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.
Jake Thiessen, Tiny Shifts (Contineo Books, 2025)
Jake Thiessen, a couple therapist for more than forty years, has a gift for addressing complex relationship issues in short, insightful vignettes, each presenting a single small shift partners can make to improve their relationship. Rob Smith’s delightful, sometimes wry drawings illustrate the essays throughout. This wonderful little book earned not only an IBPA silver aware in the self-help category but also a coveted starred Kirkus review.
“One of the book’s most engaging attributes is its practicality—readers can take clearly defined steps to work on themselves and their relationships. Thiessen has crafted an excellent guide to successful relationships.” – Kirkus Reviews
“What I’ve learned through the process of creating this little book is that though I might possess the raw material necessary for competent writing, I have a long way to go before I can claim ‘good writer’ status. I want to thank developmental editor Carolyn Bond for kindly and gently transforming my raw material into something I can feel proud of.”
Jen Martin, The Creative Way Forward (Fast Company Press, 2024)
Jen Martin, a leadership coach, consultant, and facilitator, has written a guidebook for navigating change by engaging it creatively, rather than reactively. In today’s world, her insights are eminently useful in both personal and professional life. This book won an array of awards including: Foreword INDIES Book of the Year, IBPA gold award in self-help, and IBPA silver award for best new voice in nonfiction.
“Martin’s well-researched and thoughtfully crafted book provides a roadmap for staying resilient, adaptable, and true to yourself in the face of life’s challenges.” – Daniel Pink, author of Drive and The Power of Regret
“Carolyn is a master at her craft. Her insightful questions, strategic guidance, and beautiful editing made all the difference in my book. I’m incredibly proud of the end result. While writing can be a painful process at times, Carolyn helped me to keep going with her personal care and encouragement. If you have a book in you, I can’t recommend Carolyn enough to help you get it out on paper and into the world.”
Carol Hwoschinsky, Conflict as an Evolutionary Force (PH Press, 2025)
In her book Carol Hwoschinsky, an educator, therapist, and mediator, distills her lifelong curiosity about the nature of conflict—from fearing it as a child, to working in Israel-Palestine to foster dialogue between parties in conflict, to embracing it as, in fact, the crucible of all evolution whether cosmic or human. Carol finished writing this book shortly before she passed away at the age of 93. It offers a rare perspective on an increasingly relevant topic, and it needs to be read widely.
A quote from the book:
“Conflict itself is not the problem. The problem lies in how our limited understanding and emotional responses color our experience of conflict. It took me half a lifetime to realize this. . . . It’s becoming imperative that we move beyond destruction and learn to use conflict to evolve. The world is changing, and so must we.”
Frank De Luca, A Field Guide to Humans (DG Publishers, 2023)
In his book, therapist, coach, and corporate consultant Frank DeLuca invites us to use Enneagram model of the human psyche as a lens through which to see other people—with the same curiosity and wonder a wildlife biologist brings to studying the natural world. Nancy Bardos’s delightful artwork illustrates each of the nine personality types. Frank and his book were featured on the Gaia Network—twice.
“Carolyn Bond showed me what a good editor is capable of. She helped me organize my thoughts into a cohesive book, showed me how to bring clarity to my fuzzy sentences, and continually asked probing questions that got to the heart of what I wanted to say. Her project management, professionalism and high standards inspired me to make this book the best it could be.”
Jay Schroder, Teach from Your Best Self (Routledge, 2023)
In his book, Jay Schroder weaves together his decades of experience as a high school teacher, his training in karate (he holds a sixth-degree black belt), and his studies in energetics and attention. The book serves as an adjunct to his teacher trainings and presentations to educators nationwide. While designed to help teachers thrive in the classroom, what Jay offers is relevant to anyone working in a challenging profession. The book was recently translated into Chinese.
“I owe a debt of gratitude to my friend and editor Carolyn Bond, who brought her editing genius to bear on this book. Carolyn never wavered from letting me know when the writing was wordy, overblown, weak, or unclear, consistently pointing me toward clear, crisp prose. Carolyn, I know the reader thanks you as well.”
Kiara Wyndham, Diversityland (University of California Press, 2026)
In this book, sociologist Kiara Wyndham turns her professional gaze to her suburban hometown, Fort Bend, Texas. She looks under the hood of the community’s celebrated shared value for racial diversity to reveal the racial hierarchy that is nevertheless present. This well-crafted book is likely to turn heads in her field.
“Carolyn, I couldn’t have made it to the finish line without you!”
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.”
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.”
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.”
Bruce Comstock, A Life in the Air (Willow Press, 2013)
Working with Bruce, world and six-time national 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.”