Editorial and Writing Services

A Note from Brittiany Koren:

When I was five years old, I walked into the dining room where my mother and grandmother were playing backgammon, hands on hips, and told my mother that I wanted to grow up to be 1. A lawyer (taking after my godfather), 2. A prima ballerina, (because dancing was good exercise) or 3. A writer (because making up stories was a lot of fun). And walked away to pursue my goals. My mother, always a wonderful resource, encouraged me to be whatever I wanted to be, even if it was all three careers at the same time.

By age ten, I was typing 65 words per minute on an IBM electric typewriter. I had decided being a writer was the best choice for me. I took every available creative writing class I could in school, and was reading everything I could lay my hands on. I wrote short stories and doodled poems whenever I had a spare moment. I had no idea what I was in for.

After I graduated high school, I began writing my first novel. Two years later I married my own prince charming--the love of my life--my husband Michael, and we started a family. The time spent on novel writing turned more often into poetry writing. With young children in tow, poems were easier to finish than a full-length novel, amongst the diapers and playing games.

I began my career in publishing in 1997, under the tutelage of the legendary editor and book packager, Professor Martin H. Greenberg of Tekno Books. There I learned the ropes of what it took to put a book together. I started there as an office assistant, doing the usual filing, copying, and mailing like any typical administrative assistant. Living in Green Bay, Wisconsin, nothing in the area compared to what Tekno Books had to offer. Hundreds of books lined the walls of most of the offices' all books that Martin Greenberg had touched personally in some way. I took it all in like a sponge.

In 1999, I collaborated with Prof. Greenberg (Marty as he liked to be called by friends and colleagues) on my first theme anthology for DAW Books. I had tried for three months to give Marty a good idea on a theme anthology. And being a romantic at heart, I finally suggested blind dates with supernatural creatures. Single White Vampire Seeks Same was born. I was a little nervous about editing my first anthology, but I had nothing to worry about. Editing came naturally to me.

One anthology turned into two, and so on. And before I left Tekno Books I had edited five anthologies with Marty, each earning a special place in my heart. Pharaoh Fantastic came to be because I have a special fascination for Egyptian history. My biggest challenge, You Bet Your Planet, was based on futuristic game shows. Fantasy Gone Wrong was the humor I desperately needed during a time when I was struggling personally to accept my husband's health condition, which led to my most serious fantasy anthology, Places To Be, People To Kill.

In 2004, I added editing romance, women's fiction, and mystery genres to my editorial repertoire. Romance had always been my favorite genre to read, so I was excited when I was given the opportunity to review thousands of romance and women's fiction manuscripts. During the next five years, I had the opportunity to edit novels by Kristine Dexter, Donna MacQuigg, C.C. Harrison, Jean Barrett, Terry Odell, Karen Fenech, Alice Duncan, Dorothy McFalls, and many more wonderful authors. But I also did what every writer hates to hear from an editor; I rejected hundreds of manuscripts as well.

Through my experience at Tekno Books, I worked on almost every aspect of the book process from idea to finished book. I have seen royalty statements that are easy to interpret and others that make little sense at all. I've proofread, brain-stormed, transcribed, copy-edited, edited, worked on galleys, tracked manuscripts on spreadsheets, handled contracts, and delivered books personally. I've read the most heart-warming stories, and cried, and some very humorous stories and laughed until I cried.


In 2009, I developed the White House Gardener book series with Dorothy St. James. The first installment titled: Flowerbed of State was published in May 2011 by Berkley Books. In late 2009 Tekno Books and I parted ways. I left having learned that publishing a book takes so much more than just the writing of words. It was difficult to leave a place that for so long had been my life. A place where I could proudly say, name an author -any author- and Tekno Books probably worked with them. But I was ready to embark on a new adventure, and so I did.

2010 in so many ways took me out of the publishing world, but the friends I had met kept in touch. I took a position at a local radio station and learned sales and marketing from one of the best in the business, Barb VanDeHei. With over 20 years in marketing, she was quick on her feet, and amazing in action. Again, I became a sponge, spending as much time with her as I could, learning how to market any type of business. It was an invaluable tool for me to learn. For seventeen months, I wrote original radio commercials and came up with marketing plans for every type of business imaginable. It was an exhilarating, fast-paced experience, but I kept having a feeling there was something missing.

It soon became apparent how much I missed the publishing world. I had this natural ability I was denying myself, and I realized, for better or worse being an editor is what I was meant to do in this lifetime. My true passion, helping authors better convey their stories, had bared itself once again and I couldn't deny it any longer. In September 2011, Written Dreams was founded.

My aspirations for Written Dreams are simple. I want to help as many writers and businesses as I possibly can achieve their written goals, whether it be writing a romance or mystery, a personal history of their life story, or having an employee handbook or business brochure free of typos. Written Dreams is all about making dreams a reality with the written word.

Copyright 2011 by Brittiany A. Koren