Editing · Proposals · Hostwriting for serious nonfiction
Thirty years inside publishing's best houses — now devoted to your book.
For thirty years, Thomas LeBien acquired, edited, and published nonfiction at the houses that define it. LeBien Ink brings that judgment to scholars and experts turning deep knowledge into the books readers remember.
Thomas LeBien
Founder · Editor & Publisher
30+
Years
Publishing expertise
100+
Award-Winning
Titles
30+
Best Sellers
National & NYT*
*Across multiple nonfiction subjects, including science, history, sports, and more.
The Houses
- Harvard University Press Executive Editor
- Simon & Schuster Vice President, Senior Editor
- Farrar, Straus and Giroux Publisher — Hill & Wang, Sci. Am./FSG
- Princeton University Press Editor
- Oxford University Press Editor
Thomas LeBien
A thirty-year veteran of publishing — at the houses that define it.
Thomas LeBien has worked at top-tier university and commercial presses: Executive Editor at Harvard University Press; Vice President and Senior Editor at Simon & Schuster; Publisher of the Hill and Wang and Scientific American / Farrar, Straus and Giroux imprints at FSG; Editor at Princeton University Press; and Editor at Oxford University Press.
He has returned imprints to profitability, invented and launched a line of bestselling, genre-defining graphic novels, published Hill & Wang's first Oprah-pick book, and edited or published multiple New York Times bestsellers and award-winning authors.
The better editor leads to the better book proposal leads to the better book.
Selected Works
Books edited and published by Thomas LeBien.
A selection from 100+ award-winning titles and 30+ national and New York Times bestsellers, across the sciences and humanities.
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Bestseller Waking Up
Sam Harris
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Slouching Towards Utopia
J. Bradford DeLong
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Traveling Black
Mia Bay
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Katrina: A History, 1915–2015
Andy Horowitz
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The Gales of November
John U. Bacon
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What Works
Iris Bohnet
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Their Life's Work
Gary M. Pomerantz
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Mirror to America
John Hope Franklin
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Fahrenheit 451
Ray Bradbury
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Bestseller Impeachment: A Citizen's Guide
Cass R. Sunstein
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Bestseller Extraterrestrial
Avi Loeb
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Health Care Reform
Jonathan Gruber
The Better Editor
The better editor brings a breadth and wealth of experience to your book.
The better editor has acquired, edited, published, and helped write books just like yours — across multiple genres, on numerous subjects, meeting a full range of author ambitions, reputational and financial. Which means the better editor knows the shoals and deeps of publishing, its squalls and its calms.
Over three decades I've been everything from an editorial assistant to a publisher. I've acquired, edited, and helped write bestsellers. I've published award-winning monographs and trade books. I've overseen multi-edition textbooks, launched new imprints, and launched a line of award-winning, bestselling graphic novels — working across memoir, business, biography, history, and science.
The Better Proposal
The better proposal pitches, positions, and persuades.
Pitches. The better proposal explains — narratively, persuasively, and entertainingly — who will buy your book and why.
Positions. It makes plain why you, writing on this subject, in this style, structured this way, will attract media and readers.
Persuades. Through its complementary five-part structure, it persuades publishers to acquire — jacket copy, publicity plan, and sales pitch rolled into a single document.
The Better Manuscript
The better manuscript is built through an iterative process.
How much developmental, line, and substantive editing your book needs depends on your manuscript and your ambitions for it.
Developmental editing organizes content, shapes its presentation, and suggests what to add and what to cut. Line editing works at the paragraph and sentence level — word choice, style, phrasing. Substantive editing tightens arguments and sharpens themes, eliminating ambiguity while heightening persuasion and drama.
Hostwriter
And, sometimes, you hire a hostwriter.
No, that's not a typo. But it begs the question: what's a hostwriter?
What a hostwriter isn't: a ghostwriter. A ghost writes a manuscript that someone else puts their name to.
What a hostwriter is: a custom-built, collaborative team that curates your voice, your argument, and your ambitions to draft your book.
Your voice. Your argument. Your ambitions — drafted by a team built around your book.
Frequently Asked Questions
Answers, before you ask.
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Get Started Today
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After learning about your interests, we'll walk you through the possibilities and next steps — answering your questions along the way.