Andy Kifer was the best editor I’ve ever had. He spent seven months helping me beat the weird, formless mess of my first novel into shape with endless sensitivity, warmth and wisdom, and I felt in his every line edit an absolute and focused devotion to the minutiae of my book. I miss his razor keen eye for writing every day, and my novels - all of them - are written for him.
- Tom Toner, author of The Promise of the Child, Weight of the World, and Tropic of Eternity (Gollancz), described by TOR.com as “among the most significant works of science fiction released in recent years.”
"Andy is an exceptional reader: shrewd, knowledgeable, articulate, honest, sensitive, generous, and inspiring."
- Lisa Halliday, Whiting Award-winning author of the nationally bestselling Asymmetry (Simon & Schuster)
Andy Kifer is one of the most astute and sensitive readers it's ever been my pleasure to work with.
- Garth Risk Hallberg, author of the New York Times-bestselling City on Fire (Knopf)
The industry is changing, and the best of the new generation of editorial talent is just as likely to come out of a literary agency as a publishing house. I've worked with some of the best and most experienced editors at the most prestigious houses in New York, and Andy Kifer is every bit their equal - even their superior in some cases. I didn't just benefit from the editorial work he did alongside me; I learned from it.
- Chris Parris-Lamb, Literary Agent & Vice-President, The Gernert Company
Andy Kifer is a brilliant and passionate editor. He understood the story that I was trying to write and transformed it into the story I was meant to write.
-Jon Bassoff, Grand Prix de Littérature Policière-nominated author of Beneath Cruel Waters (Blackstone)
From my earliest conversations with Andy, I found he was that rare editorial specimen: someone to be trusted with my sentences.
- David Epstein, author of the New York Times-bestselling The Sports Gene (Penguin)
I think of Andy as the book whisperer. He helps bridge the gap between the story in your mind and the words on the page.
-Tatjana Soli, New York Times-bestselling and multiple award-winning author of The Lotus Eaters (St. Martin’s Press), The Forgetting Tree (St. Martin’s Press), The Last Good Paradise (St. Martin’s Press) and The Removes (Sarah Crichton Books)
My first two novels would not exist without Andy Kifer's editorial guidance. Whether he’s helping with the bigger picture questions that confront writers early on - such as realizing the overall shape of a novel, or helping to solve problems of character or plot - or in later stages, with attentive line-by-line edits, Andy is a keen reader, critically insightful, honest, and articulate. He is professional, courteous and prompt - but maybe best of all, Andy doesn’t try to force his vision onto a novel, but rather assists writers he works with to excavate their own best writing. Working with Andy is an excellent experience.
- Tom Sweterlitsch, author of The Gone World and Tomorrow and Tomorrow (Putnam, optioned for film by Fox and Sony)
Working with Andy on my first novel, he saw instantly what the book was after—what it wanted to be and how it wanted to get there—and from there he proceeded with the intelligence and skill of a master diagnostician. It’s this empathy for the writer’s project, his antenna for the things that have fired the writer’s imagination, that sets Andy apart. He brings the heart, brain, patience and temperament required to tease out the best in books.
- J. Bradford Hipps, author of The Adventurist (St. Martin’s Press)
Writing is done in isolation, and it is often a solitary art, so a writer - like a manuscript - needs an interested and invested companion. Andy Kifer has a gift for seeing a book at a measure more distant than we do as writers, thus seeing it at its full depth. It would be accurate to say that he understood the circuitry of my story better than I did. He understood the paths the characters needed to travel, he recognized those that needed to be abandoned, and we worked, reworked, and reworked again the final chapter until those sentences sang. When we were finished, the book was stronger, more elegant, and better balanced, and after the book was sold for publication, relatively little work remained to be done by the editor who bought it. I would never have published this book without Andy’s dedication to my novel, and to me.
- Daniel Lowe, author of All That’s Left to Tell (Flatiron Books), long listed for the 2017 Center for Fiction First Novel Award
Andy Kifer completely changed how I think about what an editor should be. When my (excellent) editor abruptly left my publisher, I had big shoes to fill, but also a chance to choose. I put Andy through the ringer, scrutinizing his experience, skills, and his vision about what great literary nonfiction can do. He has a razor eye and a dedication to the writer’s own voice and vision that was obvious from day one, but I also discovered his warmth and understanding of writerly quirks (formality doesn’t suit me - Andy adapted to that in a single call). When I disagreed with an edit, Andy didn’t argue. He listened to why, and he reframed the issue so that I could come up with my own solution - one that worked with my voice, aesthetic aims, and research. Working with Andy was my best, most creatively satisfying editorial experience yet.
- Dina Nayeri, author of A Teaspoon of Earth and Sea (Riverhead), Refuge (Riverhead), and The Ungrateful Refugee (Catapult), which won the Geschwister Scholl Preis, and was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Kirkus Prize, and the Elle Grand Prix des Lectrices
Andy was absolutely instrumental in helping get my first novel published. He is a keen reader and a deft editor—I’d recommend him highly to any writer, experienced or aspiring.
-Christopher Scotton, author of the national bestseller The Secret Wisdom of the Earth (Grand Central Publishing)
I had the pleasure of working with Andy on a debut novel. It was clear that way before the manuscript landed on my desk, Andy helped the author immensely editorially to get the book into a shape that made me want to buy it. Andy knows the high-bar books have to clear in order to find publishing homes.
-Amy Einhorn, Vice President & Publisher, Flatiron Books
Andy has the vision, authority and clarity of an ideal editor. I gave him a manuscript and he turned it into a beautifully published novel. I trusted him throughout and credit him with the publication's success.
- Eric Beck Rubin, author of School of Velocity (Doubleday Canada, Pushkin Press), a Guardian, Observer, and Amazon UK Best Book of 2016
I pray every writer has the opportunity to experience something like the relationship I’ve had with Andy Kifer. From the very first white hot and frayed draft, Andy believed in this project and fought like a dog for it. So long as there are folks in the literature industry with Andy’s quality of integrity and heart, there is still hope for art.
- Tim Taranto, author of Ars Botanica (Curbside Splendor)