Lisa Kaufman – Editor

Drawing on decades of experience as an editor and marketing director for trade book publishers in New York, and a decade-plus teaching creative writing, I help writers shape ideas and words for maximum impact. Services include manuscript evaluation, book proposal development, developmental editing and line editing. I also work with writers at earlier stages to provide guidance and coach progress. Five recent book proposals I helped to write earned six-figure advances. I know what publishers look for in acquiring books, what they need to sell them to colleagues and consumers, and how to help authors develop book proposals and manuscripts that deliver.

Clients have included Aevitas Creative Management, Basic Books, Bold Type Books, PublicAffairs, Northwell Health, Running Press, The Narrative Trust, and Seal Press. I've also worked with authors developing books for Atria, Cambridge University Press, Little Brown, Penguin Press, SoundsTrue, Skyhorse, and Zando.

Author testimonials:

“Without Lisa’s skills and passion, the proposal wouldn’t have been a success that attracted five competing bids. Her thinking and smart edits were substantive and critical to making the book happen. My weekly calls with Lisa became a source of delight to me with equal parts humor, collaboration and productivity that I will always cherish. There would be no NAMI book without Lisa.”

--Ken Duckworth, M.D., author of You Are Not Alone: The NAMI Guide to Navigating Mental Health

“Lisa K has edited all of my books with patience and keen insight. She has a genius for being able to read a 90,000 word manuscript, digest the entire thing, and then explain how it needs to be organized to make it better. I am extremely lucky to have such a skilled editor and dear friend.”

--Robert Bryce, author of Power Hungry and A Question of Power

“Lisa K is smart and exacting with her critiques. But she’s also compassionate and kind, and made me feel like I had a partner, not just an editor.”

- Amy Haimerl, author of Detroit Hustle

“Lisa seemed magically to become an extension of my own passion and mental picture for my book. She nurtured me every step of the long writing journey and helped me express my tale with a clarity that would have eluded me.”

--Richard Lewis, actor, comedian, author of The Other Great Depression

“Smart and deft work, which greatly improved [my] book. . . I know of no better book editor anywhere.”

--G. Wayne Miller, author of Toy Wars, Men and Speed, and Car Crazy