“A good editor is a collaborator, co-conspirator, and lodestar. It’s not just that they need to believe deeply in the potential in your work, they have to be able to see you through to the end. By the time I finished working with Jon on my memoir, How We Fight for Our Loves, I had come to trust him with my writing almost as much as I trust myself. Jon Cox is, simply put, the most intelligent reader I’ve ever had the privilege of working with closely. I always marvel at the insight in his notes, and throughout he made me feel safe, capable, and possible. I'd go to war for this man, though I suppose simply singing his praises will do.”

— Saeed Jones, author of How We Fight for Our Lives, winner of the Kirkus Prize and the Stonewall Prize

“Jon’s notes on my manuscript were nothing short of a revelation. He helped me to refocus guiding questions and find declarative moments in the work, without ever compromising the voice that I had labored to bring to life on the page. Jon sees the missing pieces too—for me, this is what makes him such a golden collaborator and editor. He has an uncanny ability to intuit the shape of the book, in its completeness, even at a very early phase. I would work with him again in a heartbeat. Jon's input made me, categorically, a better writer.”

— Rebecca Giggs, author of Fathoms, winner of the ALA Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction

“I worked over a period of many months with Jon on multiple drafts of my new novel, Ridgeline. Jon is an outstanding editor. He worked hard to understand the story that I wanted to tell, but also had the backbone to speak directly when he thought a character or storyline could be improved. Jon has a keen sense for big-picture character arc and story structure. At the same time, he understands the thousand small details that put flesh on a story's bones. Also, he's just a good guy to work with. I cannot recommend Jon highly enough.”

— Michael Punke, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of The Revenant and Ridgeline 

“Jon Cox was the sole editor, of thirteen, who saw a light in my book. He plucked it from the slush pile and worked tirelessly to help me turn it into a book that became a ‘Best of 2020’ book from The Washington Post, NPR, The Chicago Tribune, Smithsonian, Audible, and more. He didn't always agree with me: One time, we went five or six rounds over how I was using the verb ‘to matter.’ But he cared more deeply for my work than perhaps anyone on earth. I have never experienced anything like it. He is a defender of the weird, of the heart, and of clarity. He made my book so much better than it ever could have been without him. Work with him, and consider yourself lucky. Consider yourself about to get better.”

— Lulu Miller, author of Why Fish Don’t Exist, co-host of Radiolab, and co-creator of Invisibilia

“Jon is an incisive line editor, with a gift for distilling clarity (and euphony) from murk. But most good editors can fix a broken sentence. What sets him apart is his ability to delve deeper, to places most editors are unwilling or unable to go, in order to transform the text from its very core. For projects that need a bright, philosophical, poetic mind and—not inconsequentially, in this delicate and often painful business—a kind soul, Jon is your guy."

— Robert Moor, author of On Trails, a New York Times bestseller and winner of the Saroyan Prize, the National Outdoor Book Award, and the Pacific Northwest Book Award

“Jon Cox was what I needed in an editor at every step of the process. He was an enthusiastic cheerleader for the idea early on, a direct guide when I needed broad feedback on structure and organization, and a sensitive reader who pointed out oversights and opportunities to add more nuance as we moved through drafts. At the end, on top of all that, he was brilliant in the final line edit, sprinkling in just the right turns of phrase to make passages sing. If you work with Jon, your book will be better.”

— Anna Sale, author of Let’s Talk About Hard Things, creator and host of Death, Sex & Money

I worked for a decade as a book editor for major publishing houses in New York City—first at Simon & Schuster, then at Henry Holt. Since 2020, I’ve been a freelance editor, specializing in nonfiction and select fiction. My list covers a wide range of categories including memoir, biography, history, current events, narrative journalism, science, nature, business, and literary fiction.

I’ve worked with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists, #1 New York Times-bestselling authors, and renowned academics, as well as numerous writers undertaking their first books. I’ve helped many of those authors—debut and repeat-authors alike—publish award-winning and widely acclaimed books. Some of my recent highlights include:

• Mehdi Hasan’s Win Every Argument, a New York Times bestseller

• Eve Fairbanks’s The Inheritors, winner of the PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction

• Lulu Miller’s Why Fish Don’t Exist, a national bestseller

• John Koenig’s The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, a New York Times bestseller

• Saeed Jones’s How We Fight for Our Lives, winner of the Kirkus Prize and the Stonewall Prize

• Rebecca Giggs’s Fathoms, winner of the ALA Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction

• Richard Grant’s The Deepest South of All, a New York Times bestseller

I love working with writers at every step of the process—from the first inkling of an idea, to the book proposal, to the final painstaking drafts of the manuscript. I’m an editor who is as comfortable mapping out the structure of a complex book as I am diving into the minutiae of its trickiest passages. I tailor my approach to my clients’ habits and experience, and I seek to be a keen-eyed and caring partner—someone who can tackle the daunting challenges that arise as any book takes shape, while bringing out the author’s best at every twist along the way.

A graduate of Middlebury College, I am based in Burlington, Vermont, where I live with my wife and our dog.

I would love to help you publish a phenomenal book.

My services span the full writing process:

• Editing, conceiving, and writing book proposals

• Creating structural outlines and writing plans

• In-depth developmental editing and line editing

• Reviewing and troubleshooting manuscripts-in-progress

• Consulting or coaching at any stage of writing

• Ghostwriting

If you’re interested in working together, please send me a message using the form on this page. Provide a short description of your project and what you’re looking for in an edit. We can then discuss it over email or a phone call, and I’ll offer a quote suited to the specifics of your project.