As a developmental editor, I help nonfiction writers present powerful arguments, create and maintain compelling narratives, and hone their own, distinctive voices. I work primarily with academics who want their books to bring complex, research-driven ideas to a broad public. I read manuscripts closely, create comprehensive editorial plans for revision, and make textual changes at the levels of both the line and the overall structure.
Prior to editing professionally, I earned a PhD in English from UC Berkeley, taught college courses on creative writing, literary history, and cultural studies, and wrote a book on American dance history published by Yale University Press. I’m a generalist at heart, and have loved learning from experts in a range of fields—including history, art history, ethnic studies, new media studies, dance studies, literature, archaeology, anthropology and sociology—as we work together to realize their projects’ potential. My clients have included professors at the City University of New York, Dartmouth, Johns Hopkins, King’s College London, Indiana University, Princeton, Reed, Rutgers, University of California, University of Chicago, University of Florida, University of Maryland, University of Michigan, University of Oregon, University of Southern California, University of Wisconsin, University of Virginia, Vanderbilt, Williams, and Yale. Please contact me to discuss rates and availability.
Client Work
My clients have written marvelous books that have been published by or are under contract with Cornell University Press, Duke University Press, Indiana University Press, MIT Press, Oxford University Press, Palgrave Macmillan, Reaktion Books, Rutgers University Press, Stanford University Press, SUNY Press, Temple University Press, University of California Press, University of Chicago Press, University of Illinois Press, University of Texas Press, Wesleyan University Press, and Yale University Press. Here are some of their projects, which I’ve been lucky to edit:
Testimonials
“Megan Pugh is a gifted developmental editor. A careful reader and diplomatic editor, she brings invaluable advice and direction to authors from diverse fields. Pugh has an outstanding talent for helping authors identify their big-picture goals, and working with those authors to hone their voices and narrative intentions in order to reach crossover audiences. I strongly recommend her work.”
—Kate Marshall, Acquisitions Editor, University of California Press
“I am incredibly fortunate to have worked with Megan Pugh on my first book manuscript. She helped me navigate many of the anxieties I had about the publishing process and the mismatch between my vision for the project and the words I had on the page. She is an incredibly skilled, patient, and insightful developmental editor. I learned so much from her approach to writing and appreciated that she always tried to help me hone my voice and fine-tune my argument in ways that would reach my intended audience. She helped me see my own writing and ideas in new ways and dramatically improved the narrative flow of the book! I never felt vulnerable sharing my work with Megan or torn down by her suggestions—she provided constant encouragement and ideas for how to fix what wasn’t working. I really appreciated her clear advice and timely completion of editorial services. She is brilliant, kind, and fair. I cannot recommend her highly enough.”
—Jennifer Gaddis, Associate Professor in the Department of Civil Society and Community Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and author of The Labor of Lunch: Why We Need Real Food and Real Jobs in American Public Schools, winner of the 2020 Sara A. Whaley Prize from the National Women's Studies Association and the IACP Cookbook Award in the Food Issues & Matters category
“Working with Megan on my first book was a delight—and she was a lifesaver. Her thoughtful feedback on my initial draft re-oriented the manuscript, making it much more accessible and relevant to readers. Megan’s coaching centered me and my voice while challenging me to explore content I had not considered. Megan remained very positive and encouraging throughout the entire process of getting my book to the finish line. I couldn’t have done it without her!”
—Allison Orr, Founder and Artistic Director, Forklift Danceworks, and author of Dance Works: Stories of Creative Collaboration
“Working with Megan was the best decision I made in the process of writing my book. Her phenomenal editing skills strengthened the arguments and the overall structure of the book. She helped me focus the writing and understood what I was trying to say even when I didn’t. She is a brilliant reader of scholarly work, and her edits always made my writing better. I envy anyone who gets to work with her.”
—Claus Elm Andersen, Paul and Renate Madsen Assistant Professor of Scandinavian Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and author of Knausgård and the Autofictional Novel
“I feel fortunate to have had Megan Pugh's careful editorial eye on my book manuscript, which discussed science and technology as well as time travel in fiction. She genuinely helped me see some big blind spots and how the book could reach more people. Even the small changes she suggested, like changing the title, made big differences.”
—Mark McCoy, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Southern Methodist University, and author of Maps for Time Travelers: How Archaeologists Use Technology to Bring Us Closer to the Past, winner of the 2021 Society for American Archaeology Popular Book Award
“Megan was an indispensable resource in helping me craft the revisions for my manuscript. She provided important feedback and models for how to re-organize the manuscript as a whole and its individual chapters. My only regret is not knowing about Megan until later in the revision process; her assistance earlier on would have likely made writing the manuscript more efficient. If you need a thoughtful, attentive reader with a good sense of how to solve rhetorical problems, seek her out immediately.”
—Falina Enriquez, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and author of The Costs of the Gig Economy: Musical Entrepreneurs and the Cultural Politics of Inequality in Northeastern Brazil
“As a non-native English speaker, I'm extremely thankful to Megan for helping me render my ideas and expressions much more precisely and, thus, sharpen my arguments. Working with her was an incredibly motivating experience. She thoroughly engaged with my text, to the point that she could competently reorganize content, but always kept the originality of my thought process in the foreground. Her clear suggestions and sophisticated edits significantly improved my manuscript.”
—Anna-Maria Walter, Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Oulu, Finland, and author of Intimate Connections: Love and Marriage in Pakistan’s High Mountains
"In Megan’s hands, a meandering, complicated study became a streamlined narrative that was more than the sum of its transnational parts. Her first pass helped me to articulate the distinctions between indigenous and scientific medicine and between Guatemala, Ecuador, and the United States in ways that were concise and clear. The revised chapters that enjoyed a closer edit from Megan were all the more compelling for it."
—David Carey Jr., Doehler Chair in History, Professor, Loyola University Maryland, and author of Health in the Highlands: Indigenous Healing and Scientific Medicine in Guatemala and Ecuador
“Megan helped to make the arguments in my book clearer, and my language more precise, in ways that I was unable to do after reading, writing, and editing the manuscript for months on end. Megan was particularly instrumental in helping me to restructure and reorganize the scaffolding of my chapters so that my arguments were more declarative and the book was more legible to non-specialists. In general, Megan was a pleasure to work with—she got her edits back to me, and answered emails, swiftly. I cannot recommend Megan Pugh more highly!”
—Jaclyn Sumner, Associate Professor and Chair of History, Presbyterian College, and author of Indigenous Autocracy: Power, Race, and Resources in Porfirian Tlaxcala, Mexico
"Megan's expertise was crucial in helping me complete the book, and her suggestions made both the prose and the argument much stronger."
—Stathis Yeros, Assistant Professor of Architecture at the University of Florida, and author of Queering Urbanism: Insurgent Spaces in the Fight for Justice