News About Us

Some of the latest projects and activities involving members of the Consulting Editors Alliance and their clients . . .

Fall, 2007

A BITTERSWEET FAREWELL:  Long-time CEA member Moira Duggan has stepped down from the organization, citing a gradually diminished workload as she eases toward retirement and a gentle disengagement from the New York publishing scene.  We'll miss her enormously.  Moira contributed generously of her time and energy to the group, handling everything from our bank account to the catered lunches at our monthly meetings with quiet efficiency.  Even more, however, we'll be sorry not to have her gracious, kindly presence in each of our conversations.  Thanks for your friendship, Moira, and good luck in all of your future ventures and adventures!

Summer, 2007

CHOSEN BY READERS:  Although sales aren't the only (or even the most reliable) way to measure the quality of a book, when a book reaches the New York Times best-seller list it's a gratifying experience for everyone associated with it.  CEA member Nan Gatewood Satter enjoyed such a moment this June when Susan Richards's Chosen by a Horse climbed to #13 on the paperback nonfiction list.  A moving memoir of how author Richards found her life transformed when she adopted and cared for an abused horse, Chosen by a Horse benefited from Nan's expert editorial guidance.  "The amazing thing," Nan comments, "is that there's been no advertising for the book.  It became a best-seller through an awful lot of word of mouth.  It's a testament to the power of a beautiful story beautifully told."

THOSE WHO CAN, TEACH: David Groff, one of the most versatile writing talents in CEA, will be teaching a graduate poetry writing workshop this fall in the MFA program at the City College of New York, alongside such noted writers as Linsey Abrams and Marilyn Hacker.  David had previously taught creative writing at William Paterson University, the National Association for Advancement in the Arts, and as part of a reading series for his book of poems Theory of Devolution.  He has also taught courses in publishing at New York University and Rutgers. . . CEA member Sandi Gelles-Cole is also spreading her insights through teaching and the media.  On October 25th, she'll be participating in the Roundtable program on WAMC radio (a regional Public Radio station serving parts of New York, Massachusetts, and other Northeastern states), speaking about the role of the "book doctor" in the publishing industry.  (Her article on the subject, which you can find on our website, has also been picked up by Ezine, the popular on-line compendium of useful ideas and information.)  Sandi will also be appearing at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, NY) on October 27, where she and author Marion Roach Smith will be leading a seminar titled From Your Notebook to the Reader, on how to take a raw idea to the book stage.

RETURN ENGAGEMENT:  Last February's adult-education panel "Prepare to Publish: How to Get From Raw Idea to Book Contact" at the Makor Center of New York's famed 92nd Street Y was such a hit that CEA has been asked to repeat the program this November 14.  CEA panelists for this fall's event will include Danelle McCafferty, Judy Kern, Hilary Hinzmann, Joan Sanger, and moderator Karl Weber.

Winter, 2006

SOMETIMES A GREAT NOTION:  Every writer knows that a good idea isn't enough to make a successful piece of writing.  To help aspiring authors bridge the gap from concept to finished project, CEA member Sandi Gelles-Cole (together with author Marion Roach Smith) is offering a one-day class titled "From Your Notebook to the Reader."  It'll take place on March 3, 2007 at the Arts Center of the Capitol Region in Troy, New York.  For more information on the program, click here. In other news, Sandi has been named co-chairwomen of the Literary Arts Committee for the Art Society of Kingston.  Congratulations, Sandi!

IT'S ALL IN THE MIND:  Meanwhile, Sandi is not neglecting her day job--actually editing books.  Her client Anna Salter's fifth novel, Truth Seeker, will be published in January by Perseus.  It's psychological suspense that revolves around a heroine who is a synthesete (someone who sees colors when words are spoken). "Anna Salter is a forensic psychiatrist who uses her expertise to depict really threatening protagonists," Sandi explains.

END OF AN ERA:  CEA founding member Carol Southern has announced her plans to retire from the editing/writing game--and from CEA.  Carol wants to devote more time to her newest avocation, painting and sculpture: She is an avid student at New York's famous Art Students League, and a glimpse of some of her creations suggests that she may be just as talented with the brush and the modeling tool as with the blue pencil.  We'll miss you, Carol--and so will the many authors whose work you've helped to launch successfully.   

UPLIFTING THE POOR:  Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank and widely credited with launching the microcredit movement as a means of combating global poverty, was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize on December 10.  Now he is working on a new book about his economic and social philosophy, and CEA member Karl Weber has been tapped to assist.  Karl will be traveling to Yunus's native Bangladesh for a month of intensive interviews and research this coming January.

A TOUGH JOB BUT SOMEONE HAS TO DO IT:  CEA member Judy Kern is writing a book tentatively titled The Little Black Book of Luxury.  Sponsored by the Ritz-Carlton hotels company, it will consist of short pieces about how we can bring more luxury (not necessarily costing a lot of money) into our lives and the lives of those around us.  All the other members of CEA have volunteered to help her with the research . . .   

GOOD THINGS DO HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE  . . . AND GOOD BOOKS:  Soho Press is delighted with the success of Susan Richards' moving memoir Chosen By A Horse (June, 2006).  So is Harcourt, which paid six figures for the paperback rights in a pre-emptive bid.  And so is CEA member Nan Gatewood Satter, who edited the book.  "Success couldn't happen to a nicer person -- or a better book,"  Satter observes.  Harcourt plans a national tour for the author upon paperback publication in early summer, 2007.

Fall, 2005

RUNNING THE GAMUT:  CEA member Danelle McCafferty has been ultra-busy.  Last spring, she edited Whence Came a Prince, third book in a historical trilogy by Liz Curtis Higgs and a Romantic Times Top Pick: "Emotions run the gamut, and clear-cut characters sparkle against a backdrop of superbly researched historical detail."  In May, she spoke on a publishing panel sponsored by the Transition Network, a New York group for over-fifty career-changers.  Over the summer, author Debra Leblanc won a rave for her second chiller, Grave Intent, from Publishers Weekly: "Funeral industry scenes that are detailed down to the last drop of embalming fluid" (Danelle provided editorial development.)  But the strangest credit she received this year was for a book she didn't edit.  Danelle had worked with Ted Dunagan on a mystery that didn't sell.  She encouraged him to write instead about his life growing up dirt-poor in the South.  In April, she was surprised to receive a copy of Dunagan's A Yellow Watermelon in the mail.  Inside, he'd written, "For Danelle, who made me learn how."

DINING WITH ELVIS . . . AND ROVER:  Judy Kern has worked on two of this year's more unusual cookbooks: Graceland's Table, a Rutledge Hill Press book featuring The King's favorite dishes, and The Dog Ate It, co-authored with Linda West Eckhardt and Barbara Bradley, filled with recipes both you and your dog will love (under contract to Gotham).  On a more serious note, Judy helped world-renowned "reproductive psychiatrist" (yes, there is such a thing) Dr. Shaila Misri write her book Pregnancy Blues: What Every Woman Needs To Know About Depression During Pregnancy, published by Bantam in August.

SHORT TAKES:  CEA member Moira Duggan is working with Addie Perkins Williamson, a well-known consultant and motivational speaker, on a book of advice and insights for minority women interested in moving up from middle-level positions to top jobs in their companies.  You go, girl . . . Sandi Gelles-Cole has begun work with Tonya Lewis-Lee and Crystal McCrary Anthony on their second Hyperion novel, The Two Mrs. Walkers.  Their debut, Gotham Diary, spent five weeks on the New York Times best-seller list . . . This past summer, our Arnold Dolin conducted his two-week editing workshop at the renowned University of Denver Publishing Institute.  It was his thirtieth straight year leading the program--twelve more years and Arnold will catch up with The Fantasticks . . . Joan Sanger is immersed in editing Gary Birkin's newest medical thriller and is about to start work on a new novel by Christine Lemmon intriguingly titled Mrs. Aurelio Comes A-Knocking at the Door.

Winter, 2004

GHOULISH GUMBO: First-time novelist Deborah LeBlanc has won acclaim with her supernatural thriller Family Inheritance, written with the help of CEA member Danelle McCafferty.  Publishers Weekly says, "The sticky Louisiana bayou comes alive in . . . LeBlanc's imaginative chiller about family curses and witch doctors."  A different sort of doctor features in another McCafferty special, Sparky Fights Back, a heart-warming story of a little dog who survives a rare form of cancer.  It's "a must read," according to a founding board member of the Animal Cancer Foundation, which has endorsed the book.

FIFTEEN MINUTES OF FAME:  CEA members Sandi Gelles-Cole and Judy Kern are featured in the December, 2004 issue of Writer's Digest.  Journalist Cathie Beck interviewed Sandi and Judy for her article, "Should You Hire a Book Doctor?" which is a useful guide for any author trying to decide whether or not they need the help of an editorial consultant.

LIKE MOTHER, LIKE SON:  The Candy Men: The Rollicking Life and Times of the Notorious Novel "Candy" has received rave reviews, including being named a "pick of the month" by Publishers Weekly.  We care because the author of The Candy Men is Nile Southern, son of CEA member Carol Southern (as well as of the late Terry Southern, one of the co-authors of Candy).  Nile obviously derived his literary genes from both sides of the family.

STAR POWER: When hotelier Jonathan Tisch published his book of leadership advice, The Power of We: Succeeding Through Partnerships, famous friends rallied in support.  Jon's book party was hosted by Tina Brown and Harry Evans, and the guest list included notables from former New York governor Mario Cuomo and novelist Tom Wolfe to New York Giants running back Tiki Barber.  CEA member Karl Weber and his wife had fun star-gazing; Karl was the co-author of Tisch's book, which has gone on to several stints on national business best-seller lists.

WHERE THERE'S HOPE: CEA member Sandi Gelles-Cole is working with author Karen Siff Oxkorn on The Autism Sourcebook, to be published by ReganBooks in September, 2005.  The project originated as an account of the total recovery from autism by Jake, the author's son.  But when agent Bill Contardi submitted the book to Judith Regan, she suggested transforming it into a sourcebook for family members afflicted with this developmental disorder.  Sandi is also working with another Contardi client, Sara Goff, whose first novel Vows is about weddings, love, and New York City.

SHORT TAKES:  Joan Sanger is working with psychologist Bonnie Comfort on a fascinating new novel set in the little-known subculture of American Hasidic Jews . . . Judy Kern is helping to craft an important book on the phenomenon of ante-natal depression . . . Sandi Gelles-Cole will be speaking on January 19th before the Hudson Valley Publishers Network on the role of book doctors in publishing . . . Arnold Dolin has made his usual star turn at the mid-winter Denver Publishing Institute program at the University of Denver.  Directed by publishing veteran Elizabeth Geiser, it's perhaps the most respected educational program in the industry.

Winter, 2003

BUSY BEE:  For most authors, a year when a new book arrives in stores is noteworthy.  CEA member Judy Kern has a different perspective.  No fewer than three books Judy collaborated on have been published this fall.  They include Tom Patire's Personal Protection Handbook (Three Rivers Press), The Afterlife Connection by Dr. Jane Greer (St. Martin), and Cooking with the Firehouse Chef by Keith Young (HP Books), which is already in its third printing.  Whew!

A GEM IN HER OWN RIGHT:  Also on the busy side is CEA's Adrienne Ingrum, who served as consulting editor on two books just released by WaterBrook: Longing for Daddy: Healing from the Pain of an Absent or Emotionally Distant Father by Monique Robinson, and Sapphires and Other Precious Jewels: Discover and Celebrate the Beauty of Women of African Descent by Terri McFaddin.  (We'd like to comment about Adrienne's own gem-like qualities but we don't want to make her blush . . . ) 

FRESH PIE:  Nancy Bodi is a psychotherapist turned novelist whom CEA member Sandi Gelles-Cole describes as a writer "for the Elizabeth Berg market."  Sandi is an enthusiastic fan of her client Bodi's novel, Hungry for My Piece of the Pie, calling it "humorous and true, fiction for women my age."  Sandi refuses to divulge exactly what age that is, but she admits being "just young enough to still want that pie."  We'll leave it at that. 

SHORT TAKES:  Joan Sanger is in the final stages of editing Gary Birken's new thriller, The Caduceus Project.  It's his third book, and he and Joan are both anticipating a possible breakout best-seller. . . An Island Sheltered: Shelter Island Celebrates 350 Years has been widely praised and is already going back to press for a second printing.  CEA member Carol Southern edited it. . . In November, Danelle McCafferty addressed the meeting of the Kansas Writers Association via teleconference, tackling questions about the state of publishing and the writer's craft. (12/24/03)

Summer, 2003

HAPPY ENDING: Lemon City by Elaine Brown, a light-hearted, gently satiric valentine to the African-American love of community, has just been acquired by Villard.  CEA member Sandi Gelles-Cole worked on the book with the author through numerous revisions, a creative struggle that makes the successful outcome especially “glorious” (as Sandi puts it).  As for Elaine Brown, she comments, “I learned from Sandi the importance of being an agile rewriter.”  Maybe the saying “All good writing is rewriting” became a cliché because it’s true. 

DOUBLE WHAMMY: CEA member Danelle McCafferty is on a roll—two more books that she worked on have just been published.  John Wareham is well known for his best-selling business books.  Now his first novel, Chancey on Top, has been simultaneously released in the U.S., England, and New Zealand.  Danelle worked on it from start to finish.  Also recently published (by Doubleday’s Waterbrook Press) is the historical novel Thorn in My Heart by Liz Curtis Higgs, a Christian writer with thirty previous books to her credit.  Set in Scotland in the 1700s, Thorn has already topped the Christian Booksellers Association historical best-sellers list for two months.  Danelle helped the author with editorial development.

Spring, 2003

QUICK TURNAROUND:  When Dr. Suzan D. Johnson Cook was elected president of the Hampton University Ministers' Conference (the largest gathering of African-American clergy), she decided she'd like to publish her third book, The Sister's Rules for Ministry, in time for the installation ceremony.  CEA member Adrienne Ingrum made it possible.  She edited the book rapidly, then worked with Word for Word Publishing of Brooklyn, NY to create a handsome self-published paperback edition in a matter of weeks, not months.

HIGH SOCIETY: The author team of Tonya Lewis-Lee and Crystal Anthony-McCrary has signed a two-book deal (via agent Suzanne Gluck of William Morris) built on their novel Gotham Diary, a look at Manhattan's African-American society scene and the social climbers who try to break into it.  CEA member Sandi Gelles-Cole helped this hot young writing team develop plot and character for the book.  Lewis-Lee is also the author of a children's book, Please Baby Please, written with her husband, the filmmaker Spike Lee, and Anthony-McCrary, wife of former Knick Robert Anthony, is the co-author (with Rita Ewing) of HOME COURT ADVANTAGE, a novel about the lives of NBA wives. 

CLIMBING THE CHARTS:  Scan the business book best-seller lists this season and you're sure to spot Use What You've Got, and Other Business Lessons I Learned From My Mom by the famed New York real estate mogul Barbara Corcoran (with Bruce Littlefield).  CEA member Hilary Hinzmann served as a "special editor" on the project, which we guess means he will be the first to hear when a bargain becomes available on an upper east side condo.  Switching cities and eras, Hinzmann also edited Lord Have Mercy Upon Us: the Great Plague of London, which he describes as "an historical Hot Zone" by Lloyd and Dorothy Moote.

SUCCESS FORMULA:  CEA member Danelle McCafferty is speaking at The Writers' Guild of Acadiana conference on the perennial topic, "What Makes a Best-Seller?"  (Danelle assures us that "there is no secret formula," but there are ways to boost your chances of making the list . . . which she plans to divulge.)  The conference meets in Lafayette, Louisiana, March 25-27.  Danelle also wants to mention two of her favorite recent projects: Kathleen Antrim's Capital Offense, a political thriller about a First Lady who plots to take over the country (not a bad idea, some of us might say), and Thalassa Ali's A Singular Hostage, "a sweeping pageant of life in the British Raj" (per Stephanie Barron).  Two more best-sellers in the making?

SPEAKING OF BESTSELLERS: Danelle McCafferty (see above) edited the latest novel by perennial bestseller Tom Robbins, Villa Incognito.  It's the sixth book the pair have worked on together.  His cryptic acknowledgment reads, "To my line editor, Danelle McCafferty (who knows which way the geese fly)."  We asked Danelle for an explanation, but she would only say “it has something to do with the female anatomy.”  Now we have to read the book!

CONGRATULATIONS to CEA member Karl Weber.  Your Money or Your Life, a personal finance guide he co-authored with noted guru (and British TV personality) Alvin Hall, just won the title of Best Business Book of the year in the WH Smith Book Awards 2003.  Winners are selected by popular vote, with over 62,000 readers participating in this year's canvass.  Alvin's book is in great company: Winners in other categories included novelist Donna Tartt, Sir David Attenborough, and "Naked Chef" Jamie Oliver.

Autumn, 2002

ADULT EDUCATION:  CEA member Danelle McCafferty received a special thank-you from author-client Dr. James Stout.  In his recently published Bipolar Disorder: Rebuilding Your Life, he wrote, "I'm grateful to Danelle McCafferty . . . I learned more from her critiques and suggestions than from all my college writing courses combined."  It shows.  The book is getting raves, including this from Roy Menninger of the Menninger Foundation: "Evocative, poignant, and inspiring, this book should give solace and hope to a great many."  (11/10/02)

JUDY JUDY:  CEA welcomes new member Judy Kern.  Judy writes: "I began my more than 35 years (ouch) in publishing as a Correspondent in the Reader Mail Department at Look magazine.  I and three other overeducated and underpaid colleagues answered every piece of editorial mail the magazine received, our answers typed by yet another group of overeducated and even worse-paid college graduates."  Today Judy's work is a little more interesting and a little better paid.  She is a freelance editor, book doctor, and ghostwriter working mainly in the areas of spirituality, self-actualization, health, and food, "with a bit of fiction thrown in."  (11/8/02)

ROOTS: Finding God in the Garden by Rabbi Balfour Brickner has just been published by Little Brown.  CEA member Arnold Dolin nurtured the project since its inception, working with the Rabbi on the original proposal, helping him find an agent, and editing the complete manuscript.  Arnold and his happy client are now at work together on a follow-up book. (11/8/02)

IRON MAN: Speaking of Arnold Dolin, his annual trek to teach the tweo-week Editing Workshop at the University of Denver Publishing Institute this past July was Arnold's twenty-seventh consecutive appearance there.  Cal Ripkin, eat your heart out.  (11/8/02)

QUEST FOR PEACE: Famed novelist Walter Mosley is working on a nonfiction book tentatively titled What's Next: An African American Initiative Toward World Peace.  CEA member Adrienne Ingrum is working on the project with publisher Paul Coates of Black Classic Press.  (11/8/02)

A WOMB OF ONE'S OWN: In the category of "Why hasn't this been done before?" CEA member Elisa Petrini is under contract with Simon & Schuster to write a popular book about the social and biological history of the uterus.  Elisa just received a grant to support a month's work on the book at the Medway Institute's writers' colony in South Carolina.  (11/8/02)

SHORT TAKES: Joan Sanger is working with a journalist/historian on a first novel set in Ethiopia at the time of Haile Selassi and the Mussolini invasion . . . Jim Ellison has just completed a novel for S&S based on an Oliver Stone screenplay . . . Sandi Gelles-Cole is at work on the newest revision of Letitia Baldridge's classic guide to etiquette, originally published in 1985 . . . Hilary Hinzmann is co-authoring a guide to relieving lower back pain with a leading sports medicine guru, to be published by the new Gotham Books imprint at Penguin. (11/8/02)

Spring, 2002

OH DOCTOR:  One of CEA member Joan Sanger's newest discoveries is Gary Birken, M.D., a pediatric neurosurgeon who escapes his humdrum job of saving lives by authoring medical thrillers.  Berkley is high on him.  They've just published Birken's first novel, Final Diagnosis, with an initial run of 80,000 copies, and his second book, on the timely theme of bioterrorism, is due out in November.  Birken is already hard at work on a third novel, of course with Sanger's astute assistance. (4/5/02)

PANIC:  Today's hottest movie is The Panic Room, a thriller set in a luxury New York high-rise building and starring the cerebral, sexy Jodie Foster.  The success of the movie is (unsurprisingly) boosting sales of the novelization, which was authored by CEA member Jim Ellison.  Pocket Books originally printed 100,000 copies and has already rushed back for 85,000 more.  This is Jim's ninth novelization, and he calls it "the second hardest one I've done," since the advance script from which he worked gave little detail about characters and their motivations.  (Which was the hardest?  Immortal Beloved, a Beethoven biopic.)  Jim also turned such movie hits as Finding Forrester and Rudy into books.  (4/5/02)

NOTHING BUT NET:  New York Knicks basketball star Allan Houston is at work on a book with the help of CEA member Adrienne Ingrum.  Adrienne, who teaches a Sunday school class of ninth, tenth, and eleventh graders, recently brought them to a game at Madison Square Garden courtesy of her new client.  Is Adrienne a big hoops fan?  "Not really," she admits.  "I had to ask whether the Knicks were involved in this year's March Madness."  (That's the NCAA college tournament, of course, not an NBA event.)  The exact topic of the book is still under wraps, but it will have a strong spiritual slant and is being agented by Bruce Barbour, a veteran of the Christian book marketplace.

THRILLER: Nancy Kopp, the noted author of legal mysteries, received a strong review in the March 4th Publisher's Weekly for her new novel Final Justice.  “Breakneck pacing and an attention to procedural detail distinguish Kopp’s latest,” the review noted.  The book undoubtedly benefited from the author’s long-time partnership with CEA member Joan Sanger, who has now served as a consulting editor on five Kopp titles.  Final Justice will be published in paperback by Onyx in April, 2002.  (3/9/02)

ON THE ROAD: Arnold Dolin, CEA member, is in Colorado this month, giving his annual midwinter lecture at the Denver University publishing course taught by industry doyenne Elizabeth Geiser.  Arnold will actually be speaking not in a conventional classroom but at Denver’s legendary Tattered Cover bookstore, a venue sure to inspire any would-be publishing professional.  (3/9/02)

FAREWELL: After five years of heading her own shop, Blue Media Editorial Services, CEA member Malaika Adero has been lured back in-house by a division of Simon & Schuster.  Malaika will be joining Atria, the newly-rechristened PB (aka Pocket Books) hardcover imprint, as a senior editor.  We’ll miss Malaika as a CEA member and a valued colleague in the freelance community, but we’re looking forward to keeping in touch with her and hearing all the latest gossip from within S&S a day before it appears in the New York Observer.  Good luck, Malaika!  (3/9/02)