Editing and beta reading services

I am a reliable and supportive beta reader and developmental editor for romance stories. I specialise in editing contemporary romance, YA romance, romantic comedy, fantasy romance, romantasy, paranormal romance and romantic suspense stories.
  • Are you struggling with the plot of your story and can’t figure out what happens next? I can show you how to solve the plot issues in your story.
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  • Are you struggling to create believable and unique characters with realistic goals, motivations and flaws? I can show you how to create believable, realistic and relatable characters in the story you are editing right now.

  • Do you provide too much information/exposition that slows down the pacing of the chapters, and readers lose interest in the story? I can show you how to identify unnecessary information and quicken the pacing of your story.

  • ​​ Are you struggling to show the romantic chemistry and advance the development of the romantic relationship between the main characters? I can read your manuscript and show you how to develop the romantic relationship between the main characters.
"Maria offered me feedback on my YA coming-of-age romance novel. It was clear to me that Maria read my manuscript thoroughly, and she gave me thoughtful feedback... I found her feedback useful and would recommend her..."
Sophie Bernbaum, YA romance writer
I provide thoughtful and actionable suggestions to help you edit and improve the big-picture issues of your story, such as:
  • theme
  • plot
  • characters (goal, motivation, conflict, character development)
  • point of view
  • pacing
  • setting
  • romance genre conventions
  • scene vs narrative summary (show vs tell)
  • exposition (info-dumping)
  • dialogue
"... I couldn't be happier with the feedback she gave.... her suggestions were very valuable and I hope to use her again."
Pamela Dean, romance comedy writer
  • For writers who need detailed feedback to help them improve their manuscript.

  • Get honest, thoughtful and actionable suggestions on the theme, plot, characters, point of view, pacing, setting, romance genre conventions, show vs tell, exposition and dialogue of your story in a marked-up manuscript with suggestions and an editorial report to further guide your revision.
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  • Get follow-up support to discuss your story (email or Google Meet).
  • For writers with partial or first drafts who want to see what is working or not in their story and the potential directions it could take.

  • Get constructive, thoughtful and actionable feedback about the things that are working well, things that are not working well, compelling elements that can be used to make the story more powerful, perspective concerns and romance genre conventions in an evaluation report.  

  • ​Get follow-up support to discuss your story (email or Google Meet).
  • For writers who don't need thorough guidance or don’t have the budget for full developmental editing.

  • Get honest, helpful and actionable suggestions about the theme, plot, characters, point of view, pacing, setting, romance genre conventions, show vs tell, exposition and dialogue of your story in an editorial report.
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  • Get follow-up support to discuss your story (email or Google Meet).



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  • For writers who need feedback from the reader's point of view and have no idea how to improve their story​​.

  • Get honest and thoughtful feedback from the reader's point of view about the plot, characters, point of view, pacing, romance genre conventions and overall impression of the story in a reader's report.​
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  • Get follow-up support to discuss your story (email or Google Meet).
"I first engaged Maria’s services for a partial discovery evaluation of my fantasy romance novel when I had written around three quarters of it, and later returned for a full evaluation once the manuscript was finished. Both experiences were excellent.
Maria was professional, insightful, and always on time with her feedback. Her comments were thoughtful and very helpful in strengthening the manuscript and clarifying key elements of the story.
She also scheduled both follow-up calls very quickly after delivering the evaluations, and we went through all of my questions while she helped me brainstorm ideas for the next steps.
I highly recommend Maria to any author looking for thorough, professional, and genuinely helpful editorial feedback."
First-time indie author (pre-publication)
​​​                                           Free discovery meeting
Book a free discovery meeting to discuss how I can help you edit the big-picture issues of your story and to see if we are a great fit to work together.
                             Interested in working with me?
Fill in this form and send me your completed manuscript along with any other related documents (synopsis, summary). I will respond to you as soon as possible to discuss how I can help you improve your manuscript and provide you with a no-obligation project quote.