Whitney is a detail-oriented and encouraging collaborative writer and editor with an affinity for fact-checking and Big Five experience. She has worked on over 250 titles, including multiple New York Times bestsellers, since 2015. Her experience spans all stages of the creative process—from author coaching to collaborative writing, substantive editing, line editing, copy editing, sensitivity reading, and proofreading—for both fiction and nonfiction, including YA and children’s, women’s fiction and romance, self-help and business, and celebrity memoirs. She has also written dozens of jacket covers and served as a copy writer for various book companion materials.
Whitney’s passion is for helping authors from all walks of faith and stages of life share their unique and diverse stories. She leverages both her in-house and freelance publishing experience, as well as her background in content marketing, to better coach the writers she works with. She received her bachelor’s degree in English literature and writing and has invested in continuing education coursework through UCLA and Jane Friedman classes to further develop her skills.
Notable projects she has been a part of include the following:
• Broken Crayons Still Color by Toni Collier (credited collaborator)
• I’ll Be There (But I’ll Be Wearing Sweatpants) by Amy Weatherly and Jess Johnston (copy editor, jacket writer, and credited collaborator on a children’s version of the book titled I’ll Be There [and Let’s Make Friendship Bracelets])
• The Letter Tree by Rachel Fordham (copyeditor)
• Enemies in the Orchard: A World War 2 Novel in Verse by Dana VanderLugt (sensitivity reader)
• Leveling Up: 12 Questions to Elevate Your Personal and Professional Development by Ryan Leak (developmental editor)
• Two Old Broads by Whoopi Goldberg and M. E. Hecht (line editor)
• Me and Paul by Willie Nelson (copy editor)
• Becoming Free Indeed by Jinger Vuolo (copy editor)
• April 1945: The Hinge of History by Craig Shirley (developmental editor and fact checker)
• The Enneagram for Black Liberation by Chichi Agorom (copy editor)
• WayMaker by Ann Voskamp (jacket writer and proofreader)
• The Centre by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi (copy editor, including Americanization from British English)
• After the Sirens by Sharon Farrell (proofreader, including Americanization from British English)
“To copy editor Whitney Bak—thank you. A lot of writers don’t like to be edited, but when it’s done by such thoughtful, talented professionals, it’s actually a lot of fun.”
—Anna Lind Thomas, author of We’ll Laugh About This (Someday)
“Whitney Bak, you deserve more than accolades for your incredible editing. I am astounded by your expertise. When I couldn’t quite express what was on my heart, you never failed to formulate the words I could not. It’s as if you knew me—knew my story before your eyes met the first page. It’s like we were one entity accomplishing this work. That gave me the courage to maintain this calling. You have made this the stirring, evocative read it needs to be in order to connect to the lives of others. Thank you for sharing my passion to make this a quality work.”
—Peter Hoewish, author of The Walking Wounded
“Whitney has been a trusted colleague and a joy to work with for over two years as the editor of a project called The Girl Child & Her Long Walk to Freedom. She is a skilled editor with a fine attentiveness to the careful art of word choice and also a sense for the progression of an idea and what needs to be done to make a document flow well. Whitney has very high standards for her work and knows how to work with a writer and enter into a project to amplify the impact of someone’s voice and also fill in the gaps where necessary with her own writing. Whatever the genre, she will up the game of your project—I recommend her wholeheartedly!”
—Emily Nielson Jones
Wit & the World