In 1968 she became senior editor at Stein & Day, where she stayed seven years until she became a senior editor at William Morrow. Because she was not allowed to take the time needed to edit the titles she acquired, she dropped out of mainstream publishing in 1979.

In 1980 she founded The Editorial Department. In 1991 she and Dave King wrote Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, the bestselling title on editing, now in its fifth printing and second edition from HarperCollins. She has written book reviews and magazine articles on many topics and appeared on NPR.

Over the years she has given lectures, workshops, and seminars around the country on self-editing, dialogue, getting published, and other topics of interest to writers. She is the co-founder of the Lost State Writer’s Conference in Greeneville, Tennessee and the author of TED’s e-book on style and dialogue.

Renni is originally from Charlotte, N.C and now lives in Asheville with two cats. Hobbies include old-time music festivals, walks in the mountains, and reading fiction. She especially enjoys Elizabeth George's mysteries.

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 final 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 in managing TED’s agent matchmaking program.

His favorite writers include John Irving, Carl Hiaasen, Lester Bangs, and Pat Conroy. Ross lives with his wife in Tucson, Arizona and enjoys playing golf and watching baseball. As a musician in a local band,  he is keenly interested in songwriting, studio recording, and biographies of influential musicians.

Peter Gelfan has been editing and ghostwriting both fiction and nonfiction for the past 15 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. He is represented by the Peter Rubie Literary Agency.

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 several feature-length articles on fiction craft in Writer’s Digest in 2004-2006. He’s the author of TED’s e-book on novel structure. He has conducted a number of seminars and workshops at writers’ conferences and tutored a great many writers through numerous drafts.

Lynne Hinton is the author of several books including the New York Times Bestseller, Friendship Cake. She is also the author of The Arms of God, The Last Odd Day, Meditations for Walking (a nonfiction book), Hope Spring and Forever Friends, (sequels to Friendship Cake). She is a member of the Mystery Writers of America and the author of the Shady Grove Mystery Series, writing under the name, Jackie Lynn. She has upcoming contracts with St. Martin’s Press and HarperCollins for future projects. Several of her books have been chosen by the Independent Booksellers Listing, BookSense, as selected books of the month. She was also a featured author in Woman’s Day Magazine, the honored guest for a Book Club Contest Winner.

Lynne is a graduate of Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley, CA and the University of NC at Greensboro. She has also attended the NC School of the Arts, School of Filmmaking, and Wake Forest University. She is a noted Distinguished Alumni of PSR and the winner of the GFWC-NC Lucy B. Patterson Author of the Year Award, 2008. A regular columnist for The Charlotte Observer, Lynne writes a monthly column in the Faith and Values Section.

With publishing experience in nonfiction, mainstream fiction, mysteries, and journalism, Lynne brings a unique skill and resource base to ghostwriting. She is committed to delivering professional work and considers her qualities of organization and focus completely beneficial to this writing venture. She enjoys collaborating with others on projects. Trained as a minister and counselor, Lynne has developed her listening skills and works hard to make sure there is always clear and open communication between herself and the client.

Although she has enjoyed a variety of exciting adventures as a writer, she considers the endorsement she received from Dr. Maya Angelou for Friendship Cake, her greatest literary achievement. Dr. Angelou wrote, “I would welcome a friendship with Lynne Hinton. I would welcome an invitation to sit at her table, but mostly, I would welcome her next book.”

Jen Howard was born in Escanaba, Michigan and briefly 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 has taught everything from basic composition to advanced creating creative writing classes at Northern Michigan University. She is currently a fiction editor of Passages North, and her own writing has been published in Crab Orchard Review, Blue Mesa Review, Redivider, Sycamore Review, Smokelong Quarterly, and the W. W. Norton anthology Flash Fiction Forward.

Jen did her undergrad with the Jesuits at University of Detroit, majoring in the unusual combination of English and Mathematics. Her favorite authors change with the wind, but her current love affairs are with Grace Paley and Margaret Atwood. In the car, however, she prefers to listen to mysteries and thrillers. She likes working on many genres and categories of fiction and nonfiction and especially enjoys working on literary fiction, young adult fiction, and short stories.

Teresa Kennedy is an author, editor and publisher with more than 25 years experience in the publishing industry. As author or co-author of more than 30 published books, including fiction and non-fiction, she has also run an independent newspaper, and published a variety of short stories and articles in publications around the world.

She has served as a senior editor, acquisitions editor and consulting editor for a variety of publishers, agents, and book packagers around the country. A graduate of The University of Wisconsin back in the days where it was a “hotbed of radical unrest,“ she has also lived in Texas, Virginia, San Francisco, New York, Chicago and several cities in France. She currently lives in Tucson, AZ with her husband and daughter.

Though she counts literary fiction as her first love, Kennedy also enjoys working with mysteries, thrillers, and an assortment of commercial genre fiction, including YA. Her non-fiction specialties include psychology and self-help, especially with a New Age or spiritual slant, comparative religion, culture and philosophy. Favorite authors include Cormac McCarthy, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Stephen Dobyns, Flannery O’Connor, John Irving, and many, many more.

When she’s not working as an editor, (which is most of the time) she’s writing (the rest of the time) and is currently at work on a book of short fiction—In The Country of No Compassion, which considers the many facets of illegal immigration along the US/ Mexican border.

John Robert Marlow is a published novelist and optioned screenwriter with 15 years of experience as a freelance journalist (print and online), and over 5 years of experience as an editor and researcher. His tech-thriller novel Nano was recently published in hardcover by Forge/St. Martin’s Press. His Nano action screenplay is now in development with director/producer Jan de Bont (whose credits include Speed, Twister, Minority Report, and Lara Croft Tomb Raider). A second, romantic comedy screenplay has been optioned by the producer of the action-thriller Collateral.

John’s editing work has included writing, revising, and editing novels, screenplays, nonfiction books, book proposals, and film treatments; writing screenplay adaptations of both novels and nonfiction books; analyzing novels, screenplays, nonfiction books, film treatments and book proposals for commercial potential and marketability (and recommending changes to improve plot, character, dialogue, and narration); ghostwriting; and writing and editing promotional and book jacket copy. John has consulted on book cover design and interactive video game design and storyline, researched nonfiction books prior to publication, and researched nonfiction documentaries aired by the world’s largest broadcaster.

John’s first love is commercial fiction: novels and screenplays in the action, thriller, science fiction, drama, and comedy (including romantic comedy) genres. Running a close second to these: compelling nonfiction and “quirky” fiction.

Jesse Steele joined The Editorial Department in the summer of 2007 to manage our editorial staff and serve as liaison between TED's clients and editors. She is also a member of our editorial staff skilled at proof, copy and developmental editing.   She's reachable directly at (520) 546-9992 or by email here

Jesse is a page and performance poet published in several anthologies, and she has toured and competed nationally, winning some titles along the way.  She tutored English in community colleges for many years and has guest taught in multiple settings.  She workshopped at Bent Writing Institute in Seattle, Washington while studying grammar, creative writing, literature and language development.  She was a founding member, curriculum creator, and instructor for the Fourth Heart school, also in Seattle. She spent thirty years in the Pacific Northwest, then moved to the Sonoran desert to find radical change.   She is an insatiable reader with a leaning toward character-driven writing that explores the uncomfortable truths of being human. Dorothy Allison, Christopher Moore and Gabriel Garcia Marques top her list of favorite authors; Sylvia Plath, Rachel McKibbens and Marty McConnel her favorite poets. Writing, editing, rock climbing, and redecorating her house with her partner and their two big, messy dogs fill up most of her days, and she is currently editing her father's memoirs, a project she considers a fantastic honor.  

Kate Joy Steele, copyeditor, has been researching, writing and teaching practical writing skills in business and professional settings since 1979, with audiences as diverse as Civil Engineering students at Oregon Institute of Technology and Claims Managers at NASSCO Shipyards in San Diego, CA. She has ghost-written speeches and articles for professional journals. She has written and taught numerous workshops in business letter writing, creating valid technical and legal documentation, and translated innumerable pages of corporate-speak to cogent English.  She has researched and written “how to” manuals on risk management subjects ranging from accident-scene investigation, settlement negotiations, and premium auditing.   She has tutored children and adults in reading, grammar, spelling, and composition. 

Kate is a native of Oklahoma, lived and worked in the Pacific Northwest until her husband retired in 2006, when they moved to Surprise, AZ.  She reads widely, in subjects ranging from anthropology, psychology, theory of mind and learning theory, to the occasional mystery novel.  Her hobbies include painting, crafts, furniture refinishing and gardening. 

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 loves Southern fiction, women’s character fiction, magical realism, time travel, intelligent thrillers, and anything that makes her think. She’s particularly interested in spirituality and progressive theology, and in novels that incorporate spiritual questions and challenges.

She’s a huge fan of the Harry Potter books, Phillip Pullman’s Dark Materials, and The DaVinci Code, as well as the works of Sheri Reynolds, Sue Monk Kidd, and Barbara Kingsolver. Her most recent “favorite novel” is The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. 

Betsy Tice White began her career at McGraw-Hill and went on to do freelance editing for several private and university clients and presses. Before joining The Editorial Department she was acquisitions editor for Baltimore-based Recovery Communications, Inc., specializing in books on domestic abuse, addiction, family recovery, eating disorders, and building healthy relationships.

Betsy has edited nonfiction as well as fiction in all many genres. She has a special interest in southern and Appalachian culture, enjoys ghost-writing assignments, and has four published books to her own credit.

For leisure reading her current favorite authors are, on the homicide beat, Ian Rankin, Peter Robinson, Elmore Leonard, and James Lee Burke, and for a change of pace Lee Smith, Silas House, and Dorothea Brandon Frank.

Karinya Funsett is originally from Maumee, Ohio, but moved to Tucson to attend the University of Arizona. She graduated magna cum laude with a BA in creative writing in 2005. She is currently an MFA candidate in the school’s Creative Nonfiction program, where she has been named the 2007-2008 nonfiction editor for The Sonora Review. As an undergrad, she worked as an arts writer and book critic for the top-rated Arizona Daily Wildcat newspaper and served as the editor-in-chief for the school’s undergraduate literary magazine, Persona.

Karinya joined The Editorial Department in June 2006 as the Submissions Director. She manages the agent matchmaking program under the guidance of Ross Browne, and is assisted by Adriann Ranta. She loves reading the great work produced by the TED authors and editors, and enjoys the challenge of finding the right literary agent for each manuscript in the program.

When reading for pleasure, she turns to southern authors like Flannery O’Connor, Eudora Welty, Carson McCullers, and Truman Capote.

We recognize that there’s always a leap of faith in working with independent editors and that it can be quite daunting to subject a creative work to the intense level of scrutiny one can expect in a worthwhile editorial process. A productive author-editor relationship is impossible to achieve without confidence and trust, and we strive to cultivate these qualities at every step of the way with the quality of our work and the professionalism of our staff.

Our developmental editors are very carefully selected. We look for strong critical faculties, a genuine understanding of today's publishing climate, the ability to be succinct and articulate on complex matters, and the willingness to be completely candid. We expect our editors to be highly skilled writers and thinkers but also willing listeners, critiquing and advising with due respect and humility for the writer‘s convictions in regard to their own work.

Working with The Editorial Department means having access to a wide range of tastes, backgrounds, and areas of specialization. When an author submits his or her work to us, we carefully select the editor best suited to the project based on its genre, subject matter, and the nature and scope of the editing required. But in the event that a fresh pair of eyes or a different skill set is required, we have a diverse staff to turn to who know how to work well in a team context.