laura.com

What They Say

Laura Zimmerman is an immensely gifted editor, on whom I have relied for more than 20 years. Her literary acumen and creativity have helped me shepherd to publication projects ranging from a widely read science book to national magazine articles to personal essays.

Laura’s probing questions encourage me to dig more deeply in every topic I write about, unearthing unexpected nuance and richness. Her structural sense —whether for a phrase or a full-length chapter exposition—is unerring. Whenever sentimentality, redundancy or plain bad writing appear on the page, Laura spots it. Her warmth and humor lift my spirits when the task seems too formidable. I highly recommend Laura Zimmerman to anyone who strives to see clearly, think sharply—and capture it all in words.

—Madeline Drexler, author, Secret Agents; published in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The LA Times, and other major publications

Laura Zimmerman is the editor of my dreams. I have relied on her help throughout my writing career. As a conceptual editor, she has steadily pushed me to think larger, urging me never to settle for an easy or predictable conclusion—whether for a line of thought or for a line of poetry. As a structural editor, she has an unsurpassable grasp of how all the parts of a piece of writing fit together—or rather, how they don’t but should. As a copyeditor, she knows how to fine-tune a phrase, sentence, or stray bit of punctuation better than anyone else on earth. And she points out flaws (err, areas for improvement) with such kind, gentle ruthlessness that you have no excuse for not improving. Any writer—beginning or expert—who works with her is fortunate indeed.

—EJ Graff, Senior Researcher at the Shuster Institute for Investigative Journalism, Brandeis University; author, What is Marriage For? Her work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, Columbia Journalism Review, Los Angeles Times, Ms., The Nation, The New Republic, Salon.com, Village Voice, and in more than a dozen anthologies.

I just wanted to drop you a note of deep appreciation for the stellar editing work you did on the 4th Edition of my book Psychodynamic Group Psychotherapy (with Stone and Shay).

Any book that has been through several editions has lived through several editors. Thus, it was evident just how very skilled you are improving a book that has already received a lot of attention.

Your good eye, your kind tone, and your in-depth knowledge of the vagaries of English grammar were greatly appreciated. I will certainly recommend you most highly to any of my colleagues who might require (or need) editorial assistance.

—J. Scott Rutan, Co-author, Dynamic Group Psychotherapy (first through fourth editions), Inpatient Group Psychotherapy, Psychotherapy for the 1990s, and numerous articles in professional journals

Laura Zimmerman has been my editor for the last decade. Without her excellent editorial help, I would not have achieved academic success. Her magical touch and editing skill has improved my papers so dramatically that I have not experienced a single rejection from publishers.

Laura expertly edited my 300-page doctoral dissertation, Democracy in Distress: Is Exile Polity a Remedy? A Case Study of Tibet’s Government in Exile for which I was awarded 2004 Yong K. Kim’ Prize of Excellence by Harvard Law School. I have no doubt that Laura’s skills in effectively conveying my meanings, and improving the readability of my work, played key role in winning the award. As an editor, she grasps complicated concepts, helps clarify them, and most importantly, makes the writing clear and precise. Sometimes I wonder how she understands what I’m attempting to say better than I could express it myself. I guess that is what an excellent editor does, and she is definitely must be one of the best in her field.

Personally it has become a second nature for me not to show my work to anyone before getting expert help from Laura. Once she checks the facts, and helps keep the tone and argument consistent, I am confident that my work will be published. Laura never inserts her point of view; rather she helps clarify my points and brings attention to areas that need clarification.

Laura is compassionate and easy to work with. I am absolutely certain that whomever she works with will receive exceptionally skillful editorial help.

—Dr. Lobsang Sangay, Articles and op-eds published in The Boston Globe, The Age (leading newspaper in Australia), Journal of Democracy, Harvard South Asia Journal and chapters for in several scholarly books.

I have known Laura Zimmerman for the past fifteen years. We were in a writing group together for most of that time and I got to know her as a writer, a critic, an editor, and as a friend. She was—and is—outstanding in all four capacities. She gave me invaluable assistance on my last two novels, patiently helping me figure out the right structure and style for each one, then combing through each chapter to test for coherence. I can’t imagine what I would have done without her advice and support.

First of all, Laura is one of the most intelligent, careful, perceptive readers I’ve ever met. She can tell when a storyline has gone off course, and she also knows what would steer it back in the right direction. She is equally astute when it comes to nonfiction. I don’t know anyone else who so successfully combines logic and intuition when it comes to editing. I always come away from a session with her feeling (often for the first time) clear about what I am writing and why, and also about where to go next. Her editorial suggestions are concrete and constructive; she has an absolutely unerring ability to go to the heart of whatever the problem might be with a piece of writing, whether it’s a vague thesis or an unlikely plot twist, and she will be gently insistent about a point that she feels is important.

After years of working in the book business, she is also extremely knowledgeable about publishing. Her sense of the market and her long experience with selling both fiction and nonfiction books make her a terrific advisor when it comes to the final stages of editing. I consult Laura about all sorts of publishing issues, from choosing a title to thinking about cover letters when approaching an agent. Her advice is invariably sound.

I guess finally I have to say that Laura is perhaps the loveliest person I know. She is generous and wise and incredibly smart. The opportunity to work with her on any project is a gift.

—Suzanne Berne, Winner of Great Britain’s prestigious Orange Prize, author of three highly acclaimed novels, reviewer and essayist for The New York Times Book Review and other publications.