Hi, all. I'm a full-time author, ghostwriter, editor, and book coach. I've been working in the industry for almost 20 years. So far, I've authored or ghostwritten 34 nonfiction books for such publishers as Macmillan, Hay House, Hyperion, Perseus, and others. I have also developmentally edited more than 50 books that have won 32 awards. Some of my work has been on the New York Times Best Seller List, too.
As a book coach, I run a Finish Your Book Group Coaching Program for self-help authors to guide people as they write so that they don't feel so isolated and lost during the process. As a result, their manuscripts are in much better shape than they would be if they worked without industry help. We have lots of fun, too!
I also run a Facebook group called Finish Your Book for Melanie Votaw that has a mix of self-help authors, memoir authors, pets, and novelists.
My "other writing life" involves running a travel blog called Trip Out on Travel. I love to travel, especially if bird watching is involved. And while I specialize in nonfiction, I have published fiction and poetry in quite a few literary magazines and book anthologies around the world.
Before my writing career, I was an actress/singer/dancer, and I still perform now and then. My five favorite things in life are love, children, animals, music, and words.
