Carina Licon, Editor at Macmillan

Carina Licon is an Assistant Editor at Henry Holt Books for Young Readers/Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group. She is interested in middle-grade and YA with a focus on books featuring underrepresented stories and voices. She’s especially reeled in by character-driven stories with whipsmart protagonists; spooky and atmospheric middle-grade speculative fiction; contemporary YA thrillers in the vein of JANE ANONYMOUS or SADIE; friendship breakup stories; romance with lots! of! angst!; and stories rich with diverse cultural traditions and storytelling. Born and raised in El Paso, TX, Carina enjoys discovering local restaurants, movie podcasts, and spending time with her very intimidating 8-pound guard dog.

Work with Carina

LIVE Meetings: Meet face-to-face, from home. Choose Zoom, Google Meet, or phone, and speak for the appointed time about your query, first page, and/or first ten pages (for longer meetings). Does not include written notes, but is a chance to have an honest discussion about your work, and to ask follow-up questions. International meetings welcomed.

WRITTEN Critiques: Get detailed, thoughtful notes on your work. Comes with large-scale edits (character, world, plot, tension, concept, conflict, and similar as needed) in an editorial letter and small-scale, line-by-line notes as needed (for longer critiques, an average of three per page). Work arrives in your inbox by the date on the calendar.

HYBRID is a live meeting at the appointment time, with written notes.