Karen smiles at the camera, wearing her Make Peace With Words tee.

W inner of the 2017 ACES Robinson Prize for furthering the craft of professional editing, Karen Yin is the creator of Conscious Style Guide, the first website devoted to conscious language, Editors of Color, tools for diversifying your staff and sources, and AP vs. Chicago, a guide for anyone who gives “a dollar sign, ampersand, exclamation point, and pound sign about style.” Conscious Style Guide was named by Poynter as one of the top tools for journalists in 2018.

A copywriter and editor for over two decades, Karen ran the editorial department at advertising agencies, where she performed quality control on campaigns for Disney, DreamWorks, Fox, Pixar, Universal, and Warner Bros., and now serves clients in mass media, education, and energy. She was the style columnist for Copyediting and has given presentations on compassionate, empowering, and inclusive language.

Karen received the 2018 Magnificent Seven Star Award from Toastmasters for excellence in public relations and social media marketing and was awarded fellowships in the 2018 AAJA Catalyst: Elevating Media Founders of Color entrepreneurship program and the 2019 StartingBloc Los Angeles Institute for cultivating leadership.

An award-winning fiction writer, Karen is a proud member of the Authors Guild, the Dramatists Guild, and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. Acclaim for her fiction includes a Lambda Literary Fellowship (LGBTQ+), a Table 4 Writers Foundation grant, a 12 x 12 Diversity Scholarship, and, most recently, selection of her flash fiction by the L.A. Public Library for its permanent collection and Short Story Portal.

Karen’s debut picture book, Whole Whale, a story about making space, will be released in May 2021 by Barefoot Books, with award-winning illustrator Nelleke Verhoeff on board. Karen is represented by Red Fox Literary.

 

  • To stay in touch with Karen’s publishing career, subscribe to the Purposeful Prose Newsletter (see sidebar on right).
  • To learn more about conscious language, subscribe to Karen’s Conscious Language Newsletter.
Coming May 2021 from Barefoot Books: Whole Whale, written by Karen Yin, illustrated by Nelleke Verhoeff

Get the
Purposeful Prose Newsletter
for my POV on process, publishing, publicity, and other propositions.

 I respect your privacy.
Opt out anytime.

FOUNDER OF

Quiet Press Blue graphic with transparent circled dot with text: "Language evolves. Be included. Conscious Style Guide. Include | Empower | Respect. The latest observations, opinions, and community style guides—all in one place."
"AP vs. Chicago" forms top arc and "Edit or Die" forms bottom arc, encircling a graphic illustration of a skull wearing cat-eye glasses above a wine bottle and feather (the crossbones). Transparent white strip on top of blood-red background has EDITORS {OF COLOR} knocked out. Below, reads: Tools for Diversifying Your Staff and Sources.

MEMBER OF

​ Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators Illustration of a brown bear peeking down from top right corner at the Graduate badge.  Pen America: The Freedom to Write Circular graphic with illustration of a girl with medium-brown skin, holding a book that says,

Dark blue-purple graphic with bright yellow chick holding a pencil. Los Angeles Female Playwrights InitiativeIllustration of a kid running with a stack of papers, the top sheets flying.The letters AG in sea-green on white

Pin It on Pinterest