A veteran of Houghton Mifflin, I have been an independent editor/book doctor/consultant since 1988. I work closely with authors of both fiction and nonfiction--most of them previously published--as early as proposal stage and as late as when they’re under contract but need help completing their manuscripts. I deliver what one author called “tough but kind” editing at every level, from narrative structure to argument/plot/character development and line-by-line. In the course of my career, I’ve worked with four Pulitzer winners and polished numerous best-sellers. My clients include journalists, academics, and seasoned novelists. Much of my work involves speaking at length with the author; I prefer, then, to meet authors before embarking on projects. Based within easy reach of Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, I frequently travel, either for initial meetings or as work progresses.

My experience and interests include political and social history, current affairs, biography and memoir, narrative nonfiction, literary fiction, and cookbooks. Co-author of an oral history of the civil rights movement, I’m open to other collaborations.

If you are an author in need of editorial guidance, an in-house editor with too many projects on your plate, or a literary agent who would like to refer a client, I will happily provide a complete resume and discuss your project.

See below for a sampling of authors' praise for my work.

My experience includes eight years (six in-house), at Houghton Mifflin, where I worked with, among dozens of others, A. Alvarez, Jimmy Breslin, Pat Conroy, Kenneth C. Davis, Gay Courter, Tracy Kidder, Brenda Maddox, Wolfgang Puck, and Andrew Weil, M.D. I served as an associate editor for five years at the Cambridge (Mass.) alternative weekly The Real Paper (where writers included David Ansen, Joe Conason, Andrew Kopkind). In 1995, I was the staff editor for the report of President Clinton's Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments--thirteen experts representing disciplines from bioethics and history of medicine to law and radiation oncology who examined a series of controverial Cold War experiments; this report led to an apology from the President to the subjects and the nation, the creation of a National Bioethics Advisory Committee, and was published both by the Government Printing Office and Oxford University Press.

Sample praise from authors:

FICTION

Pat Conroy, The Prince of Tides: "[Sarah] is part of the soul and texture and tone of the book [and] edited the book with grace and passion . . ."

Jimmy Breslin, Table Money and He Got Hungry and Forgot His Manners: "[Sarah's] calm hands brushed away obscurity, smoothed turmoil and then slapped contradictions, for they deserved it. I will never forget her."

Doug Marlette, The Bridge: “For Sarah Flynn, who midwifed this book, brought it to fruition, sent it out into the world. . . . The sine qua non of this book.”

NONFICTION

Henry Hampton, creator of Eyes on the Prize and co-author of Voices of Freedom: "In a world where egos are not always small, Sarah kept her eyes on the task of doing what was right for the book. [It] is as much hers as anyone else's."

Peter Winn, Americas: "It is to [Sarah's] ‘tough but kind’ editing that I am particularly indebted. This book owes much to her talent and efforts, and I am grateful as well for her commitment and generosity of spirit."

Co-author, Voices of Freedom: An Oral History of the Civil Rights Movement from the 1950s through the 1980s (Bantam), with Henry Hampton and Steve Fayer, a companion volume to the 14-part Emmy-winning documentary series Eyes on the Prize

Sample of books edited:

NONFICTION

Peter Lovenheim, In the Neighborhood: The Search for Community on an American Street, One Sleepover at a Time (Penguin/Perigee), will be published April 6, 2010.

Janine Wedel, Shadow Elite: How the World’s New Power Brokers Undermine Democracy, Government, and the Free Market. (Basic Books, December 2009). This book, which received a starred review from Publishers Weekly, was the January 2010 Book of the Month on the Huffington Post. See the author's website at www.janinewedel.info/.

Art and Allison Daily, Out of the Canyon: A True Story of Loss and Love. (Harmony/Random House, 2009). See the authors' website, www.outofthecanyon.com.

Thomas Sugrue, Sweet Land of Liberty: The Forgotten Struggle for Civil Rights in the North. (Random House)

Gregg Mitman, Breathing Space: How Allergies Shape Our Lives and Landscapes. (Yale University Press)

Leon Dash, Rosa Lee: A Mother and Her Family in Urban America (Basic)

Betty Boyd Caroli, The Roosevelt Women (Basic)

William Echikson, Noble Rot: A Bordeaux Wine Revolution (W.W. Norton)

Padraig O'Malley, Biting at the Grave: The Irish Hunger Strikes and the Politics of Despair (Beacon)

Orlando Patterson, The Ordeal of Integration: Progress and Resentment in America's "Racial" Crisis and Rituals of Blood: Consequences of Slavery in Two American Centuries (Civitas/Counterpoint)

Katherine Skiba, Sister in the Band of Brothers: Embedded with the 101st Airborne in Iraq (University Press of Kansas; see www.katherinemskiba.com)

Peter Winn, Americas: The Changing Face of Latin America and the Caribbean (Pantheon)

FICTION

Nicholas Clifford, House of Memory (Ballantine)

Iris Rainer Dart, Show Business Kills (Little, Brown)

Baine Kerr, Harmful Intent and Wrongful Death (Scribner)

Doug Marlette, The Bridge (HarperCollins)

Jean Davies Okimoto The Love Ceiling (Endicott & Hugh)

Many others listed on resume, which includes more comments from authors.

See above. Member, PEN American Center, Washington Independent Writers. Former advisory board co-chair, Writers Room of Boston.