Even the best writers know that they can benefit from an outside eye, a collaborative sounding board, and expert editing.
I am an experienced professional with more than fifteen years in the New York publishing industry, working with writers and editors on a wide range of texts, from long-form journalism and essays to nonfiction books.
Colleagues and clients trust me for insightful feedback, an expert touch with words and sentences, and a sure sense for storytelling. Writing is an intensely personal undertaking, and I've found that being a good ally means being an attentive listener. I come to each new project with a warm, collaborative spirit that makes working together a positive pleasure.
I've spent most of my career at top national publications (Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and, most recently, The New York Times Magazine), but my second home has been in academia (Ph.D. in Comparative Literature), teaching, studying, and writing about literature. Fine-tuning critical essays with a museum curator or poems with a veteran translator may be a world apart in subject matter from working with a Vanity Fair writer on coverage of politics, crime, or Hollywood, but the core skills are complementary: working up to the elbows in the delicate machinery of texts to help writers produce their best work.
Testimonials
“David Georgi is a world-class editor—he is thorough, patient, precise, and calm. He improved every one of my Vanity Fair pieces that we worked on together. You would be very lucky to have him on your side.”
—William D. Cohan, journalist and nonfiction book author (House of Cards, Money and Power, The Price of Silence)
“I have had the pleasure of collaborating with David on dozens of articles at Vanity Fair magazine. Over the fourteen years we have worked together, I have been consistently impressed—and often dazzled—by his research, editing, writing, and diplomatic skills.”
—Aimée Bell, Vice President/Editorial Director of Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster
“Working with David has been a great experience. Every recommendation he made resulted in my work being more clear and precise. His questions and advice encouraged me to think a bit more carefully about the sensitive topics in my piece. I appreciate the time, energy, and care with which he handled my work.”
—Christopher Paul Wolfe, writer (The New York Times Magazine, BOMB, Guernica); creative writing instructor at Rikers Island for Columbia University’s Justice-in-Education Initiative
“David helped me to restructure several chapters in my book—but his editing also improved my writing. I learned to how to write more clearly and my writing became more approachable and engaging. His sense of humor, his intelligence, and his commitment to the project made him a wonderful collaborator.”
—Elizabeth Macaulay-Lewis, Associate Professor, The Graduate Center, The City University of New York; author of Antiquity in Gotham: The Ancient Architecture of New York City (Fordham University Press, 2021)
Services & Pricing
I've worked on a range of projects as a freelance editor and research consultant, with pricing dependent on scope, complexity, and turnaround time.
Have something in mind? Send me an email with some details about your project and I'd be happy to talk with you.