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

As an editor, Carrie just doesn’t miss—she combines the sharpest of observations with the most patient encouragement and somehow makes it all seem easy, though it takes a great deal of work and skill to see what she sees. I began developing the story that would become A Living Remedy in one of her workshops, which means she was the first person to keep me company in my work on it, and to help me think of it as a book-length project. My timeline and process for this book wound up being nothing like what I’d expected, and her faith is partly what allowed me to be agile, be curious, and follow the story in new directions. Incisive, thorough, and unfailingly kind, Carrie helped to make this the book it needed to be, and I will always be grateful to her.

—Nicole Chung, author of A Living Remedy

A New York Times Editors’ Choice; already a Best Book of 2023 by Time, Harper’s Bazaar, Esquire, USA Today, and Booklist

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

A New York Times Editor’s Choice

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

Carrie Frye is a hawk-eyed editor with the temperament of a confidante. My manuscript was an intricate tangle of clues and timelines and Carrie was undaunted. She helped me work out the knots, polish the sentences, and made sure no clues were left dangling in the process.

—Becky Cooper, author of We Keep The Dead Close

Finalist for the J Anthony Lukas Book Prize and the ALCS Gold Dagger Award for Non-Fiction; 2020 Best Book Of The Year for NPR, Vogue, Marie Claire, Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews

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

Carrie saved my book and my sanity. As a first-time author, Carrie’s compassion and world-class edits supported me through multiple drafts and if I’m being honest, more than a few panic attacks. In our collaboration, she was at once a calming presence and galvanizing force. Working with Carrie was the best professional decision I’ve ever made.

—Natalie Beach, author of Adult Drama

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

2021 The Best Books of The Year (So Far) New York Magazine