Testimonials

Before writing my first book, I was vaguely terrified of the process. What if I got stuck, tumbled down a silly rabbit hole, created something shallow or dumb? Carrie eliminated all those fears. She is infinitely wise, as gentle as a mouse, yet also rigorous and unflinching. Let me be clear: Carrie Frye’s editing wizardry—her grasp of sweeping concepts, intuitive understanding of language and words, and appreciation for the writer’s mindset—made my book come alive and kept me whole. I adore her.

—Linda Flanagan, author of Take Back The Game

What an amazing gift to work with Carrie. She’s patient and encouraging, with an amazing eye for story arcs and characters. And she is, above all, a tremendous advocate for the reader.

—Mark Bergen, author of Like, Comment, Subscribe

An Amazon Best Book of September 2022

I hired Carrie to scrub my first book. I was nervous and wanted that first draft to my editor to be clean and clear. Carrie was brilliant and wonderful to work with—responsive, supportive, and insightful. I can’t recommend her highly enough!

—Regan Penaluna, author of How to Think Like A Woman

Working with Carrie is as delightful as it is illuminating, as soothing as it is instructive. There is so much that can be said about Carrie’s editing genius, but what struck me is her ability to simultaneously expand one’s writerly lens and zoom in on the tiniest of details at the same time. She was at home both doctoring a single sentence and rethinking a whole series of chapters. Getting to know Carrie in all her warmth and wisdom was one of the greatest joys in writing my book, and I can’t recommend her presence as a book spirit guide highly enough.

—Emma Goldberg, author of Life On The Line

After Carrie and I spoke for the first time about working together on Ace, she joked that I had repeated several times that I was anxious. It’s true. I had journalism and reporting and even editing experience myself, but, as a first-time author, was daunted by the challenge of such a lengthy project and particularly the logistics of working on it on top of a full-time job. Carrie’s quiet reassurance and emotional support, plus the structure that working with her provided, were instrumental in helping me finish my book and making the process feel more manageable.

—Angela Chen, author of Ace

One of the terrifying things about writing a book is that it’s just you, and Carrie’s genius is shaping your writing into the most “you” it can possibly be. She has a preternatural sense of what you’re struggling to say, what as-yet-unbeaten path would delight you as a thinker. Her humane yet sophisticated edits not only made me giddy about the revising process, they also reminded me that those unanswered questions needed my brain, my lens in particular. She took me seriously, which helped me take myself seriously.

—Nona Willis Aronowitz, author of Bad Sex

There is nothing quite as nerve-wracking as submitting a first draft of a manuscript for feedback, but Carrie instilled a sense of trust from our very first conversation. So what started out for me as faintly terrifying soon became delightful and beyond edifying. There is so much warmth and empathy in her editing style, especially in how she identifies what needs work and provides guidance for improvement. As I revise (and revise and revise), her insightful feedback has been a constant touchstone, and I learn something new each time I return to her notes. I have learned so much from her—not just to be a better writer, but also to be a better editor of my own work. I wish every aspiring author had the experience of working with Carrie.

—Kirthana Ramisetti, author of Dava Shastri’s Last Day

A Good Morning America Book Club pick

Carrie Frye has exactly what any writer is looking for in an editor: brilliance, unmatched editorial acumen, and a gentle, tender-hearted manner that I genuinely believe can transform any project into what it was meant to become. Carrie is the reason my very rough draft morphed into a sleek, powerful manuscript–one that landed me an agent and a book deal. I trust Carrie with my life and with my heart, and you will, too.

—Katherine Lin, author of You Can’t Stay Here Forever

By the time I wrote to Carrie, I felt totally sapped of energy for my novel, and I just wanted to be done. In talking through its particular knots with her, I found new energy to rethink and rewrite—from trouble sections that had plagued me for years to unexamined bits that needed and deserved a shining up. Carrie helped me wrangle my sprawling mess into a navigable landscape, and the novel on the page finally matched the novel in my mind.

—Rebecca Scherm, author of A House Between Earth and the Moon

Writing a book is hard, and I don’t think I’d ever dare write another one without Carrie’s guidance. I trust her down to my bones. She has an uncanny gift for seeing inside the writer’s imagination while also pulling the writer out of her own head. As with the best editors, I often felt as if Carrie had thought through my work much more deeply and intelligently than I had. Carrie takes a holistic view of a book—its themes, structure, and character arcs—while also bearing down, sentence by sentence, on the details, textures, and grace notes. Perhaps most importantly, Carrie’s warmth, kindness, humor, and encouragement buoy the spirit. She believes that your book is going to be amazing, and you start to believe it, too.

—Jessica Winter, author of The Fourth Child