About Kirsten
Kirsten Colton fell in love with the publishing world at her first job out of college—as an intern, then editorial assistant at Mountaineers Books in Seattle, where she worked for three years in acquisitions and project management. After she sharpened her skills at the University of Washington’s editing certificate program, she took flight with the Friendly Red Pen in 2013.
Now she freelances full-time for book publishers and independent authors. Clients past and present include Mountaineers Books, Modernist Cuisine, Girl Friday Productions, Sasquatch Books, Sterling Publishing, Northwest Runner magazine, and becker&mayer! Book Producers (through which she's worked on projects for Scholastic, Marvel, Harper Design, and Disney). A lover of both fiction and nonfiction projects, she specializes in narrative nonfiction, guidebooks, how-to, cookbooks, and women’s fiction. She’s always up for a new challenge.
She's a member of the Northwest Independent Editors Guild and the founder of the Far North Editors, a group of Skagit and Whatcom county editors who meet once a month to talk shop. She has also been a mentor in the Northwest Independent Editors Guild mentoring program.
Now she freelances full-time for book publishers and independent authors. Clients past and present include Mountaineers Books, Modernist Cuisine, Girl Friday Productions, Sasquatch Books, Sterling Publishing, Northwest Runner magazine, and becker&mayer! Book Producers (through which she's worked on projects for Scholastic, Marvel, Harper Design, and Disney). A lover of both fiction and nonfiction projects, she specializes in narrative nonfiction, guidebooks, how-to, cookbooks, and women’s fiction. She’s always up for a new challenge.
She's a member of the Northwest Independent Editors Guild and the founder of the Far North Editors, a group of Skagit and Whatcom county editors who meet once a month to talk shop. She has also been a mentor in the Northwest Independent Editors Guild mentoring program.
Besides editing, she loves fall walks in the rain, summer backpacking trips through alpine meadows, sailing in the San Juans, and drinking lattes in the sunshine. She's camped, hiked, road-tripped, or adventured in 25 countries and, while she has trouble picking favorites, she particularly loved hiking in the Himalayas, wandering through Cinque Terra, bicycling the Aran Islands in Ireland, and living for four months in England.
Her current adventure is living in Washington's Upper Skagit Valley with her husband, Tim, and one-year-old daughter, Anya.
Her current adventure is living in Washington's Upper Skagit Valley with her husband, Tim, and one-year-old daughter, Anya.
She also loves to read.
- Cookbooks she can't cook without: Ratio by Michael Ruhlman, Baking Illustrated by America's Test Kitchen, and How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman
- Favorite tear-jerker: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
- Indispensable editing guides: The Gregg Reference Manual and Chicago Manual of Style 16
