History Book Editors
History Books | Scholarly Editing | Scholarly Publishing
The book editors on this page help writers of history books through the publication process, from content selection and developmental editing to copyediting, proofreading, and preparing the book for commercial or university presses. They may offer help with:
• scholarly editing and formatting per publisher’s guidelines
• reducing the number of words or pages of a document to fit the publisher’s standards
• applying and integrating feedback received from agents and editors
• compiling contributions from multiple writers into cohesive chapters
• repurposing a document for its intended audience
• verifying or flagging terms that will be unfamiliar to contemporary readers
• copyediting and proofreading
• locating historical material online
• condensing historical documents and research materials
• referencing primary and secondary sources
• preparing annotated bibliographies
• hyperlinking to electronic references in the text, footnotes, and endnotes
• creating book summaries
• preparing submission materials, including book proposals, for literary agents or acquisitions editors at educational publishers, university presses, or commercial presses
• indexing
David Aretha
The author and editor of more than 300 books, David Aretha knows what it takes to get a book published.
David Aretha has edited and authored books for 30+ publishers, including St. Martin’s Press, HarperCollins, Lyons Press, Random House, Running Press, Warner Books, Total/Sports Illustrated, and Scholastic.
His books have generated more than $20 million in revenue and have appeared on the Today show, The Early Show, CNN, MSNBC, and NPR. His rating on Goodreads.com is 4.2, based on more than 3,000 ratings.
Ann Aubrey
Ghostwriter, Book Indexer, Copy Editor, Proofreader
Ann Aubrey has 30+ years of experience as a writer and editor, including fiction, nonfiction, medical, academic, technical, and college-level textbooks.
She began a career as a technical writer: geophysics, geology, and information technology. Then transitioned into journalism, working as Associate Editor/Editor of the Catholic newspaper of San Diego and teaching fiction writing at the university level.
Peggy Campbell
Academic, General Nonfiction Editing
Peggy Campbell has been working as a copy editor, line editor, and developmental editor of nonfiction books for more than two decades, working for both top university presses and trade publishers as well as authors who hire her directly. She also works as a developmental/line editor and is an expert user of the Chicago Manual of Style. Her areas of expertise are history (especially American history), including biography, memoir, and autobiography; politics, government, public affairs, and public policy; and equine topics.
Her edited books have won a number of awards and honors, including New York Times Notable Book of the Year, the Tankard Award, Choice Outstanding Book of the Year, National Jewish Book Award, and Choice Outstanding Academic Title. She has been privileged to edit forewords for John Kenneth Galbraith and Morley Safer. Campbell’s own work as a reporter was nominated for a Pulitzer.
Carrie Cantor
Developmental Editing, Manuscript Evaluations, Line Editing
200+ books edited for major publishers and independent authors
Carrie Cantor, a published author and industry veteran, worked as an acquisitions editor at a New York publisher where she acquired and edited titles on a variety of subjects. As a free-lance editor, she has extensive experience performing diagnostic editing (critique), development editing, and line editing. Her clients are writers in the areas of memoir, history, current events, health, Judaica, women’s issues, how-to, and pop-culture, as well as romance, women’s fiction, and literary fiction.
She also helps authors write query letters and proposals that appeal to the market. Because she is an adjunct to a successful New York literary agency, she has the commercial savvy to advise clients with an eye to current trends and industry standards.
Carrie will meet you wherever you are in your writing process. If you need an objective assessment of what’s working in your book and what needs improvement in terms of structure (narrative arc, characters, pacing, etc.), she can provide a thorough professional critique. Her “bedside” manner is sensitive and respectful but holds nothing back.
If you need a line-by-line edit to polish the writing, Carrie is an expert at smoothing over any awkward moments in the narrative, helping you to be the best writer you can be without imposing her own style or taste on your prose.
David Ferris
Novels, Self-Help, Memoir, Christian, Spiritual, Business
David Ferris has worked on 100+ manuscripts that have landed publishing deals.
His long track record as a ghostwriter, writer, editor, and filmmaker has given him exposure to a wide range of authors, writing styles, and genres, including novels, nonfiction works, self-help books, memoir, Christian and other spiritual writing, and business books.
With professional experience in both fiction and documentary film, as a producer, writer, and director, David is well versed in the art of cinematic storytelling and can edit or critique your screenplay.
E. M. Levy
Academic and other nonfiction, memoir; social sciences, psychology, spirituality and consciousness studies, manuscript evaluations, developmental editing, line editing, copyediting
E. M. Levy has edited books for Doubleday, Random House, and many other publishers and individuals. He is at home in the social sciences and humanities.
He has edited important works of religious scholarship. In the area of general nonfiction, he has worked in a variety of genres, including biography, public affairs, spirituality, and memoir. Many authors who are nonnative English speakers have turned to him to perfect their English written expression.
Joya Stevenson
Religion, Theology, the Bible, Mysticism, Spirituality
Joya Stevenson (PhD., Harvard University, Spiritual and Personal Development) edits in the broad areas of religion, theology, spirituality, and the Bible.
She works with original thinkers, inspired visionaries and mystics, theologians and biblical interpreters, researchers and academics.
Don White
Editor of 3 New York Times Bestsellers and 3 Los Angeles Times Bestsellers
Don White is an award-winning editor with more than twenty years’ of publishing experience. Among the notable writers he’s edited are Gore Vidal, Edward Albee, E. Lynn Harris, Edmund White, and Samuel R. Delany.
He’s equally at home in fiction (literary novels, commercial fiction, mysteries) and nonfiction (memoir, biography, general nonfiction). As an editor and writer he’s freelanced for Doubleday, Penguin, Bantam, Basic Books, and Beacon, among others.
Don has been singled out for distinction by the American Library Association, Publishers Weekly, and Out Magazine. As an independent scholar he's authored three books on African American history as well as several books for gay and lesbian readers. He's also an emeritus board member of the Lambda Literary Foundation. Don lives in New York City.