John Knight – Editor

I'm an editor with more than 10 years of experience in San Francisco and New York trade publishing. I've done everything from developing nonfiction to line editing novels to conceptualizing book proposals. I've worked with editors and agents across the industry, and know what makes a good story a book, and what makes a proposal appealing to publishers.

I began editing at McSweeney's where I assisted Dave Eggers, and then founded a long-form journalism magazine that I edited for two years. After that I moved to Farrar, Straus and Giroux where I worked for nearly five years, acquiring and editing bestselling and award-winning titles across a variety of categories. I now work as an independent editor, helping authors develop stories, create proposals, and line-edit novels. I have a PhD in Comparative Literature, and have worked on literary fiction, essay collections, memoirs, biographies, cultural histories, and narrative journalism.

I'm excited to work with authors on literary fiction and nonfiction works that include current affairs, technology, art, literature, culture, nature, memoir, science, politics, and history. I work closely with writers to develop the narrative structure for their story, and to write well about their subject. Whether you are looking to put together a proposal for agents, to polish a manuscript to self-publish, or find an editor to help develop a narrative structure or line-edit a complete manuscript, I will work closely with you to find what is most compelling about your book, and build on those strengths.