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Novelist Cowriter - Crime Fiction

Mary Stone Publishing is seeking an experienced, creative remote contract cowriter to collaborate on full-length crime fiction novels. Working from detailed outlines, you’ll write compelling stories featuring memorable characters, suspenseful plots, unexpected twists, and authentic law enforcement elements while collaborating closely with our editorial team.

The ideal candidate has a strong understanding of the crime fiction, mystery, thriller, and suspense genres and can consistently produce engaging, high-quality manuscripts that captivate readers. This is a long-term contract opportunity with ongoing assignments for writers who thrive in a collaborative, deadline-driven environment.

This is a long-term, remote contract opportunity that gives you the freedom to work on your own schedule—as long as deadlines are met, communication stays sharp, and quality remains top-notch.

Successful candidates have a deep understanding of the crime fiction genre—from gripping suspense and complex character arcs to jaw-dropping reveals. If you have a sharp analytical mind, a passion for dark and twisted storytelling, and the ability to elevate a story to its full potential, this could be the career move you’ve been waiting for.

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. To ensure a smooth transition to our process, you’ll receive comprehensive training on our distinctive style, expectations, and workflow.

·       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. This iterative approach ensures the story stays tight, immersive, and well-structured, giving you the opportunity to adjust and strengthen the manuscript as you progress.

·       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.

·       Communication: Must possess excellent communication skills, as communicating with us for deadlines is a must. The candidate will need to be willing to adapt to our style and work independently while at the same time being open to revisions and suggestions. We work as a team and care about our writers, editors, and team. The team will be there to provide help and suggestions where needed.

·       Technical Proficiency: Demonstrate proficiency with Microsoft Word’s track changes and commenting system, and adhere to the Chicago Manual of Style, Mary Stone Publishing Style (to be provided), and standard U.S. English conventions.

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. While the MCL is maintained by the editorial team, you’ll reference it often to ensure accurate characterization and avoid inconsistencies.

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.

Ownership and Legal:

·       Understand that this is a work-for-hire independent contractor position—book writers hold no rights to the work and must adhere to all legal and ownership agreements set by Mary Stone Publishing.

·       Willing to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) for each book/series.

·       All submitted work must be 100% original. AI-generated, AI-assisted, pre-written templates, or PLR (Private Label Rights) content will not be accepted. Submissions that appear to rely primarily on AI, templates, or PLR material will be disqualified.

Compensation

Compensation is structured as a per-word or flat-fee structure. Any hourly rate displayed on external job boards is an estimate required by those platforms and does not reflect how this contract position is compensated.

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.

If you’re an experienced crime fiction writer interested in long-term contract work, we’d love to hear from you.