About Me

I’m Amy Sue Nathan, and my debut novel, THE GLASS WIVES, will be published by St. Martin’s Press in Spring 2013.  I’m represented by Jason Yarn of The Paradigm Agency.

If you’d like to read one of my published short stories, try: The April Strings of Amber Sweetly or The Kindness of Neighbors.  If you’d like to read personal essays, try: Killer Sandals or Learning to Dance at 40.  Want to read my Chicago Trib columns?  Click here.

Email me: womensfictionwriters@gmail.com

Follow me on Twitter: @AmySueNathan

I’m also a freelance editor and reader…

Whether it’s your first fifty pages or full manuscript, let me help you make your pages ready for the dreaded Query-Go-Round. Already on the ride and not getting the requests you expected?  Let’s figure out why and fix it before you get dizzy!

Want to know if it has a good pace? The right voice? Believable dialogue? Need to find out if you’ve dropped any subplots or if you’ve fallen into the abysmal ‘telling trap’ or gotten stuck in a ‘backstory dump’? I can do that AND I’ll point out what you’re doing right so you can keep doing it!

In addition to working with my own agent for almost a year before he sold THE GLASS WIVES to Brenda Copeland at St. Martin’s, I’ve been reading for literary agents since 2009. I also spent a short time reading for a small press. I read, evaluate and edit literary, commercial, adult and young adult fiction.

Together we can decide if I’m a good fit for you and your book!

For more information, email me about your project and what you’re looking for.  amysuenathan@gmail.com or womensfictionwriters@gmail.com

Steve Ross, Director, Book Division, Abrams Artists Agency

“Amy has that rare quality of reading a manuscript from all the requisite perspectives simultaneously: those of the author, the agent, the publisher, and the ultimate consumer.  She is also equally adept and authoritative with nonfiction and fiction of seemingly every genre and for just about every age (I haven’t tried her out on picture books yet).”

Holly Root, Waxman Literary Agency says:

“Amy Nathan has a great eye for prose and an exceptional talent for identifying what’s working, and more importantly what isn’t, in an author’s work. Her feedback would be valuable for anyone who’s wondering whether their work is ready to submit.”

Christina Gombar, internationally anthologized, Pushcart Prize nominated author says:

“The most important thing I can say about Amy is that while her criticism is thorough and spot-on, it’s painless. She never makes it personal – and this saves a tremendous amount of energy in defensive reactions (on my part) and the like. A few other readers I’d hired seemed to get off on cutting me down, or were threatened by what I was saying – not focusing on how I was saying it. With Amy it’s all about the writing. I’ve read her own writing and greatly enjoy it — I’d never hire someone to critique my writing if I didn’t value their own work.

Amy is also very up-to-the-minute on blogging and online marketing and networking – she’s been a great source of advice there.”

Julie Wu, Author of THE THIRD SON, to be published in 2012 by Algonquin books, says:

“Amy is the rare reader who sees both the trees and the forest. She has the ability to set aside her ego to become emotionally engaged in a story and then, in a very no-nonsense way, pinpoint just what does and does not make it work. She was able in a single critique to tell me both that she was moved to tears and that I needed to fix certain inconsistencies in my timeline. Her comments would be invaluable to a writer of any level of experience and I couldn’t recommend her more highly!”

Pamela Toler, agented, published freelance writer and non-fiction author, says:

“Amy asks critical questions that open up possibilities within a story while displaying an understanding of the work as a whole.”

Priscille Marcille Sibley, THE PROMISE OF STARDUST, to be published by William Morrow, says:

“Sometimes a writer is too close to his/her own manuscript. At least, I was. It takes a keen eye and a true understanding of story to be able to see what the writer is overlooking. Amy Sue Nathan possesses both. And she has the talent to point out what I needed to do to make my story work.”