Riley O'Connell
San Francisco–based book editor
It's been said: I'm an editor and writer, spreadsheeter, crossworder, project manager.
But of course, there's more: I love pilates and herby cocktails, Mary Oliver and crocheting, huge earrings and small algebra problems. My kitchen is full of various coffee machines and Stasher bags (#notspon) and, to my cats' dismay, not my cats. I bought a second bookcase so I can have one for poetry and one for fiction, and so each of my cats has their own bottom shelf to nestle into (to make up for the lack of kitchen privileges). My favorite color is green, my favorite water bottle is orange, and my favorite scone is blueberry lemon. I have strawberries tattooed on my arm.
Before I moved to the SF Bay Area to pursue a BA in English and Communications at Santa Clara University, I grew up in Littleton, Colorado. I have a certificate in editing from the University of Chicago. My poetry has been published worldwide, and you can read it here.
See my resume below to catch what I've been up to before transitioning into manuscript editing. And thank you for coming along for the ride!
Riley, what do you like to read?
Ugh, love this question, thank you for asking. My primary interests are fiction, poetry, and memoir.
For fiction, I love crime (whodunits, legal and psychological thrillers), dark comedy and satire, and a classic coming-of-age. I love romance when it's mixed with other genres. Science fiction and fantasy are my jam if they focus more on the human than the technical elements.
For poetry and memoir, I love conversational, deeply personal work that deftly balances humor and the horrors™, joy and struggle. My favorites lean more toward the narrative than the abstract, and I'm moved by both political and spiritual work.
My favorites in fiction:
Books:
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Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
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Monk and Robot by Becky Chambers
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Best Offer Wins by Marisa Kashino
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The Holdout by Graham Moore
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The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne
Authors:
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Agatha Christie
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Alison Espach
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Kiley Reid
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Lisa Jewell
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Ruth Ware
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Sue Monk Kidd
My favorites in poetry:
Books:
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Your Emergency Contact Has Experienced an Emergency by Chen Chen
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Dog Songs by Mary Oliver
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Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude by Ross Gay
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My Sentence Was a Thousand Years of Joy by Robert Bly
Authors:
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Bob Hicok
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Chen Chen
- Diane Seuss
- Kim Addonizio
- Richard Siken
- sam sax
Currently, I'm working my way through Agatha Christie's Miss Marple books.
Before I was a manuscript editor, I...
Created and enforced adherence to content and brand style guides
Copy edited and proofread internal and external content
Wrote web copy, emails, ads, press releases, newsletters, and guides
Managed teams of writers, editors, webmasters, and agencies
Researched and collaborated on strategies for on-page SEO
Managed external, international content partnerships
Liaised copy editing, translations, compliance, storage, and comms
Led internal rollouts of creative workflow tools and best practices
Wrote and edited executive communications
Led curation, editing, publication, and contributor comms for literary journals and anthologies