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• condensing historical documents and research materials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

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

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

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

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.

Henry Denard

Henry Denard

Major Commercial Fiction, Nonfiction, and Screenwriting

Publishing a book at a traditional (Big 5) publisher is pass/fail . . . where pass is a 97%.

I excel at taking material from a “B-“ and putting it over the top, to an “A+.” Your material may, or may not, sell, but I’ll turn it into the best manuscript it can be.

Apart from editing adult trade, young adult, and middle grade fiction and nonfiction, I’m also a screenwriter (WGA) and film producer for the studios.

My recently edited books include Girl From Nowhere by Tiffany Rosenhan (Bloomsbury, 2020) and Sixty Stories About Thirty Seconds by Bruce Van Dusen (Post Hill/Simon & Schuster, 2020). Both are debut authors.

My past bestselling authors include Anthony Bourdain (my name is at the top of the acknowledgments of Kitchen Confidential), Chris Wallace (Character), Richard Marcinko (Rogue Warrior), Steven Pressfield (The War of Art), Matthew Modine (Full Metal Jacket Diaries), and Brett Favre (Favre).

My titles have been featured on: Sixty Minutes, The Today Show, Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday, and the front page of The New York Times. Two books I bought, edited, and published sold to studios (Warner and Universal) for over $1 million.

I founded and was editor-in-chief of Rugged Land Books, distributed by Penguin Random House, where I acquired, edited, published, and helped to write dozens of titles.

As an author, I recently completed The Last Duke for Duke University Press (2021). I have written for The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal among other publications.

On the film side, I developed and produced The Conspirator (Robin Wright, directed by Robert Redford), Gone in Sixty Seconds (Nicolas Cage, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer) and The Negotiator (Samuel Jackson, directed by Gary Gray) among other films. I recently sold a pilot for a series to AMC Studios.

David Ferris

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.

Lauren Humphries-Brooks

Lauren Humphries-Brooks

Literary Fiction, Young Adult, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, Romance LGBTQ+, Crime, Detective, Academic Nonfiction, Film Scripts, Media Books

Lauren Humphries-Brooks has copy edited hundreds of novels, short stories, and nonfiction titles, including books by bestselling authors Jane Yolen, May McGoldrick, Paul Cornell, and Alyssa Palombo. She regularly works with large and small publishers, including St. Martin’s Press, Tor/Forge, Prometheus Books, Bella Books, Entangled Publishing, and Cobblestone Press.

She loves working with both first-time authors and established writers, from people looking for that final check to those who want involved editing and collaboration. She’s a writer herself, with a Master’s in Creative Writing from the University of Edinburgh, where she learned the art of constructive criticism, pacing, plot structure, and dialogue.

Jeff Karon

Jeff Karon

Poetry, Creative Nonfiction, Biographies, Memoirs, Martial Arts, Technical

Jeff Karon, PhD, has written and edited over 100 books, articles, stories, poems, and doctoral dissertations across a broad range of disciplines in the humanities, social sciences, and business.

He is a board member, website designer, and webmaster for a literary press and a published writer and poet.

His editing specialties include general fiction, biography, memoir, literary criticism, philosophy, poetry criticism, creative writing, technical and business writing, journal articles, and scholarly books.

Barbara Kimble

Barbara Kimble

Barbara Kimble has worked as a writer, ghostwriter, editor, teacher, coach, corporate communication consultant and journalist, and served as Writer in Residence at Tyndale House Publishers. She has written or co-written ten books, published more than 600 articles in the Chicago Tribune, and edited approximately 200 books for various publishers and authors.

Barbara has helped dozens of writers to prepare for the publication of their books, including both those who have published with traditional publishers and those who have chosen to self-publish, including teaching a six-video writing course for a publisher.

A true wordsmith with a love for the beauty of language and the power of ideas, Barbara aims for clear and memorable writing that includes the occasional touch of humor, if appropriate. She makes what’s complicated easily understandable whether when editing a book, writing a web article, or coaching authors.

E. M. Levy

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.

Floyd Largent

Floyd Largent

Science Fiction, Fantasy, Short Stories, Anthropology

Manuscript evaluations, developmental editing

Floyd Largent edits nonfiction, novels, and short stories. His first love as a fiction editor is science fiction and fantasy for young adults and adults, especially for works in which science, characterization, mystery, and unusual cultures play an important part.

In nonfiction he specializes in anthropology, history, science, spirituality (including religious and New Age), and memoirs.

Kevin Miller

Kevin Miller

Science Fiction, Fantasy, Literary Fiction, Screenplays, Historical Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, How-To, Self-Help, Christian Fiction and Nonfiction

Kevin Miller has worked as an author, editor, publisher, educator, journalist, screenwriter, blogger, copywriter, book designer and proofreader for over 26 years. During that time, he has written, co-written, contributed to and edited over 250 published books, both fiction and non-fiction. He has also written, co-written, and/or directed and produced a dozen motion pictures, including feature film projects and documentaries. In addition, Kevin is the author of the best-selling Milligan Creek Series for middle-grade readers.

Throughout his career, Kevin has shepherded dozens of writers toward publication, including those who have gone the traditional route as well as those who have chosen to self-publish. Some of Kevin's clients include William B. Davis, the "Cigarette Smoking Man" from The X-Files; Spencer Tillman, former NFL player and lead studio analyst for College Football Today on CBS; and Doug Brode, Hollywood storyboard artist for such films as The Maze Runner, Thor, and Star Trek. Kevin has extensive experience at every stage of the publishing process, from development all the way to book and cover design and marketing.

Kevin’s areas of specialty include sci-fi and fantasy, historical fiction, literary fiction, screenplays, creative nonfiction, business writing, how-to/self-help, autobiography, and Christian fiction and non-fiction. His clients appreciate his extensive knowledge of story structure, his attention to detail, his knowledge and experience of the marketplace, and his friendly, honest approach.

Holly Monty

Holly Monty

Fiction, Nonfiction, Book Design and Self-Publishing, Dissertations, LaTeX, APA Formatting

In the last 15 years, Holly has edited more than 350 books published by top university and international presses, in areas extending from physics to philosophy.

She offers award-winning bespoke print and ebook design, as well as guidance, to self-publishers of every ilk.

For doctoral students, Holly’s services include copy editing, formatting, and expert-level APA; she has edited more than 150 dissertations.

Researchers will find Holly’s past experience editing thousands of peer-reviewed journal articles invaluable. Specialty areas include physics and geophysics, mathematics, and the humanities.

Gina Nelson

Gina Nelson

Christian YA and Adult Fiction, Nonfiction, Inspirational

A professional editor for over twenty years, Gina specializes in line editing and proofreading Christian fiction and nonfiction/inspirational books for young adult and adult readers.

She has worked with smaller publishers, such as 5 Fold Media (which launched The Passion Translation) and Anaiah Press, as well as large publishing houses, including Crossroad Publishing Company and Pearson.

Gina’s passion is working closely with authors to ensure their unique voices are maintained while polishing the grammar, punctuation, spelling, syntax, and word usage in their manuscripts.

Joya Stevenson

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.

Marie Valentine

Marie Valentine

Copyediting and Proofreading Services | New Author Assistance

Marie Valentine helps first-time writers prepare their manuscripts for submission to publishers or in preparation for self-publishing.

Marie has worked for small, midsized, and academic presses, and helps authors who are new to the publishing process navigate the path to selling a book. She offers query letter and submission package review, and permissions assistance, and can answer questions you have along the way. She often blogs with her self-published authors to help promote their work.

Marie passed Book Editing Associates' rigorous proofreading test, so you can trust that her edits will also clear up any typographical errors in your book. She is fluent in the Chicago Manual of Style and AP Style.

Don White

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.

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