I began working on investing titles in 2004 to help consumers make better decisions with their money (Weiss Ratings’ Ultimate Guided Tour to Stock Investing, Weiss Ratings, Inc.). During the global financial crisis of 2007-2009, I worked on six investing titles; three became New York Times best-sellers (The Ultimate Depression Survival Guide, Martin D. Weiss, John Wiley & Sons, April 2009); The AARP Retirement Survival Guide: How to Make Smart Financial Decisions in Good Times and Bad, Julie Jason, Sterling Publishing, August 2009; and Making the Most of Your Money Now:  The Classic Bestseller Completely Revised for the New Economy (Third Edition), Jane Bryant Quinn, Simon & Schuster, December 2009). That year also saw the publication of Asset Allocation For Dummies (Wiley, 2009), co-authored with a wealth manager whose expertise was a lot of fun to “dummy down,” but the world was falling apart, which always gives me a tremendous sense of urgency in meeting deadlines.

Now that I think about it, the books I edit and collaborate on focus on crisis. I developed my first New York Times’ bestseller (Covenant House: Lifeline to the Street, Doubleday) based on 15 years of monthly fundraising letters by the founder of the Times Square shelter for runaway and abused kids. While writing and managing publications, I collaborated on three other books, in the religious (Paulist Press), educational (Rosen Publishing Group) and academic categories (Child Welfare League of America) that helped raise public awareness and contributions to support the agency’s mission.

To me, that’s what books do: they open up your mind. Early in my career, I led an all-volunteer staff to produce an award-winning local history book based on more than 1,000 photographs and dozens of oral histories painstakingly recorded by a local resident who had grown up in “The Hollow” on the other side of genteel Morristown, New Jersey. As the granddaughter of Italian immigrants, I was probably proudest of that book.

Is there a book that you’re passionate about that I can help you write? Click here to see some of the books I’ve worked on.