Tom Hock, Artist & Author

When I started writing my stories, I didn’t have a lot of confidence. People enjoyed my stories, but my English skills are not the best. A lot of people gave me encouragement and I self-published my first book. While starting my second novel, Iron Embrace, I met Karen who owns Hen House Publishing and learned she had helped edit, ghostwrite, and publish several books. l was comfortable working with her from the beginning. Karen immediately picked up on my writing style and showed genuine interest in the novel. Her ability to share comments in a clear and meaningful way helped me transition the thoughts in my mind onto the pages. She suggested elements to think about like character thoughts and feelings, time and travel distance, and story lines. Iron Embrace is based on a real story and her attention to authenticity and details was crucial in bringing history to life. There was never any pressure to hurry through her edits—I took my time to think on her suggestions. When I was done with a set of revisions, I would send the new draft book back to her. The pace of drafts and revisions was excellent. I highly recommend Karen M. Smith at Hen House Publishing. This process has given me confidence to keep on writing and sharing my stories and I will not hesitate to use Hen House Publishing again.