With twenty years’ experience, I have worked on guides to spirituality, Chinese philosophy, memoirs, translations, and novels that went on to be bestsellers. I’ve worked with film directors from the States, artificial intelligence engineers from Hungary, historians from the Baltics, and have edited novels that range from erotica to literary fiction. But mostly I work with regular people who have written a first novel and either want to have it in its best shape for the submission process, or are looking to self-publish. If you are interested in hiring me as an editor, please have a look at my dedicated editing / book coach site, Word Sleuth Editing.
You can read more about my credentials below.
I received a degree in English Literature from Bennington College, after which I interned with a Broadway-based script agent and worked at The Hollywood Reporter, the film industry’s primary trade paper. Later, in book publishing, I worked in the editorial department of Doubleday and Company then, after that, at several prestigious literary agencies in an editorial capacity. I co-founded and edit a literary review that is distributed internationally, and I have been editing books on public policy for the Soros Foundation, one of the world’s largest and most influential nongovernmental organizations.
Books I worked on when I was at Doubleday:
Pink, Academy Award winner Gus Van Sant – paperback editor
The Meaning of Star Trek, Thomas Richards – paperback editor
Miss Vera’s Finishing School for Boys Who Want to be Girls, Veronica Vera – paperback editor
Books I assisted on (in the office of Executive Editor Betsy Lerner at Doubleday):
Patti Smith Complete: Lyrics, Reflections and Notes for the Future – National Book Award winner Patti Smith
A Crack Up at the Race Riots – Film Director Harmony Korine
Bitch – Prozac Nation author Elizabeth Wurtzel
Breakup – Catherine Texier
Just Visiting This Planet – Neil deGrasse Tyson
As a Freelance Editor:
As a freelance editor I have worked on many titles, from developmental editing to line editing. A few highlights are listed below:
Murder in Pompeii, by best-selling historical mystery writer Robert Colton
My First 200 Years, by screenwriter and Holocaust survivor Pál Királyhegyi (Boulder Books)
Just a Bite: A Transylvania Vampire Expert’s Short History of the Undead, by Istvan Pivarcsi (New Europe Books)
Ragers, a novel by Seth Biderman
Authoring Hal Ashby, by Dr. Aaron Hunter (Bloomsbury)
Matt Henderson Ellis 