Matthew Pressman

Matthew Pressman – Editor

Seasoned non-fiction editor, experience working on trade and academic books. Historian and journalist by training, book lover by choice!

Overview

I'm a former Vanity Fair editor and the author of a 2018 book from Harvard University Press that won two national awards. Prior to joining Reedsy in 2022, I edited two non-fiction trade books in the biography/true crime genre (one was a New York Times bestseller), along with one successful academic history book. On Reedsy, I've had wonderful collaborations with authors of memoirs, narrative nonfiction, and history.

My goal is to help authors to mold strong, cohesive narratives and to make their prose clearer, punchier, and smoother. In my experience, this is what readers (and publishers!) want. Given my background as a history Ph.D. and a journalist, I can also fact-check manuscripts while I edit. I'm a generalist with a broad knowledge base (this helped me become a three-day champion on Jeopardy!), so I can offer informed feedback on almost any non-fiction topic.

As an author myself, I appreciate the importance of the writer's individual voice and never try to impose my own stylistic preferences. I am happy to work with writers at any stage in their project. Please contact me with any questions about my services, my experience, or my approach. I love taking good writing and making it great!

Services
Non-Fiction
Biographies & Memoirs Entertainment History True Crime Writing & Publishing
Languages
English (US)
Awards
  • History Book Award, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (2019)
  • PROSE Award, best book of the year in Media & Cultural Studies (2019)
  • Mirror Award, Best Commentary, Digital Media (2010)

Work experience

Seton Hall University

Aug, 2016 — Present
In addition to teaching, I served for three years as the book review editor for a major academic journal. I am also a freelance book reviewer for The Washington Post.

Vanity Fair

Sep, 2003 — Jul, 2011 (almost 8 years)
Edited feature stories for major national magazine, working with experienced and up-and-coming writers alike.

Matthew has 4 reviews

Professionalism

Quality

Value

Responsiveness

Douglas H.

Douglas H.

Jul, 2022

Pinned
I have a 100,000 word narrative nonfiction, which I had been working on and editing for some six years. I had had some previous editors go over it, rather informally. I felt the manuscript was roughly 98% ready--quite polished. I was wrong. Immediately after contacting Matt, it was apparent that ...
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Jana S.

Jana S.

Feb, 2025

I put out my project for review to five potential editors. Matthew wasn't the least expensive but I could see he was very qualified and interested in the story. I was blown away by the time and attention he gave to my project and was more than impressed by the final result. I found him easy to wo...
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Dustin P.

Dustin P.

Dec, 2022

Matt was amazing to work with and he is an excellent copywriter and researcher. Highly recommend.
Eliot P.

Eliot P.

Sep, 2022

Matt did an OUTSTANDING job creating the index for my book. In addition to the index he created for me, he also gave me good, meaningful feedback on my book. He goes above and beyond to get the job done!

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