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Carrie Cantor
973-783-1005
e-mail cantor.carrie@gmail.com

Welcome to my Website!

I’ve been an editor for nearly 18 years and can be of service to you in any of the following ways:

ˇ If you need help acquiring or packaging a nonfiction book

ˇ If you need help line editing or writing a book, or

ˇ If you need help managing a book project.

I’ve been an acquisitions editor, a production editor, a copyeditor, and a project manager, both on staff at publishing companies and free-lance. (Click here to see a list, by subject, of the wide variety of books I have edited.)

--Working in acquisitions, I learned about marketing books--about what sells and what doesn’t and about how to "package" a book, with the right title, cover, and presentation.

--Working as a line-editor and a copyeditor, I learned how to organize, fact-check, and improve the writing in manuscripts, as well as how to work with authors to bring out the best in them.

--Working in production, I learned how to go through all the steps of actually making books, including typemarking a manuscript for design, managing art and captions, and overseeing copyediting, proofreading, and indexing.

I know the entire process of bookmaking, from A to Z. If you need me to work on a project, I will hit the ground running and won’t need a lot of guidance and hand-holding. That’s the advantage of using someone with real experience.

  

Attention Authors-to-be:

I also help authors (both agented and unagented) write proposals and submit sample chapters that publishers will consider professional and market-oriented. In the busy world of publishing, first impressions are crucial. A writer is typically more focused on the merits of his/her book, while the publisher is mainly concerned with its salability. I can help bridge the gap with a savvy proposal. I know the process and can provide an essential leg-up to those who don’t.

As for manuscript editing, in my experience, it’s always the very best writers who seem to most appreciate the value of a good editor, and, conversely, the least gifted who tend to think editing unnecessary. After all my years of unmixing metaphors, unmangling grammatical constructions, and polishing prose, I can assure you that even the most articulate people need an objective eye to see how their words will be construed. No writer, not even one with the very best taste, can always see what works and what doesn’t. Is this a self-serving statement? Well . . . yes. But it happens also to be true. (Click here for testimonials from authors.)