Featured on Kindlepreneur’s Best Editors List
Mikaela Pederson, Owner and Editor
Hi! It’s so nice to meet you.
I’m Mikaela, an aspiring author and word nerd with an all-consuming love for learning.
After a wonderful freak beta-reading accident in 2011, I opened A Step Up Editing, the culmination of my education and life-long passion for reading and writing, and have loved every second of it since!
In my free time, I can most often be found reading fantasy, dystopian, or animal-related NA or YA titles. When editing, however, I stick to what I absolutely adore: variety.
I live in my beautiful, artistic, and oh-so-hippie hometown of Bellingham, Washington, with my boyfriend; two large, rambunctious dogs; a Viking cat; and a windowsill full of orchids and African violets.
Your audience should have more than the chance to simply read your story—true fans
deserve to intimately understand and be changed by it.
Duke Diercks asked me:
“What is the #1 mistake you see first-time authors make?”
The number one mistake I see first-time authors make is hiring an inexperienced editor simply for the low price. Self-published authors—especially first-timers—tend to struggle with the idea of paying high prices for editing and book covers. Just like a cover, though, readers really will judge a book by the quality of its editing.
I can’t tell you how many of my now-loyal clients came to me with the same story: they painstakingly wrote their first book, hired a cheap editor to look it over, published it, and got absolutely slaughtered by reviewers for the many remaining errors. They then did some research to find a reputable editor, came to terms with the idea of spending more money, and contacted me to help them fix their manuscript. They learned the hard way, but that doesn’t mean other new authors have to.
Good editing, just like an eye-catching cover, is an investment in the success of a book and can make or break an author’s budding career. Luckily, in writing, just as in life, we can correct our mistakes and nearly always come out the other side all the better for it.
I can’t wait to work with her again!
I was very nervous to send my “baby” to a complete stranger, but with English as my second language, I knew some work needed to be done! I contacted Mikaela to edit my first novel, Painting Sky, which would not have been published without her much-needed help. She’s an excellent professional, meets the agreed schedule, is very thorough, and communicates excellently. I already booked her to edit my second novel!
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