The Personal to the Universal, and Other Priorities in Contemporary Memoir

Have you browsed the narrative nonfiction shelves lately and thought, “Oh man, I don’t have it in me to read another grief memoir”?

Here are a few thoughts on the memoir market as it stands, a few things you might prioritize inside and out of your own work. A note before we get started: This blog post should be seen as a primer. It contains observations I’ve made in the recent past, while working with memoirists who have attained agent interest, that I feel will help improve memoirists chances of trade publication, but it is certainly not the be all, end all of advice.

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Hatch Editorial Services' Stance on Generative Artificial Intelligence

Hatch Editorial Services LLC does not use generative AI (here referred to as “genAI” or “AI”) agents such as ChatGPT, Claude, Microsoft Copilot, or Perplexity in conjunction with editorial work on any client’s manuscript, nor does it use genAI agents to create any editorial feedback or products for purchase. That is, it does not feed client work into an AI agent or use AI to draft editorial letters, line-edit manuscripts, or complete any other task related to clients’ intellectual property or to writers’ education.

Beyond the ways genAI is actively depleting our water supply; the fact it’s a probability machine that, by design, makes creativity trend toward the law of averages; and the piratical impact it’s had on our industry, Hatch Editorial Services has made this decision in order to fulfill its promise to provide high-quality, personalized work that retains the individual author’s voice. The use of genAI in an editorial capacity would only flatten that.

The choice to use or not use generative AI, however, is a personal one. Writers who use genAI as an assistant or as a tool in the early steps of the creative process (e.g., writing prompts, research, interactive outlining) are welcome to collaborate with Hatch Editorial Services, pending their ability to confirm the work is their intellectual property alone and does not include anyone else’s copyrighted material.

6 Tips for Finding and Using "Comp" Titles

If you've been querying agents for more than five minutes, you've likely heard of comps.

"Comp" or comparative titles are exactly that: books—and in some cases TV shows and movies!—that your book's plot, characters, and/or theme can draw a direct line of comparison to.

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Hatch Editorial Services: Live on Girl Tell Me

Here’s a little taste of my post, “When Is My Manuscript Ready for a Freelance Editor? A Cost-Effective Look at Polishing Your Novel,” which is all about finding the right freelance editor on a budget, along with a link to read the rest on Girl Tell Me’s website.

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