Katherine Kirk | Fiction
Rabat, Morocco, working with clients around the world.
- [email protected]
- Website
- www.geckoedit.com
- Organisation
- Gecko Edit
- Job title
- Chief Comma-Herder
- Membership Grade
- Advanced Professional Member
About Katherine
Hi! I’m Katherine Kirk. My friendly, personal approach gives you much more than a basic spelling and grammar check; I provide a human touch that is impossible to achieve through spell-checking software. I do not use generative AI in any part of my editing or formatting process.
I edit in US English and specialize in CMOS. I particularly love science fiction, fantasy, thrillers, and romance.
► Contact me via email or through my website, www.geckoedit.com.
Why the gecko?
Because if I’m doing my job right, I’m like a gecko on the wall of your story, quietly snapping up the errors, inconsistencies, and missteps that bug your readers so that they can immerse themselves in your world.
Services
I offer individual editing services as well as packages of combined services.
Manuscript evaluation
Also called Editorial Assessments, this is a lighter touch than a developmental edit and can be a time-saving (and budget-friendly) alternative. I'll read your manuscript and give you a detailed but concise report outlining what I think are its strengths, weaknesses, and potential, along with a clear plan to help guide you through revision or decide which steps are best to take next in your publishing journey.
►Find out more about my editorial assessments.
Line editing
I clear away the clutter that gets in the way of your authentic voice, helping you find exactly the right way to tell the story. I work sentence by sentence to tighten the structure, tweak the rhythm, bring out the characters' distinct points of view, and evoke the right emotions in your readers.
► Find out more about my line editing service.
Copyediting
I comb through your text to find typos, spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, punctuation mishaps, and formatting errors. I apply a consistent style so your readers can stay immersed in the story, and I apply Word's paragraph styles so your formatter knows exactly what to do. I'll flag continuity or logic inconsistencies and alert you to problems that might put you or your readers at risk.
► Find out more about my copyediting service.
Proofreading
I cast a careful eye over your final formatted text to catch any lingering mistakes so that you can be confident that your manuscript is polished and professional before it goes to the printer.
► Find out more about my proofreading service.
Book formatting
I offer book layout and typesetting for novels, in Vellum. This includes custom headers and header backgrounds, custom ornamental breaks, full bleed images, print and e-book optimization, and other bespoke graphic elements.
► Ask me about book formatting.
What do I edit?
I work on novels, anthologies, magazines, and more. I am comfortable with most levels of spice. Here are some of my favorite genres and subgenres:
Crime/mystery/thrillers (cozy and not so cozy)
Historical fiction
Literary fiction
Trade fiction
Romance
Science fiction
Fantasy
Romantasy
Queer/Sapphic romance
Book club fiction
Women's fiction
Qualifications
Education
BA English Literature, Philosophy
Training
I've completed all of the CIEP's Copyediting and Proofreading courses and multiple EFA courses, as well as some specialized training such as Line editing for Suspense (Louise Harnby, completed 2023).
► For a full list of training I've completed, as well as speaking engagements and panels I've appeared on, visit my website.
Specialized Software
In addition to Adobe and Microsoft Word, I'm comfortable marking up proofs in Ziflow. I also offer book layouts and typesetting in Vellum.
Portfolio
I work with indie authors as well as bestselling authors and traditional publishers. Here are a select few that I especially enjoyed, but there are many more listed on my website!
The Everlasting, by Alix E Harrow. Winner of the 2025 Locus award for best novel, finalist for the 2026 Hugo award for best novel, instant NYT and USA Today bestseller, October 2025 LibraryReads Hall of Fame pick, November 2025 Indie Next Pick. I proofread this time-travelling romance novel for Tor Books. I really love working on books with a multi-textual feel, such as different types of POV, or elements like notes, telegrams, or long-lost manuscripts.
The Time Traveler's Passport Collection, Amazon Original Stories, via Elite Editing. I provided copyediting, proofreading, and cold reading on various stories within this collection, including "3 Days, 9 Months, 27 Years" by John Scalzi, "Making Space" by R. F. Kuang, and "All Manner of Thing Shall Be" by Olivie Blake. I was thrilled to work with these authors, who have been long-time favorites, and particularly enjoyed their wildly different takes on time travel.
The Glass Slide World, by Carrie Vaughn (47North via Elite Editing). It can be daunting to come onto a project midway through a series, but having read the first book, I felt confident in catching continuity errors or style inconsistencies in the new installment. I particularly enjoyed getting to flex my dusty non-fiction editing skills on the scientific research elements that enrich this historical fantasy setting.
The Oblivion's Galaxy series by Dylan McFadyen. Dylan hired me to line and copyedit his whole series, and I tell you, that style sheet was quite a beast by the end of it! Spanning multiple worlds, then galaxies, and then ... Well, I won't spoil it for you, it was particularly fun to help Dylan ensure that the cultures he'd invented felt real, and that the universe they inhabited felt lived in. I helped him tighten fight scenes, tracking the number of bodies and bullets, and also aided him in tightening dialogue and avoiding info-dumping. We especially had fun figuring out how to typographically handle psychic speech, AI-speech, and psychic AI speech... The first installment, Oblivion's Cloak, won First Place in the Space Opera category at the 2023 Cygnus Awards!
Service(s)
Specialisms
Client types
Associated skills
Disclaimer note
The CIEP Directory of Editorial Services should be considered a point of first contact and prospective clients must satisfy themselves that members are capable of the work on offer. The Institute cannot be held responsible for the quality of work provided by any member listed in the directory. The members themselves are responsible for the maintenance and accuracy of their entries in the Directory and the CIEP has not made any attempt to vet them. The institute cannot be held responsible for any inaccuracies in the Directory. Inclusion in the Directory as a freelance does not necessarily mean that the member is self-employed as defined by HM Revenue and Customs and the Department for Work and Pensions.