Editorial Services

I bring over 30 years of in-house and freelance editing experience to bear on book development and polishing, working with authors referred by their agents or publishers, as well as those who come to me independently.

Books Edited

With clients ranging from seasoned authors to unpublished writers, a number of the novels and narrative non-fiction books I’ve guided have become critical or commercial successes or significant new voices – some all three!

Workshops

I teach an ongoing “Livingroom Workshop” (currently meeting in cyberspace and welcoming new members for the fall semester), and am a professor in The New School’s Creative Writing Program.

Publications

Links to short stories, essays, book reviews, and articles published in outlets ranging from literary magazines to a local weekly paper to The New York Times.

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Workshops

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Publications

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Books Edited

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Editorial Services

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Select Books Edited

About Illuminated Manuscripts

Since founding Illuminated Manuscripts in 1996 — after 12 years in-house at an independent publisher — I’ve worked with authors of novels, story collections, memoirs, popular history, popular science and other narrative non-fiction, as well as the occasional epic poem. 

I assist with books at all stages — from guiding creation, to overseeing revision of a title already slated for publication, to final-polish line editing.  My aim is to provide the kind of direction and encouragement that allows authors to do the bulk of revision themselves.

I’ve recently worked on two of Simon & Schuster’s major titles, and with authors referred by agents at ICM, Janklow & Nesbit, William Morris Endeavor, among others.  My clients have published with houses including Penguin, William Morrow, Sourcebooks, Ballantine, Random House, Faber & Faber, HarperCollins,, St. Martin’s, Macmillan, W.W. Norton, Scribner, Beacon Press, Harvard University Press, PublicAffairs.

Kind Words

Weekly fiction-writers group supplying inspiration, feedback and community

  • Fall and spring semesters, and summer fiction camp; 

  • Welcoming new members for the Fall 2024 semester starting mid-September;

  • Limited to 15 writers, by application;

  • Workshop pieces commented on in writing and discussion;

  • Study of aspects of the craft through literary analysis and exercises to generate new work or layer fiction-in-progress.