Arnie Kotler

Arnie Kotler – Editor

I edit books on psychology, spirituality, social justice, and wellness. I've worked with Thich Nhat Hanh, Joanna Macy, and Jack Kornfield.

Overview

I specialize in developmental editing, working closely with authors to improve clarity, concision, consistency, grammar, and flow. Revisions can be subjective, and ultimately, each edit is the author’s to accept or reject. It might be a suggestion to change a word, move text, or delete content that is repetitious or otherwise impairs the book’s rhythm, at times leaving great writing on the cutting room floor. Keeping the author’s unique voice is paramount. I like to describe my editing as clarification with heart, what Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., described as "simplicity on the other side of complexity."

Services
Non-Fiction
Biographies & Memoirs Buddhism Health & Wellbeing New Age Psychology Self-Help & Self-Improvement
Languages
English (US)
Awards
  • Bay Area Book Publishers Association Special Recognition Award
  • Independent Book Publishers Association Benjamin Franklin Award
  • Hawaii Book Publishers Association Readers' Choice Award
Certifications
  • M.A. UC Berkeley
  • Dharma Teacher

Work experience

Self-employed

Dec, 2013 — Present

Arnie Editing Services is an editorial and publishing-consulting studio and literary agency, focusing on works of nonfiction.

Koa Books

Sep, 2005 — Jan, 2015 (over 9 years)

Founding Editor and Publisher of nonfiction books on spirituality, psychology, social justice, and indigenous cultures.

Parallax Press

Sep, 1985 — Sep, 1999 (about 14 years)

Worked closely with Thich Nhat Hanh and others editing and publishing books on socially engaged spirituality.

Whole Earth Bookstore

Sep, 1980 — Sep, 1981 (about 1 year)

Helped set up and manage new bookstore at Fort Mason Center in San Francisco, affiliated with Whole Earth Catalog and San Francisco Zen Center.

Portfolio

In the rush of modern life, we tend to lose touch with the peace that is available in each moment. World-renowned Zen master, spiritual leader, and author Thich Nhat Hanh shows us how to make positive use of the very situations that usually pressure and antago... read more
Rainforest Puuhonua

Kahikahealani Wight

Born blind and declared incurable after a series of childhood operations, Meir Schneider remained convinced that his disability was not permanent. As a teenager he began to work with teachers who gave him exercises to reverse his blindness. Within four years h... read more
Spring Washam is a founder of the East Bay Meditation Center, one of the most diverse and accessible Dharma centers in the United States. In A Fierce Heart, Washam shares her contemporary, unique interpretation of the Buddha’s 2,500-year-old teachings, with sh... read more
In this landmark work, internationally beloved teacher of meditation and mindfulness Jack Kornfield reveals that you can be happy now, this minute, with the keys to inner freedom.In his first major book in several years, the inspiring author of the classic A P... read more
Being Peace

Thich Nhat Hanh

A bestseller with over 250,000 copies sold, Being Peace is the seminal founding work by Zen Master and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Thich Nhat Hanh. With a new introduction by Jack Kornfield and the first update since its release over fifteen years ago, this eloq... read more
"[Thich Nhat Hanh] shows us the connection between personal, inner peace and peace on earth." --His Holiness The Dalai LamaNominated by Martin Luther King, Jr. for a Nobel Peace Prize, Thich Nhat Hanh is one of today’s leading sources of wisdom, peace, compass... read more
This overview of Joanna Macy's innovative work combines deep ecology, general systems theory, and the Buddha's teachings on interdependent co-arising. A blueprint for social change, World as Lover, World as Self shows how we can reverse the destructive attitud... read more
Robert A. Johnson, bestselling author of He, She, We, and other psychology classics, shares a lifetime of insights and experiences in this easy-to-read explanation of psychological projection — seeing traits in others that are, in fact, our own. Drawing on ear... read more
This poignant collection, compiled from Kingston's healing workshops, contains the distilled wisdom of survivors of five wars, including combatants, war widows, spouses, children, conscientious objectors, and veterans of domestic abuse. Vetrans of War, Vetrans... read more
The Wisdom of Sustainability continues E. F. Schumacher s groundbreaking work on Buddhist economics in Small Is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered. Emphasizing small-scale, indigenous, sustainable alternatives to globalization, Sulak offers hope and al... read more
Georgia O'Keeffe is a legend of 20th-century American art. Her life and work, well documented in her lifetime and since, have taken on mythic proportions. Hawai'i is also mythic in our national psyche-a paradisiacal place of healing and renewal. In 1938, the D... read more

Arnie has 1 review

Professionalism

Quality

Value

Responsiveness

Marilyn S.

Marilyn S.

May, 2024

Arnie has been great--a consummate professional, very friendly, works according to my needs. I feel lucky to have him help with my new book!

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