Behind many successful books is an editor who questioned the structure, challenged a weak chapter, spotted what readers might miss, and helped an author turn an interesting manuscript into a finished book. Literary Editors can do that magic!
For authors, however, finding the right literary editor can be surprisingly difficult. Editing is one of the quieter parts of publishing, and many of the people responsible for shaping important books are better known within publishing circles than among readers.
This curated list brings together 15 literary editors in India. It includes senior publishing editors, independent manuscript editors, literary consultants and professionals who work directly with authors.
Editorial Note
This is a curated editorial list of Literary Editors, not an official ranking. There is no authoritative national ranking of India’s literary editors. The selection considers editorial experience, publishing backgrounds, work with authors and manuscripts, independent editorial practice, literary publishing and contribution to India’s contemporary publishing ecosystem.
One important distinction is worth making. Some people on this list primarily work within publishing houses and may not accept private freelance manuscripts. Others work directly with authors and offer manuscript editing services. Authors should therefore check each editor’s current availability and scope of work before approaching them.
1. Manasi Subramaniam
Manasi Subramaniam has spent more than 17 years in international trade publishing, working across editorial leadership, literary strategy and international rights. Until December 2025, she was Editor-in-Chief and Vice-President at Penguin Random House India, where she led literary publishing and international rights across Hamish Hamilton, Allen Lane, Viking, Penguin Classics and Penguin. (Manasi Subramaniam)
Her editorial remit has covered fiction, nonfiction and translation, and she has worked with writers whose books have received major international and Indian literary recognition. Her experience makes her particularly significant for authors interested in literary publishing, translated literature and taking Indian writing to wider international audiences. (Manasi Subramaniam)
Best known for: Literary fiction, nonfiction, translation and international publishing.
2. Karthika V. K.
Karthika V. K. has been a major figure in Indian publishing since joining Penguin Books India as an editorial assistant in 1996. She later became Publisher at HarperCollins India and subsequently took on a senior publishing role at Westland.
Her publishing career has included writers such as Aravind Adiga, Amruta Patil, Anuja Chauhan, Manu Joseph, Rana Dasgupta, Raghu Karnad and Sarnath Banerjee. At Westland, she led the launch of Context, an imprint focused on literary fiction and political nonfiction. (BizLitFest)
Her editorial reputation is particularly strong among authors who value close, developmental engagement with manuscripts. In an interview about the publishing process, author Anuradha Roy described Karthika as an editor with a strong instinct for identifying how a manuscript could be improved. (Loreto College)
Best known for: Literary fiction, Indian writing, translation and nonfiction.
3. Chiki Sarkar
Chiki Sarkar is the founder of Juggernaut Books and one of India’s prominent publishing figures. Before establishing Juggernaut, she worked at Bloomsbury and later held senior editorial and publishing positions at Random House and Penguin India. (Vogue India)
Juggernaut was founded around an editorial vision of finding distinctive stories and building a publishing house that could respond quickly to new writers and changing reader interests. Its current publishing programme includes fiction, nonfiction, children’s books and books by both established and first-time authors. (juggernautin)
Sarkar’s strength lies particularly in identifying stories with a strong readership proposition while retaining an editorial point of view.
Best known for: Contemporary fiction, nonfiction, popular literature and discovering new voices.
4. Krishan Chopra
Krishan Chopra is a senior publishing editor who has played an important role in Indian nonfiction publishing. He has served as Editor-in-Chief of Bloomsbury India and has worked on books spanning politics, history, public affairs, science and contemporary India. (The Federal)
One of the best-known examples associated with his editorial career is India 2020 by A. P. J. Abdul Kalam. In an account of the book’s production, Chopra described working intensively with the manuscript and other editors shortly before publication. (@theweek)
His experience demonstrates an important side of literary and publishing editing: sometimes the editor is involved not only in polishing prose but also in helping a complex nonfiction project become a coherent, publishable book.
Best known for: Nonfiction, public affairs, history, politics and contemporary Indian writing.
5. Anushree Kaushal
Anushree Kaushal has editorial experience in Indian publishing, including work with Penguin Random House India. Her interests have covered fiction and nonfiction across genres including literary fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, mystery and science fiction.
For authors, Literary Editors with experience across multiple genres can be useful because different forms of storytelling require different editorial instincts. A thriller may need attention to pacing and suspense, while historical fiction may require consistency in world-building and research.
Best known for: Fiction, historical fiction, fantasy, mystery and nonfiction.
6. Tara Khandelwal
Tara Khandelwal is an independent editor, writer, podcaster and founder of Bound. Before establishing Bound, she worked with Penguin India, Writers’ Side, BloombergQuint and SheThePeople.TV. She has also edited books for publishers including Bloomsbury, Hachette and Rupa. (My Site)
Her current work includes book editing and evaluation, manuscript development and publishing mentorship. Bound’s publishing programmes identify her areas of expertise as nonfiction editing and fiction mentorship. (Bound India)
Khandelwal also hosts Books and Beyond with Bound, an author-interview podcast that her website says has more than 2.5 million listens and ranks among the top 1.5% of global podcasts. (My Site)
Best known for: Fiction, narrative nonfiction, memoir, business books and manuscript development.
7. Aanchal Jain
Aanchal Jain is a writing coach and editor who works directly with authors on manuscript development. Her current editorial services include developmental editing and line editing, with particular attention to story structure, pacing, voice, tone, character development and narrative flow. (Read Write Relate Editorials)
Her website also highlights experience as an outsourced line editor through Penguin for author Nidhi Upadhyay, with the work focusing on language, rhythm, flow and preserving the tone and pace of the manuscript. (Read Write Relate Editorials)
This makes her particularly relevant to authors who want a hands-on editor rather than simply a final proofreading pass.
Best known for: Developmental editing, line editing, fiction and manuscript refinement.
8. Abha Iyengar
Abha Iyengar is a writer, poet, editor, translator and creative writing mentor. She works with both fiction and nonfiction manuscripts and offers editing designed to strengthen structure, language and overall presentation. (Abhai Yengar)
Her background as both a writer and editor gives her a dual perspective on the editorial process. Rather than approaching a manuscript only as a technical document, she also understands the creative vulnerability involved in having another person work closely with an author’s writing.
Her work includes manuscript editing and mentoring for aspiring writers, making her particularly relevant to authors who want editorial guidance alongside writing support. (Abhai Yengar)
Best known for: Fiction, nonfiction, manuscript editing and writing mentorship.
9. Semeen Ali
Semeen Ali is an editor with Red River and Red River Story, independent publishing platforms with a strong focus on literary writing and poetry.
Red River’s current team identifies Ali as an editor working alongside Managing Editor Sucharita Dutta-Asane, founder-publisher Dibyajyoti Sarma and editor Paulami Sengupta. (RedRiver Press)
Working within an independent literary press gives an editor a different relationship with manuscripts from that found in large commercial publishing houses. Red River’s catalogue includes poetry, fiction, literary nonfiction and other works that often sit outside conventional commercial categories.
Best known for: Poetry, literary fiction and independent publishing.
10. Sucharita Dutta-Asane
Sucharita Dutta-Asane is the Managing Editor of Red River Story, where she is involved in the publishing process from commissioning through publicity. The Red River Story series is also editorially curated by her. (RedRiver Press)
Her work places her close to the full editorial journey of a book, from identifying manuscripts and shaping projects to preparing them for publication. This can be particularly valuable in literary publishing, where editorial decisions often involve questions of voice, form and literary identity rather than simply commercial positioning.
Red River’s current team lists Dutta-Asane as Managing Editor of Red River Story. (RedRiver Press)
Best known for: Literary fiction, independent publishing and editorial curation.
11. Namrata
Namrata is the founder of Keemiya Creatives, a literary consultancy established in 2018 to support authors with editorial services, publishing guidance and creative development. She has worked with authors and publishing houses since 2014 across editing, book marketing, beta reading and related areas. (Keemiya Creatives)
Her editorial services include structural editing, line editing, developmental editing and proofreading. She is also an editor at Kitaab, a South Asian literary magazine based in Singapore. (Keemiya Creatives)
This combination of editorial and publishing experience can be particularly useful to independent authors who need help understanding both the manuscript and the publishing process around it.
Best known for: Developmental editing, structural editing, literary consultancy and author support.
12. Richa Kapoor
Richa Kapoor is an independent editor with experience in structural editing and manuscript development. Her editorial interests include mythology, historical fiction, memoir, travel writing and romance.
Structural editing is particularly useful when an author knows that the manuscript needs substantial work but cannot identify exactly where the problems lie. Instead of concentrating immediately on individual sentences, the editor examines organisation, pacing, coherence and the overall reading experience.
For authors working with large narratives or research-heavy manuscripts, this kind of editorial perspective can be valuable before the final copy-editing stage.
Best known for: Structural editing, historical fiction, mythology, memoir and travel writing.
13. Isha Maniar
Isha Maniar is an editor whose work spans structural editing, line editing, developmental editing and proofreading. Her editorial interests include literary and commercial fiction, narrative nonfiction and illustrated books.
This combination is useful for authors whose manuscripts sit somewhere between literary and commercial publishing. An editor working across different formats can also bring attention to how the written material functions as part of the finished book rather than treating the manuscript as text alone.
Best known for: Fiction, narrative nonfiction, illustrated books and developmental editing.
14. Dagny Sol
Dagny Sol is an independent manuscript editor, writing coach, storyteller and ghostwriter. Her editorial work focuses on helping authors strengthen manuscripts rather than simply correcting surface-level language. (Dagny Sol)
Her current writing on development editing emphasises an important distinction: clean grammar does not automatically mean that a story works. Problems with pacing, character motivation, structure and narrative development may require a much deeper editorial approach. (Dagny Sol)
She also works with authors on writing and manuscript development, making her relevant to writers who need editorial support while still shaping the book itself.
Best known for: Manuscript editing, developmental editing, fiction and writing coaching.
15. Asha Seth
Asha Seth is the Founder of MISSBOOKTHIEF, a book marketing & author branding agency based in Mumbai, India. She heads the editorial team at MissBookThief since 14 years, where she works closely with authors to refine, strengthen and polish manuscripts while preserving their individual voice and intent, across varied genres including horror, poetry, self-help, fiction, etc.
Her editorial experience spans manuscript editing, proofreading, and translation across diverse genres. With an understanding of both the creative and publishing sides of a book, Asha helps authors shape their manuscripts into polished works, ready to be published.
Best known for: Manuscript editing, translations, book marketing, and author branding.
Questions to Ask Literary Editors Before Hiring Them
- What type of editing does my manuscript need?
- Have you worked in my genre?
- Have you edited complete books before?
- Will I receive an editorial report?
- How many revision rounds are included?
- Is proofreading included separately?
- Who will actually edit my manuscript?
- What is the expected timeline?
- How is the fee calculated?
- Can you provide relevant previous work or references?
FAQs
What does a literary editor do?
A literary editor can work on structure, narrative voice, pacing, characterisation, argument, chapter organisation, clarity and style, depending on the manuscript and the type of editing commissioned.
What is the difference between Literary Editors and Copy Editors?
A literary or developmental editor may work on the broader structure and effectiveness of a book, while a copy editor focuses more closely on sentence-level language, consistency, grammar, punctuation and style.
Can a literary editor rewrite my manuscript?
An editor may suggest or undertake some rewriting depending on the agreement, but substantial rewriting is usually a separate service. Authors should clarify the scope before beginning the project.
How do I choose a literary editor?
Look for someone with experience in your genre and manuscript type. Ask for previous work or a sample edit, understand their editorial process and make sure they understand and respect your authorial voice.
Do literary editors work directly with authors?
Some do. Independent editors and literary consultants often work directly with authors, while editors employed by publishing houses may primarily work on titles acquired by their publishers.
Should I hire a literary editor before approaching publishers?
It can be useful, particularly if your manuscript has not undergone professional editorial review. A developmental or structural edit can help identify problems before you submit the manuscript.
How much does literary editing cost in India?
There is no universal rate. Fees vary according to manuscript length, genre, editing level, complexity, deadline and editor experience.
Does every manuscript need developmental editing?
No. A manuscript that has already undergone substantial revision may only need copy editing or proofreading. The appropriate level depends on the manuscript’s condition.
