NY Book Editors (Natasa Lekic)

sfburns · Feb 5, 2017

I wanted to check to see if anyone is familiar with the organization called "New York Book Editors" (clever name, eh?).

I've done my research to identify strong freelance Editors that I can partner with for a Developmental Edit of my first Novel, and I found and queried this organization - and they put me in touch with an Editor (Danial Burgess) who works for them and I like him quite a bit. Before I agree to partner with this freelance Editor, and to pay the organization he works for, I want to ensure that "New York Book Editors" is a good and credible organization.

Is anyone familiar with this company?

All the best,
Scott

AW Admin · Feb 5, 2017

Moving this to Bewares.

Old Hack · Feb 5, 2017

I've just had a look at their website and am 99% certain that they didn't work on at least one of the books they have in that big banner of books they claim to have edited. I have only had a quick look around there, but I can't find any names associated with their services: so it's impossible to know who is doing the work, or how experienced they are.

I would be wary.

Alessandra Kelley · Feb 5, 2017

I am a little leery of the "testimonials" at the bottom of their "about us" page.

Under a prominent "PBS" logo their page says:

"These are highly trained professionals who know your market. And it’s worth it. Great editing by industry pros can make all the difference in your book’s salability."

That sounded a little odd to me, not what I normally associate with PBS.

So I Googled the exact phrase.

The only hit that came up apart from their own site was an article titled "7 Key Developments in Self-Publishing in 2015" by Carla King on mediashift.org. In her bio at the bottom of the page it says she authored a book for PBS' MediaShift.

Curious, I checked out "MediaShift" and found out it had at one time may have been affiliated with PBS, but in poking around a little more I found that, for whatever reason, PBS had pulled funding for it in 2014 and disassociated itself from the program as of July 2015, months before the article quoted.

So associating that quote with "PBS" is a bit misleading.

After that I Googled the rest of their bottom-of-the-page testimonials.

The Creative Penn's logo stands above the quote “A team of professional editors who have worked with some of the biggest names in the industry.”

This is a recommendation for their services from the self-publishing website of Joanna Penn.

Jane Friedman is "The CEO Credited With Inventing the Author's Tour," according to the New York Sun.

The "The Huffington Post" quote comes from the Huffington Post blog of Terence Clarke.

Nathan Bransford is a literary agent turned author who now works in finance. He was interviewed on Jane Friedman's site.

The quote from clickbaity newsish site Business Insider was from an article written by New York Book Editors founder Natasa Lekic, and thus basically a quote of their own PR ascribed to the site it was posted on.

This group may actually have the chops and connections they imply, but some of their endorsements seem a little stretched to me.

sfburns · Feb 11, 2017

Thank you both for your research and your perspective. It's good to have a second set of eyes.

ctripp · Feb 12, 2017

The Editor you've mentioned also seems to be on Reedsy. I'm not sure if it's less costly to go that route or not but at lease Reedsy has the editors names up on display so you can vet their work history.
https://reedsy.com/daniel-burgess

NY Book Editors (Natasa Lekic)

sfburns

AW Admin

Old Hack

Such a nasty woman

Alessandra Kelley

Sophipygian

sfburns

ctripp

Christine Tripp