California / remote
Non-fiction (illustrated and non-illustrated): art, design, and photography; self-help creativity, creative business, and inspirational; nature, culture, entertainment, and pop-culture; art history, fashion, interiors, and architecture; illustrated gift books; how-to and art instruction; gift products and nonbook formats (i.e. guided journals, decks, etc.)
I worked at award-winning independent publisher Chronicle Books for over 20 years where, as an editor, I helped hundreds of authors realize their book ideas as a beautiful reality. I specialize in illustrated books and long-form text with or without accompanying images, as well as gift products such as journals and card decks -- and in working directly with creatives (often first-time-authors) to shape projects and bodies of work into their best forms.
My approach to substantive and developmental editing is friendly and collaborative, and can be light-touch or go deep as needed. I can work to a brief or I’m open to figuring out what a project needs in the course of an initial consultation with the author. I am inspired by the words of legendary editor Robert Gottlieb, who said the job of an editor "is to be in sympathy with what the writer is doing and to try to help her or him make it better of what it is, not to make it into something else."