Every book project arrives brimming with potential and in need of work to let its greatness shine. An editor acts as a guide, a midwife, a colleague – asking key questions, offering expertise, guiding the process as the book comes together. Once the book is published, it’s inspiring to hear about the book winning awards, influencing readers, making a difference.
The following is a sampling of books and authors I’ve been privileged to work with.
Patricia Aburdene, Conscious Money (Beyond Words/Simon & Schuster, 2013)
Patricia Aburdene, author of the best-seller Megatrends 2010, shows the reader how to apply the values-based principles of Conscious Capitalism to personal finance through conscious money practices. This book won a Spirit Book Club alternate award.
“Never have I worked with a more committed, brilliant, and tireless editor — AND I’ve worked with New York’s top editors. And she is a delightful person to work with. . . . Carolyn, I could never have done this without you.”
Michael E. Platt, M.D., The Miracle of Bio-identical Hormones (Clancy Lane Publishing, 2007)
In this book, revised and upgraded from an earlier edition, Dr. Platt presents his cutting-edge work in eliminating persistent health conditions with natural hormone replacement. The book earned a first place Reader Views Literary Awards in health/fitness in 2015. It also garnered international praise, and its German translation became the most popular book on bio-identical hormones in Germany.
“I owe a great deal to Carolyn Bond, whose exceptional expertise as my editor resulted in a book eminently more readable and coherent.”
Ed Tick, War and the Soul (Quest Books, 2005)
After years of work with war veterans, psychotherapist Ed Tick came to see PTSD as a soul wound and identity disorder – a discovery that has had radical implications for therapy. Since 2005, this book has been changing the way veterans, their families, and their therapists view PTSD. It won third place ForeWord Book of the Year Award in psychology, as well as honorable mention at the IPPY awards.
“I thank you again and again for all the expert and loving effort you put into the book. I have heard from GIs serving in Iraq and Afghanistan who are reading the book in the combat zone and telling me that it helps them preserve their sanity during the most difficult times.”
Eli Davidson, Funky to Fabulous (Oak Grove Publishing, 2006)
In Funky to Fabulous, nationally recognized success coach Eli Davidson presents powerful yet fun strategies to break up negative self-talk and get the reader engaged full-on in her life. The book was a finalist in the USA Book News National Book Awards in 2007. Then it went international, becoming a best-seller in Brazil.
“Thank you to Carolyn Bond for being an editor committed to the excellence of this project. This is a better book because of you.”
William Foege, House on Fire (University of California Press, 2012)
In the 1970s, Bill Foege, former head of the CDC, discovered the immunization strategy that made possible the global eradication of smallpox. He oversaw the strategy’s application in Nigeria and then in densely populated India. It was an honor to work on this memoir with such a gifted, understated man whose out-of-the-box thinking has saved generations of people from suffering.
“Ordering the material into a logical sequence with understandable sentences was the special contribution of Carolyn Bond, whose own experience living in India enriched her grasp of the material at hand.”
Bill Grace, Sharing the Rock (Common Good Works, 2011)
In this book, Bill Grace, speaker, presenter, and leadership educator, presents a model of leadership that is values based, inclusive, and driven by a fierce urgency to foster a better common future.
“Carolyn holds the writer and the text in gracious space, a place of respect and care, and then proceeds with the author in a relentless pursuit of the truth – what the author is most deeply trying to say. The result is a book the author meant to write that provides a clear and enjoyable experience for the reader.”
Rev. Deborah Johnson, Letters from the Infinite, vols. 1 & 2 (Sounds True, 2006, 2007)
Rev. Deborah Johnson, founder and president of Inner Light Ministries, shares letters she received from Spirit that speak to us collectively and individually, providing new paradigms for interpersonal relationships, societal institutions, and global affairs. Volume 1 was the book of the month on www.ofspirit.com and was a featured book for One Spirit Book Club.
“Infinite gratitude to you, Carolyn, for your keen sensitivity to nuance and your willingness to step off of the bell curve. . . . You are all that and a bag of chips!”
Bruce Comstock, A Life in the Air (Willow Press, 2013)
Working with Bruce, world and six-time hot air balloon champion who helped guide the early development of the sport, opened my awareness to the magic and strategies of three-dimensional travel, and provided a peek into the mind of a master at setting goals and achieving them.
“Through those months of my collaboration with editor, mentor, and coach Carolyn, the two of us were able to discover the beautiful memoir hidden in the ragged manuscript I had earlier created. Like many experiences in life, the journey was as precious as the fine result.”
Stephen Larsen, The Fundamentalist Mind (Quest Books, 2007)
In this book, Stephen Larsen, psychotherapist, mythologist, and pioneer in neurological feedback, presents a multifaceted exploration of fundamentalist thinking, exploring it from the standpoints of brain neurology, psychology, and the power of myth. This book won a Foreword Book of the Year award in psychology, plus two silver Nautilus Book Awards (in religion and psychology).
“Carolyn is probably the best editor I’ve worked with (including Jackie Onassis) in terms of saving the meaning and the language as well.”
Gary Okihiro, American History Unbound (University of California Press, 2015)
In this book designed for college courses, the author turns many assumptions about Asian-American history – and American history in general – on their heads. To work with Professor Okihiro was inspiring. He revolutionized my thinking as well.
“Carolyn Bond, my developmental editor, has been my steadfast companion on the long journey from draft to book. Her keen eye and candid appraisal sharpened my thinking and clarified my writing. I owe her a debt of gratitude for foregrounding the concept of ocean worlds, which is now the basis of a key chapter in this work.”
Sheldon Pollock, The Language of the Gods in the World of Men (University of California Press, 2006)
This massive work, broad in scope and deep in scholarship, won several academic book awards: the 2008 Coomaraswamy Book Prize, a 2006 AAP award, and Columbia University’s 2007 Trilling Prize.
“Carolyn Bond was the perfect copyeditor, showing unflagging care as well as infinite patience.”
Peter Nelson, The Way of a Seer (Empiricus Press, 2014)
The author, a neuroscientist and registered psychologist, shares his research as well as his own experiences in paranormal perception. Ultimately, he discovers that it is possible to live simultaneously in two worlds: to be both scientist and seer.
“The first draft of this opus needed considerable editing. This task fell to Carolyn Bond, whose know-how regarding book craft helped to shape it into a more readable text. I thank her for her good work.”
Paul & Patricia Richards, Wild Attraction (Chelsion Press, 2009)
Wild Attraction overturns our usual assumptions about romantic love and proposes a new model of relationship that takes into account the almost universally ignored effects of subtle energy on intimacy.
“Carolyn challenged us in the most inspiring ways. . . . I have worked with many editors, and she is by far the best in my experience.”
Agapi Stassinopoulos, Gods and Goddesses in Love (Gallery Books/Paraview, 2004)
It was fun to work with Agapi – Arianna Huffington’s sister – creating the concept and then the text for this book, which uses archetypes from Greek myth to explore different personality types and how they come together in love relationships.
“To Carolyn, who helped midwife all these gods, may they bless you back! Thank you for being there on the journey.”
Amit Goswami, The Visionary Window (Quest Books, 2000, 2006)
In this book, a quantum physicist, known for his leading role in the film What the Bleep Do We Know, shows how science can be integrated with the nondual spiritual tradition of his native India.
“My thanks to Carolyn Bond for an editing job well done.”