Thinking like Your Editor: How to Write Great Serious Nonfiction and Get It Published
- Book Review,
by Susan Rabiner
From Publishers Weekly
Two years ago, Betsy Lerner's The Forest for the Trees: An Editor's Advice to Writers offered an editor's-eye guide to aspiring writers of nonfiction. Now come Rabiner, former Basic Books editorial director turned agent, and her husband, Fortunato, a freelance book editor and writer, covering some of the same territory, but also breaking new ground. Wannabe authors might be shocked to hear that a fine writing style usually plays only a tiny role in whether a proposal becomes a book. Instead, according to the authors, the freshness of ideas and the size of the potential audience drive the process the first three rules of book publishing, as stated here, are "audience, audience, audience." In part one, on submissions, the authors discuss how to put together a book proposal and, without sounding self-serving, whether to work through an agent or go solo. In part two, they move to the writing process. Especially welcome here is their discussion of research undergirding all writing: authors and publishers, they note, sometimes become too lax about accuracy in nonfiction. Part three discusses how authors and editors (both in-house and freelance) can work together well. They offer a necessary tonic in advice about the importance of establishing a good relationship with the editor from day one that includes an author understanding that the editor's world doesn't revolve around one book. A sample proposal accompanied by a sample chapter round out the book nicely. Hopeful writers will be the primary audience for this title, and they will find useful advice on every page, but a secondary audience could include avid consumers of nonfiction who want to understand why some ideas reach book form while others do not. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Rabiner, a former editorial director at Basic Books, and freelance editor Fortunato are now partners in the Susan Rabiner Literary Agency. Their book (like their agency) targets those who write serious or scholarly nonfiction but hope to reach a wide audience. They begin with the usual fantasy sequence, leading readers through a discussion about which publisher they should select for their work university press or other. The book then explains in detail why authors must do research and present balanced arguments in their writing and why they must also have tangible credibility but write with a sense of narrative to appeal to a wider audience. These are basics, stress the authors, that must be mastered before an aspiring writer can hope to start speculating about how to spend the advance. The authors advise writers to approach editors first and give tips on how to do so; agents, they explain, are readily acquired in the wake of success. Better than average, this title mostly avoids feeding fantasies in favor of detailing necessities. Robert Moore, Parexel Intl., Waltham, MACopyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
If you want to publish, it's not enough to have a great idea or be a great writer, argue the authors. Far more important are skills in research, interpretation, and self-presentation. Most important is conceiving a book that has an obvious appeal to a broad audience and being able to articulate that appeal to an editor. After all, "the first job of any book is to get itself read." Rabiner, with 25 years of experience in publishing, has teamed with her freelancer husband to provide a pragmatic guide to serious nonfiction, from conception through composition to commercial sale. Lest it strike the bookish that the idea of art has been forfeited, it's clear the authors are book people, too. Many how-to's have been written by the dubiously credentialed. This one by Rabiner, with her inside knowledge, has a clear and positive effect and is eminently readable, rising above plodding minutiae while avoiding pie-in-the-sky pep talks and generalizations. No doubt this work will help turn ideas and manuscripts into bound, dust-jacketed books. Keir Graff
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Library Journal
Avoids feeding fantasies in favor of detailing necessities.
Herbert P. Bix, author of Hirohito, winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize
[W]ill be the standard text for non-fiction authors.
Iris Chang, author of The Rape Of Nanking
[A]n excellent book, one of the best I've ever read on the art of serious nonfiction.
Laura N. Brown, president, Oxford University Press USA
[S]hould be required reading for any writer of serious nonfiction.
Gerald Howard, editorial director, Broadway Books
What a smart and useful book Thinking Like Your Editor is.
Dale Maharidge, author of And Their Children After Them, winner of the 1990 Pulitzer Prize in nonfiction
Rabiner and Fortunato take you through the corporate Oz of the publishing world, behind the smoke and mirrors.
Juliet B. Schor, author of The Overworked American
Likely to become the gold standard for anyone hoping to be successful in trade publishing.
Sara Bershtel, Associate Publisher, Metropolitan Books
This smart, straight-talking, profoundly encouraging book is an invaluable guide for authors and editors alike.
George L. Gibson, President and Publisher, Walker & Company
[Rabiner's] guide to succeeding with nonfiction is every bit as good as her submission letters: the best in the business.
Publishers Weekly starred review
Useful advice on every page.
Book Description
Distilled wisdom from two publishing pros for every serious nonfiction author in search of big commercial success. Over 50,000 books are published in America each year, the vast majority nonfiction. Even so, many writers are stymied in getting their books published, never mind gaining significant attention for their ideas—and substantial sales. This is the book editors have been recommending to would-be authors. Filled with trade secrets, Thinking Like Your Editor explains: • Why every proposal should ask and answer five key questions; • how to tailor academic writing to a general reader, without losing ideas or dumbing down your work; • how to write a proposal that editors cannot ignore; • why the most important chapter is your introduction; • why "simple structure, complex ideas" is the mantra for creating serious nonfiction; • why smart nonfiction editors regularly reject great writing but find new arguments irresistible. Whatever the topic, from history to business, science to philosophy, law, or gender studies, this book is vital to every serious nonfiction writer.
About the Author
Susan Rabiner is the former editorial director of Basic Books. She was a senior editor at Oxford University Press and Pantheon Books. Alfred Fortunato is a freelance editor and writer. Together they run the Susan Rabiner Literary Agency.
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