About Wherewithal

Anything involving text in English, we handle

Our main focus—and first love—is editing. Everyone needs an editor, because editing works wonders. The editor-edited relationship can be hugely rewarding.

We are based in Manhattan's Lower East Side and work with clients around the world.

We work a lot with professionals who have expertise to burn, and successful practices, but who could use a project manager and writing coach to help them share that knowledge with a wider audience.

More about our publishing background: We learned the art and craft of editing at the Alfred A. Knopf Publishing Group, since renamed Knopf Doubleday and now part of Penguin Random House. We then moved on to Basic Books and Counterpoint Press. In 2005 we quit big publishing and founded Wherewithal, so we could focus less on acquisitions and more on the aspects of book publishing we most enjoyed: close collaboration with authors.

We are generalists who know a little bit about a lot of things. History, art history, U.S. politics, business, organizational and organizational development, architecture, urban planning, sociology, cultural criticism, biography, women’s health, parenting. We’ve even edited diet books. We also love a smart memoir and literary fiction.

Books we’ve worked on have received awards, glowing reviews, and been optioned for film.

Many Wherewithal clients have book contracts in hand but want more lift than their publisher provides. Increasingly we are also seeing clients who opt to self-publish.

More personal info, though mostly random quotes and images, can be found at meganhustad.com.

Testimonials

Kind words

"Immensely helpful, both strategically and psychologically…. Megan Hustad has also been a co-conspirator since the proposal phase, gracing us with her insights and impeccable taste." —John Neffinger and Matthew Kohut

"Both an aid and an inspiration." —Hanna Rose Shell

“I didn't even know I needed an editor before I met Megan. Now I don't know how I ever survived without her. She has been invaluable as a consultant and editor on multiple proposals, statements and other writings I've done. I recommend her with absolutely no reservations. She's fantastic.” —Stephanie Imbeau

"She works with amazing speed and insight at all levels." —Linda Watson

“An invaluable interlocutor and help [with] the patience of Job.” —Gregory Alan Thornbury

“Megan is an impressive thinker and extremely engaging in person. She is an excellent editor and a talented writer with the ability to craft compelling prose at lightning speed.” —Marie-Claire Meisels

“I had the great pleasure to work with Megan on a project developing copy for a new product microsite and press release. Megan was able to quickly understand our objectives and, using the content that had been developed, organize the information, identifying opportunities to re-write critical areas, increasing its effectiveness…. In addition to the outstanding results we achieved, what I found more personally valuable was the experience I had working with her. Her generosity for sharing her knowledge and passion for the writing and editing process was for me, priceless.” —Gordon Eyler

+ For texts produced w/ our help

“This is one of the best memoirs in years. I foisted it on friends and strangers alike, and everyone loved its marvelous story, writing, humor, truth.” —Anne Lamott on Jesus Land

“Humane, nuanced, wry but never snarky , instructive,  and somehow both heartbreaking and hopeful." —Paul Farmer on Raymond Downing’s Such a Time of It They Had

“Norman, who died in relative obscurity, in 2008, has often been viewed as a tragic figure: a gifted and quirky musician who inspired a generation while alienating his peers and, at times, his fans. In Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music?, the first biography of Norman, Gregory Alan Thornbury tells a more triumphant story, portraying Norman as a genius and a prophet, clear-eyed in his criticism of what he sometimes called ‘the apostate church.'”
—Kelefa Sanneh in The New Yorker on Gregory Alan Thornbury’s Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music?

“Combines backward-looking memoir with forward-facing prescriptions…. Should the Democrats recapture the House of Representatives in 2018, DeLauro’s mix of sharp intelligence, skilled partisan instincts, and long-term legislative experience will make her a key player. Readers who want to know how the winds might shift in Washington could do worse than to learn how DeLauro understands politics.” —Foreign Affairs on Rosa L. DeLauro’s The Least Among Us

"I’ve worked on a number of first books, and this is easily among the best I’ve seen—well conceived, well researched, and well written. You’ve succeeded in making the text accessible and entertaining."

"Very tight and compelling—a really well-edited book."

"A fabulous manuscript, beautifully written, brilliantly argued and illustrated."

"It is a pleasure to read this charming and engrossing book... Erudite, elegant, and entertaining."

“There is much to enjoy in all four chapters and without doubt this book, detailing interrelationships of technological advances in photography and film and developments in camouflage media and camouflage consciousness, will live into the future as readers scrutinise it, evaluate it and take its useful and imaginative store of ideas in additional directions.” —Ann Elias in History of Photography on Hanna Rose Shell’s Hide and Seek

“Enlightening… Entertainment journalist Piazza dissects the industrialization of fame in the age of celebrity…. It’s rarely pretty, but Piazza ably demonstrates the celebrity machine’s remarkable efficiency in getting us to give it our money.” —Kirkus Reviews on Jo Piazza’s Celebrity, Inc.

"A fascinating read... The analysis is backed up with hard statistics, including charts and graphs, but the prose is breezy and engaging."

And this, perhaps our favorite, is the response a client got from his daughter after sending her Wherewithal-ed work:

“Your chapter is great. It is definitely YOU but this editor must have really helped because it remains your voice while somehow being tighter.... I'm really impressed! Will read more."