2021, folks. Let us know if we can be of service.

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Meghan Pinson
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Why we link to Amazon

Each title on this page links to an Amazon page, where as an Amazon Affiliate, we earn a small percentage of qualifying purchases. Although we prefer to support independent bookstores rather than Amazon, we’ve chosen to link the titles on this page to Amazon because as the leading online bookseller, Amazon has more reviews than any other site, and because Amazon reviews have proven to be critical to indie authors’ sales.

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The best gift you can give an author is a positive review of their book, so we encourage you to give generously. Of course, if you don’t have anything nice to say, and nobody’s asked your opinion, you may as well not say anything at all.

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Each of these books is available through independent booksellers as well — if you don’t already have a favorite local indie bookstore, go to IndieBound.org to find one near you.

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