Andy Blitzer – Editor

Trade nonfiction editor: ten years at W. W. Norton and Oxford University Press, helping serious thinkers write books for serious general readers.

At Norton, I worked with public intellectuals, scientists, and philosophers, including Amartya Sen, Susan Neiman, Peter Pomerantsev, Matthew Stewart, Agustín Fuentes, Clancy Martin, Jeff Sebo, Quill Kukla, Peter Eli Gordon, Stephen Marshak, Clark Larsen, and Barry Lam. Before Norton, I acquired for Oxford University Press's Philosophy and Religion list, working with David Chalmers, John Perry, Amir Hussain, Lewis Vaughn, Russ Shafer-Landau, Mark Timmons, and Bart Ehrman.

I specialize in developmental editing for trade nonfiction—especially books at the intersection of expert knowledge and broad readership: idea books, intellectual histories, philosophy and science for general audiences, and narrative-driven essays and arguments. I also coach book proposals and help academic writers translate their work for trade publication, one of the hardest editorial moves to make well.

What I bring to a project: structural editing for argument and pacing, line-level attention to voice and rhythm, judgment about what a publisher will actually buy and what a reader will actually finish, and the experience of having developed scores of trade books through every stage from proposal to publication. I'm based in New York and work with authors anywhere.

If you’re working on a manuscript or proposal with real ambition and a real audience in mind, I’d be glad to read a sample and talk.