Candela Potente, PhD

developmental editing

I work with authors in the humanities and social sciences on book manuscripts, articles for publication, and book proposals, especially on theoretically informed projects and comparative work across languages, regions, and intellectual contexts. I focus on assessing the narrative development of the argument, the organization of the chapters or sections, the use and analysis of source material, and the authorial tone and style. This kind of work, called developmental editing, offers paths for revision to the author rather than intervening directly in the prose.

In my editorial work, I serve as an intellectual interlocutor, reading and listening closely to identify patterns, notice points of discontinuity, and suggest concrete revisions, thinking alongside authors to make a project's ideas as convincing and memorable as possible. I take on projects in English and Spanish, and can comfortably work with French sources.

If you would like to meet and discuss how we might work together, please contact me here or at cpotente [at] alumni.princeton [dot] edu.

forms of editorial feedback

We start with a conversation about your project, your timeline, and the kind of feedback that would be most helpful to you. Based on that, I propose a plan that can include one or a combination of the following forms of feedback:

• Editorial letter: A detailed document that synthesizes how the text functions in its current form, identifies areas for development, and offers concrete recommendations for revision. The letter covers large-scale issues and identifies patterns throughout the entire text. It can also address questions you might have, previous feedback, such as peer review reports (to help translate them into a revision plan), or specific objectives you might have for the text's revision.

• In-text comments: Observations, questions, and recommendations that address more specific aspects of the text to make sure the argumentative steps are clearly presented, the material and ideas of each section contribute to the overall arc, the tone and terminology are consistent throughout the text, and chapter titles and/or section headings reflect the ideas developed in each part. Compared with an editorial letter, these comments mediate between overarching issues and paragraph-level observations.

• Feedback in conversation: These meetings can take different forms based on the project's needs. I can provide general feedback during our meetings, similar to an editorial letter, and we can discuss any questions you might have as they come up, as well as formulate a revision plan together based on our discussion. Alternatively, we can meet to discuss how to structure a new draft as you develop it.

some project examples

If you already have a working draft of a book manuscript that captures your project's overall arc, I can provide a manuscript assessment, which involves a comprehensive editorial letter followed by a meeting to discuss it and think about next steps. I also illustrate specific points covered in the letter through in-text comments. An assessment can help clarify whether the book structure serves the argument, evaluate whether each chapter contributes to the overall arc, and identify material that might not be pertinent to the text in its current form. Two typical moments to do a manuscript assessment are before submitting a full manuscript to the press and after receiving peer-review reports.

If your manuscript is a shorter piece, such as a journal article, I can provide an in-depth developmental edit. I usually offer an editorial letter, accompanied by detailed in-text comments that address large-scale issues and specific suggestions at the paragraph level. This kind of editing can provide a clear sense of how to revise a text either before or after peer review. 

If you are starting to work on turning your dissertation into a book, we can meet to discuss the dissertation structure and devise a new argumentative narrative, or review the current chapter structure of the book project. Afterward, we can continue working together on specific chapters and/or a book proposal. Such a discussion can provide a new perspective on what the book needs to do differently from the dissertation and help craft a new direction for it.

If you are looking for ongoing editorial support, we can meet regularly as you work on your project to discuss structural issues and conceptual questions, as well as organize the writing process. I can provide in-text comments on specific pieces to complement our meetings. This support can be useful for structuring the process of composing a first draft, for example, or for approaching texts that are difficult to revise.

experience and training

As an editor, I have worked with authors on turning dissertations into books, restructuring articles to fit new objectives, and making conceptually dense work legible to other disciplines. Projects I've worked on include academic monographs, journal articles, and book proposals in the fields of literary studies, philosophy, postcolonial studies, intellectual history, musicology, architecture, psychology, and media studies.

I completed professional training in developmental editing with Laura Portwood-Stacer, and have taken other courses on editing and advising scholars on book development. Before working as an editor, I taught academic writing at Princeton Writing Center and Aalto University, where I worked with graduate and undergraduate students on their dissertations and theses. Our work focused on organizing ideas, defining arguments, and identifying conceptual short-circuits.

I hold a PhD and MA in Comparative Literature from Princeton University and have held postdoctoral positions in Germany and Finland. As a scholar, I have first-hand experience publishing articles, transforming a dissertation into a book, turning preliminary ideas and intuitions into concrete questions and theses, and pages of nebulous thoughts into developed finished texts. 

testimonials

Working with Candela has been transformative for my book. I came to her while turning a dissertation grounded in extensive archival research into a book for a broader audience, and she immediately saw possibilities in the project that I had been too close to the material to recognize. Most importantly, she suggested a chapter structure that changed how I understood the book. Her perspective as an attentive reader from outside my immediate field was invaluable: she could identify which arguments, case studies, and historical scenes would be most compelling to readers encountering this material for the first time. Her comments on the introduction were especially insightful, helping me rethink the opening scenes, sharpen the central argument, and better balance the different case studies so that the structure more clearly reflects what the book is really about. Candela reads everything with extraordinary attention and combines incisive structural thinking with thoughtful, concrete suggestions at the level of individual passages. Every conversation with her has left me seeing the project more clearly and excited about revising it. I cannot recommend her highly enough.

Diana Cristóbal Olave, Assistant Professor of Architecture, Cal Poly

I really appreciated Candela's help as a developmental editor! She gave really helpful feedback on my manuscript in progress, balancing both my initial concerns and the readers' reports while also identifying broader structural issues I had overlooked. Her comments in each chapter were incisive, constructive, and always attentive to the goals of the project. I came away with a much clearer sense of how to revise the manuscript, and would recommend her to anyone looking for a developmental editor.

Assistant Professor, Cornell University

Candela’s help was invaluable while I was working on transforming my PhD dissertation into a book for a wider audience. She not only helped me craft a compelling and attractive book proposal, but she was also the first to see the new structure for the book when I couldn’t imagine it differently. This was a brilliant, fruitful move that made my book so much more engaging. She is also a very insightful close reader, and always provides constructive and extremely attentive feedback. I highly recommend seeking her help at pretty much any stage of the writing process.

Renata Prati, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Freie Universität

I worked with Candela on an article I was writing about mass displacement with a philosophical approach focused on aesthetics and politics. Candela's feedback focused on the article's argumentative structure and conceptual clarity, and her suggestions helped me reorganize the piece to make the argument more compelling and accessible to scholars from other disciplines, which was one of my goals. I really appreciated Candela's careful, intelligent reading and concrete structural suggestions. Her feedback enhanced both the article's appeal and its argumentative coherence. Furthermore, she demonstrated excellent timing, which was crucial given the proximity of the deadline and the time constraints I was facing.

Esteban Mizrahi, Professor of Philosophy, Universidad Nacional de la Matanza