Novelist Cowriter - Crime Fiction

Scope of Work

Bring Crime Fiction to Life
As a cowriter for Mary Stone Publishing, you will collaborate closely with your assigned Developmental Editor (DE) and other team members using our online platform. You’ll follow a detailed series and book outline, allowing you to bring your storytelling skills to an established framework while adding your unique voice.

Creative Execution
We provide detailed series and book outlines to serve as the foundation of each novel. You’ll have the opportunity to read the outline in advance and discuss it with the team before writing begins. While the structure, major twists, and story arc are predetermined, you’ll have creative freedom to bring scenes and characters to life in an immersive and compelling way.

Your work should be self-edited and proofread before submission to maintain a high-quality draft.

Navigating Police Procedures/Scientific Details
Using your knowledge of police/FBI procedures and scientific/forensic sources, ensure accuracy in protocol and document sources for future reference. Readers expect an authentic plot and procedural accuracy.

Critiques & Feedback
Each novel will be approximately 70,000 words, and you’ll submit to your DE in four 17,500-word sections for review. This staged submission process allows major structural, pacing, or character issues to be identified early, preventing the need for extensive rewrites later. Your DE will provide detailed critiques and feedback at each stage, helping to refine plot tension, suspense, pacing, and character motivations.

Substantive Editing & Revisions
Once the full manuscript is completed, it will undergo a substantive editing pass by the DE, Editing Manager, and Editing Director. This is a deep revision process focusing on narrative cohesion, heightens tension, strengthens character depth and emotional realism throughout the story. The book is not considered complete until you have implemented the required revisions to the editors’ satisfaction, ensuring the manuscript meets MSP’s high storytelling and quality standards.

Multi-Stage Editing & Final Revisions
After the developmental editing phase, the manuscript will move through our multi-stage editing and revision process, which includes line editing, copy editing, style editing, and a final quality control pass. Each stage refines different aspects of the book—from sentence structure and clarity to grammar, consistency, and final polish. After each editing pass, you will complete any requested revisions to further refine the manuscript.

Maintaining Character & Series Continuity
With the support of your developmental editor, you’ll reference and update the Master Character List within each series outline to track key details about each character. This includes motivations, emotional triggers, physical attributes, behavioral patterns, and relationships. The MCL serves as a living document that keeps characters authentic and prevents contradictions across a book or series. By maintaining this list, you’ll ensure that a character’s decisions, emotional responses, and backstory remain believable and consistent, enhancing the realism and depth of the story.

Requirements

To succeed in this role, you must be a seasoned writer with a deep understanding of crime fiction that is geared toward women but also men. This includes crafting authentic investigations, developing morally complex characters, building escalating suspense, maintaining narrative tension, and delivering twists that surprise while remaining believable.

• Expertise In Writing Crime Fiction Stories
  Extensive experience crafting authentic investigators, detectives, and criminals with realistic motivations and emotional depth, ensuring believable protagonists and antagonists.
• Deep understanding of narrative flow, tension execution, procedural accuracy, character consistency, and overall reader engagement, with the ability to self-edit and refine areas that need improvement.
• Strong knowledge of suspense-building techniques, including foreshadowing, red herrings, misdirection, and pacing that mirrors the urgency of real investigations.
• Ability to implement plot twists, ensuring they are well-executed, surprising, and plausible.
• Comfortable writing in third- and first-person perspectives, alternating POVs, and past and present tense.
• Experienced in portraying interrogation dynamics, forensic details, moral dilemmas, and the psychological complexities that define compelling crime fiction.
• Research And Accuracy
  Strong research skills are essential, including the ability to fact-check investigative procedures, law enforcement protocols, forensic details, and real-world influences to enhance the story credibility and authenticity.
• Meticulous attention to detail, ensuring consistency in character, motivations, behavioral patterns, and narrative logic throughout a book and across a series.
• Ability to identify and resolve discrepancies in plot, timeline, backstory, and worldbuilding, preventing continuity errors and ensuring a seamless reading experience.
• Ensure character consistency across a series by utilizing the Master Character List. This includes tracking character development, physical attributes, past events, and evolving relationships to maintain continuity and authenticity.

Communication & Collaboration
Must possess excellent communication skills, as clear and timely communication is essential for meeting deadlines, discussing critiques, and implementing revisions. Willingness to adapt to MSP’s established style and structure while maintaining strong independent work habits. Open to feedback and revisions, working closely with editors and the team in a collaborative, constructive environment.

Responsiveness And Commitment
Must be deadline-driven, with the ability to respond to team communication within 24 hours—this is very important. You must have time to devote to writing full-length novels in a series on an ongoing basis.

Technical Proficiency
Must use an updated version of Microsoft Word and be proficient in its Track Changes and commenting system, as this is the primary tool for feedback and revisions. Writing must adhere to the Chicago Manual of Style, the Mary Stone Publishing Style Guide (to be provided), and standard U.S. English conventions to ensure consistency and professionalism. Must be comfortable working within our shared online platform, where collaboration, document submissions, and editorial feedback are managed.

Additional Notes

Our crime fiction books primarily target women, though we also have a strong male readership. As part of our team, you’ll work closely with our Editing Director and editorial staff, who will provide industry-level guidance, developmental feedback, and collaborative insights to help you hone your craft and create high-quality, addictive stories.

To see the kinds of collaborations we’ve produced, visit our website at https://marystonepublishing.com/authors/ for a glimpse into our work.

We’re looking for high-caliber, experienced, professional writers who are eager to elevate their storytelling, create unforgettable crime fiction stories, and work within a team that values quality, consistency, and gripping narratives.

How To Apply

We are seeking exceptional, experienced, professional cowriters who are passionate about crime fiction and dedicated to delivering high-quality, gripping narratives. If you’re ready to take your writing career to the next level and collaborate with a bestselling brand, we want to hear from you!

As Part Of Your Application, Please Provide The Following

• How many full-length crime fiction-thriller-mystery-suspense novels have you written? (Please only include full-length, 70,000+ word novels—do not count shorter stories, screenplays, scripts, or TV shows.)
• Your per word fee for one 70,000-word novel:
• How many words can you consistently write per month?
• When are you available to start?
• Tell us about yourself! Provide a brief but detailed explanation of your experience in the crime fiction genre, your writing background, and why you’re the perfect writer for this role.
• Provide a brief but detailed explanation of your experience in the crime fiction genre, your writing background, and why you’re the perfect writer for this role.
• Provide a link to your Amazon and other sales platforms and your author website.
• Please attach your crime fiction portfolio, including writing samples showcasing your work in the genre.
• If asked, do you have a recent full manuscript you could submit to acquisitions to assess style and writing fit?

Please note: DO NOT APPLY UNLESS YOU HAVE EXPERIENCE WRITING FULL-LENGTH NOVELS IN THE 70,000+ WORD RANGE IN THE CRIME FICTION GENRE.