Kelsey Whitsett

Kelsey Whitsett – Editor

Former NYC editor specializing in memoir and literary fiction. I love working with authors to ensure their work is at its absolute best.

Overview

I’m a line and developmental editor, with over 10 years experience, who specializes in memoir and literary fiction. After honing my critical thinking, reading, and writing skills at Middlebury College in Vermont, I moved to New York City and began a career in publishing. I started out at Soft Skull Press when it was still an independent publisher, and moved on to trade publishing, specifically Picador and Scribner. After an out of state move I began to work with authors on a freelance basis.

I love working with authors to ensure that their work is its absolute best self. I strive to remain true to the author's vision of their work while offering my opinion combined with my knowledge of what sells in the industry.

I would love to speak with you about how I can be of help with your work.
Services
Non-Fiction
Biographies & Memoirs
Fiction
Literary Fiction Thriller & Suspense Women's Fiction
Languages
English (UK) English (US)

Work experience

Refine Editing

Sep, 2016 — Present

Work with authors on developmental edits, crafting query letters, sharing knowledge of the publishing industry, and providing editorial feedback.

Scribner

Jan, 2012 — May, 2013 (over 1 year)

•Acquired and edited books for publication. Met with agents to solicit potential projects, presented projects to the editorial board, sought and received permission to acquire books, then edited and moved them through the publication process.
•Continued to assist Colin Harrison with the editorial work and publication of all titles.

Scribner

Jan, 2010 — Dec, 2011 (almost 2 years)

•Supported Colin Harrison, VP and Senior Editor, in all aspects of book acquisition and publication. •Served as a liaison between editorial and sales, marketing, production, and design.
•Initiated and responded to correspondence with authors and agents.
•Ensured all projects were running on schedule, often working on up to fifteen books at once. •Read and evaluated manuscripts being considered for acquisition.

Picador

May, 2008 — Dec, 2009 (over 1 year)

•Supported Frances Coady by creating profit and loss sheets, gathering sales and publicity information, preparing for seasonal launch and board meetings, and communicating with authors and agents on her behalf.

Portfolio

In the middle of New York City lies a neighborhood where all secrets are valuable, all assets are liquid, and all deals are sealed with a blessing rather than a contract. Welcome to the diamond district. Ninety percent of all diamonds that enter America pass t... read more
From the award-winning author of Easter Island comes a powerful, “unputdownable” (Vogue.com) novel of love, loss, and redemption amid the ruins of war-torn Italy.1943: When seventeen-year-old Juliet Dufresne receives a cryptic letter from her enlisted brother ... read more
On Thanksgiving Day 2007, as the country teeters on the brink of a recession, three generations of the Olson family gather. Eleanor and Gavin worry about their daughter, a single academic, and her newly adopted Indian child, and about their son, who has been c... read more
The Mothers: A Novel

Jennifer Gilmore

Poignant, raw, and insightful, Jennifer Gilmore’s third novel is an unforgettable story of love, family, and motherhood. With a “voice [that is] at turns wise and barbed with sharp humor” (Vanity Fair), Gilmore lays bare the story of one couple’s ardent desire... read more
The darkest secrets of a Russian oligarch—a legacy from Stalin. A hidden batch of the CIA’s Stinger missiles. And the insatiable Afghan thirst for revenge.Ex-CIA war crimes investigator Joe Johnson is sucked into an inquiry which delves into the deadly world o... read more
A Cold War attack by Soviet helicopters on an Afghan village. A knife-edge CIA operation that goes wrong. And a vengeful mujahideen tribesman, armed with Stinger missiles. When CIA officer Joe Johnson is handed the tough task by his boss of capturing a Soviet ... read more
The New York Times bestselling work of undercover journalism in the tradition of Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed that fully investigates our food system to explain what keeps Americans from eating well—and what we can do about it. When award-winning (and... read more
A pitch-perfect, emotionally riveting novel about the fracturing of a marriage and a family: “A gripping debut” (People) from an award-winning young writer with superb storytelling instincts.Life hasn’t always been perfect for Abe and Cassandra Green, but an a... read more
Sophie Fontanel, bestselling novelist and iconic editor of French Elle, tells the provocative story of her decision to stop having sex—a choice that profoundly changed her view of herself and her place in the world. At the age of twenty-seven, after many years... read more
A new biography of Sylvia Plath, a literary icon who continues to haunt, fascinate, and enthrall even now, fifty years after her death On February 25 , 1956, twenty-three-year-old Sylvia Plath walked into a party and immediately spotted Ted Hughes. This encoun... read more
Fever: A Novel

Mary Beth Keane

Mary Beth Keane, named one of the 5 Under 35 by the National Book Foundation, has written a spectacularly bold and intriguing novel about the woman known as “Typhoid Mary,” the first person in America identified as a healthy carrier of Typhoid Fever. On the ev... read more

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