I have held various editorial and executive positions during my nearly five decades in book publishing. I joined New American Library as Executive Editor in l980 after l6 years at Praeger Publishers (where I was Vice-President and Editor-in-Chief) and several years at Harper & Row (where I was Senior Editor at Lippincott Crowell). After NAL merged with Penguin USA, I served as Senior Vice-President and Associate Publisher of the Dutton and Plume imprints and continued in that position until February, l998.

I have edited a wide range of fiction and nonfiction works, including THE CAUSE IS MANKIND, by Hubert Humphrey, ON ESCALATION, by Herman Kahn, MARTHA GRAHAM: A BIOGRAPHY, by Don McDonagh, WITH CHILD, by Phyllis Chesler, PARACHUTES AND KISSES, by Erica Jong, several books by film critic/historian Leonard Maltin, CURES and STONEWALL, by the eminent gay historian Martin Duberman, INSIDE INTEL, by Tim Jackson, the New York Times bestseller REDISCOVERING AMERICAN VALUES, by Dick DeVos, WAITING FOR A MIRACLE, by Dr. James P. Comer, and DEFENDING THE SPIRIT, by Randall Robinson. Other authors I have worked with include Russell Baker, E.L. Doctorow, Gloria Steinem, Larry Kramer, Toni Morrison, and the playwrights August Wilson, Edward Albee, and Terrence McNally.

I am an Adjunct Professor of English at the University of Denver, where I have conducted the Editing Workshop for the Publishing Institute every summer since l976. I have also lectured on publishing and editing for the USIA in India, Sweden, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, and Lithuania.

In the years since I left the Penguin group I have worked as an editorial consultant on a wide variety of projects. I have read first (and in some cases second) drafts of a number of manuscripts (both fiction and nonfiction) and written highly detailed editorial critiques to help the authors in extensive revisions of their manuscripts. (In all these cases I was hired directly by the author, but usually through referral by an agent.) I was hired by a publisher to work with the author of a business book (who was primarily a businessman and not a writer); we went through several drafts of his manuscript (which I line-edited and wrote revision instructions for) before it was developed into a form acceptable to his publisher. I have helped several authors write nonfiction book proposals, and in some cases I have found agents to represent them. In one instance, the author and I went through several drafts of the book proposal (incorporating suggestions from the agent), and after the project was sold to a publisher (for a substantial advance), I continued to work with the author to the point of submission and acceptance of the complete manuscript by the publisher.

I have made one foray so far into agenting, representing a nonprofit organization with a manuscript that they thought would have appeal to a consumer audience. I submitted the material to l0 editors (drawn from a wide network that I’ve developed over my many years spent working in publishing), held an auction, and made an excellent sale. I would say, however, that I’m primarily interested in taking on editing projects and would consider agenting something only in special cases.

Phone: 2l2-874-34l9  

Fax: 2l2-724-2220  

E-mail: adolin@consulting-editors.com