Andrew Hilleman was born in Omaha, Nebraska, where he earned his MA in English from Creighton University with a concentration in creative writing. This summer he will receive his M.F.A. in fiction from Northern Michigan University where he taught creative writing, composition, and narrative and descriptive writing. He has been published in Fiddlehead magazine and was a finalist for Glimmer Train's 2011 short fiction award. Andrew's tastes are wide and varied, with a special interest in historical fiction, crime fiction and literary fiction, as well as anything and everything political. He en...

Jen Howard was born in Escanaba, Michigan, and pursued a PhD in literature with a focus on literary criticism before shifting gears and setting her sights on a career as a writer, writing teacher, and editor. With an MA in English and an MFA in Fiction Writing, she teaches creative writing (both fiction and nonfiction) at Northern Michigan University. She is the editor-in-chief of Passages North, and her own stories and essays have been published in Crab Orchard Review, Blue Mesa Review, Redivider, Sycamore Review, Smokelong Quarterly, Southeast Review, Quarterly Review, wigleaf, Literary M...

TED's Director of Development John Robert Marlow is an award-winning novelist, screenwriter, and adaptation consultant whose nonfiction articles have appeared in the Novel and Short Story Writer's Market and the Screenwriter's and Playwright's Market (both published by Writer's Digest Books), The Writer, Writers' Journal, Backspace, Women On Writing, Writer's World, Urban Muse, Fellow Script, Parade, and numerous other print and online publications. His first novel, Nano, was immediately recognized as cinematic ("Marlow's debut is a real page-turner"—Kirkus Reviews; "Reads like a big...

Kate Joy Steele joined TED in the spring of 2008.  Kate has been researching, writing, ghostwriting, and teaching in business and professional settings since 1979 and has, in that time, translated innumerable pages of corporate-speak to cogent English and written "how-to" manuals on a number of business and academic subjects. Along with being our go-to consultant on business and academic books of all descriptions, she is also a skilled proofreader and copyeditor who has helped bring a number of TED authors to print readiness. Kate is a native of Oklahoma and now resides in the Pacifi...

Penelope J. Stokes is a published writer, prolific editor, and former college professor with a Ph.D. in Renaissance literature. More than twenty years ago she left the classroom to pursue a career in writing and editing, and since then has worked with dozens of writers on more than 150 novels and nonfiction books. In addition, she is the author of eleven novels, including The Blue Bottle Club, Circle of Grace, and Delta Belles, and has also taught fiction seminars at writing conferences around the country. She is represented by Claudia Cross of Sterling Lord Literistic in New York. Penny ...

Peter Gelfan has been editing and ghostwriting both fiction and nonfiction for the past 17 years. His clients range from beginners to published and bestselling authors and celebrities. He also edits screenplays and has sold two he wrote under his own name, one of which was produced and recently released in France. While experienced in most every genre from crime through mainstream to literary, he specializes in analyzing and strengthening underlying structure—plot, character, and scenes in fiction, and organization and argument in nonfiction. Peter has published a feature-length article...

Ross Browne has been editing books since 1992 and developing workshops and seminars for writers since 1997. He has worked closely with hundreds of authors during his time with the company and seen many projects through from first draft to publication. He enjoys working on most genres of commercial fiction and specializes in teaching fiction technique, with a particular emphasis on dialogue. He has worked as a reader/reviewer for a major New York literary agency and works closely with Karinya Funsett-Topping in managing TED’s agent matchmaking program. His favorite writers include J...

Shannon Roberts has always had an interest in the world of media and publishing. In 2007, she graduated as a Mass Communication major from the University of North Carolina at Asheville, where she had worked during her senior year as a writing tutor and consultant. Using that experience, she began offering her editing services freelance to a number of small clients locally. After a year of this, as well as an internship at Front Street Books (an extension of Boyds Mill Press), she began working closely with Editorial Department founder Renni Browne as an editorial assistant and manuscript co...