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I have loved books since I was too young to remember, my love of books a folktale itself, one told by my mother at family gatherings. I have dim impressions of my mother recounting the stories of The Iliad and The Odyssey, spinning them from memory like a classical orator, and my dad reading me Treasure Island. My mother was an English teacher, and so inevitably she supported my desire to read.
I graduated from Whitman College with a degree in English, and graduated from Portland State University with a degree in Book Publishing. At Whitman I worked as a writing tutor, and at PSU I focused on editing.
My goal as an editor is to help clarify the writer’s vision and polish their story into the best version of itself. Above all, my goal as an editor is communication: helping a writer to translate their thoughts into a form that others can understand.
When not editing, I freelance write for Portland Book Review. I believe a good book review will not only give information about the book, but describe what the book meant to the reviewer–and also say something about the reviewer. A reviewer is, in some ways, no different from a character in a book. If the reader identifies and sympathizes with my point of view as a reviewer, then the reader will be more invested in the review–and more likely to buy the book.
I also enjoy marketing, and work as Marketing Director for AudaVoxx, a newsletter that suggests audiobooks to its subscribers and provides in-house audiobook reviews. I view marketing as having a conversation. It is not a one-way process; or at least, it shouldn’t be. It is an interaction between the company and someone who has a similar interest. In short, a potential friend. Forging that relationship is what creates happy, loyal listeners and customers, and makes a book or event successful (or not). People know if you are just trying to sell them something, or if you are trying to share something in which you believe.
In my spare time, which I don’t really have, I play board games–because I am geeky like that. I should get out of my apartment more. I live in Portland with a very loving and lovely partner, who also writes and arts.
Edited or Co-Edited by Brandon Sanford:
 Enslaved  Halloween from the Other Side  Murder by  Soul of the Elephant  Uploaded  Upside-Down |
