William Boggess – Editor

After getting my start in publishing at Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, I worked in New York publishing for 8 years, on both the editorial and agency side of the business. In editorial at Little, Brown and Company I was lucky to work on high quality fiction and nonfiction by authors such as Daniel Woodrell and Sam Kean, as well as acquiring US rights to the debut of future Booker Prize winner Paul Lynch. As a literary agent at Barer Literary (now part of The Book Group), I managed my own client list, including Garrard Conley's bestselling memoir Boy Erased, along with providing editorial services for nearly all of the agency’s clients, including novels by Paula McLain, Lily King, Celeste Ng, and Madeline Miller.

I went freelance in early 2015, and have since enjoyed the flexibility to work on many different kinds of books in different editorial capacities. As a freelancer, I split my time roughly 50/50 between editing for major publishers and working with independent authors at all different stages of their writing careers.

My strength is rolling up my sleeves with a manuscript and doing close, in-depth editorial work, whether that means full-on line editing or broader developmental editing. I am also happy to use my publishing expertise to consult on how best to pursue publication.

I'm comfortable with both fiction and nonfiction. Literary fiction is my main focus, though I'm always happy to dip into genre-crossover work as well. In nonfiction, I work with memoir, science, history, health, and various kinds of narrative and practical nonfiction.

I’m based in Durham, NC, where I live with my wife Lara, my son Quentin, and my dog Buff.

"William helped me shape Boy Erased into a book that would catch the attention of a Riverhead editor I continue to work with today. He helped me examine the scope of my memoir's vision, all the while helping to shape the tone and grammar of the story. He was absolutely essential to every step of the writing process."--Garrard Conley, author of Boy Erased

"Adept and insightful, William is an editor any writer would be lucky to have on their side. His precise and surgical edits elevate my novel to a level I wouldn't have been able to achieve on my own. He is thorough and perceptive. The depth of his understanding of my work and goals is astonishing. Having worked with William, my novel found its perfect home at Europa Editions. This year, I returned to his expertise for my second novel. With any luck, I will be back with a third. William has me as a lifelong client." - Abbigail Rosewood, author of If I Had Two Lives.