Thinking Like Your Editor [Hardcover]

 

 

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... The authors deal with a narrow interpretation of non-fiction. Think of it as the kind of books you see on the "new non-fiction" table at the bookstore - nothing specialist like business, travel, or cookery.

So, although I'd sworn off writing another book I thought I'd at least read it to find out what Rabiner and Fortunato have to offer. I'm still wondering, although I've been reduced to a slog.

Reading this book is like wandering through a forest at night. You don't know where you're going. Just keeping moving is hard work. You don't know what you might get, although every so often you get hints and occasionally the odd nugget. But all too often you think, "Why am I doing this? What's the point?"

I don't know what the writing style is meant to demonstrate. Maybe that you don't need a manuscript editor? Is it meant to impress the amateur writer market, or to give you the impression that you're overhearing an acquisitions editor advising an author? Whatever the reason, it's tough sledding.

For instance, take the introduction. No, sorry, it's the prolog. It's a story that you're sure will lead to some basic truth about non-fiction writing, something that will stay with you all your writing life. The stage is set: "When I was editorial director of Basic Books . . . I went to a lunch meeting with buyers from [a big retail bookselling chain] . . . blah blah blah . . . those were my thoughts that day as the three of us arrived at [bookseller's] offices." The excitement is palpable.

But after ten pages of this, here's the moral of that story: In big retail booksellers, books are often shelved in one area only, which may not be the most appropriate. So far as I can tell there's not much of an effort to show authors how to avoid this. I was ready for some big deep thought, but instead I got a little dance about how authors don't know enough to write saleable books. No wonder the last sentence of the introduction is: "For those of you still interested, let's begin."

If you ignore this early warning you'll find that the vines begin to cling to your ankles. I'll admit I skim books, but I lost track of the number of times I missed a negative in the middle of a convoluted sentence, so I read things like "After due consideration, and taking all things on the one hand and then taking them on the other, it is usually but not always not necessary to do X" which I read as "It's necessary to do X." It's my example sentence, but the actual sentences in the book are equally confused.

What is annoying is that there are many useful pieces of advice buried in this impenetrable prose. Probably after four or five readings you can unearth them all, but who would want to read this book more than once?

Here's my advice. Get this book. Get two highlighters of different colors (let's say red and yellow). Every time you come to some sentence that you think is very difficult to read, mark it in red. Every time you come to some particularly good advice, mark it in yellow. Buy a second red marker if need be. At the end of your ordeal you'll have a book that is almost completely red...

I have a very specific reason why I can't give this book five out of five stars.

First, why it DESERVED five stars:
This is clearly the best, most inspiring, book I have ever read that's specifically targeted at serious nonfiction writers and the challenges they face getting their work published successfully. I just got the book today in the mail, and wasn't able to put it down (except to jot down notes!). Every page has good ideas. Every page. Now I don't have to attend some cheesy ...seminar to get an insider's view of What Works and What Doesn't. This book explains it and does so brilliantly.

Now why it DOESN'T deserve 5 stars:
I cannot give this book five stars because, honestly, this is the worst book I have ever read --- from the standpoint of copyediting and typesetting!!! I am simply **appalled**! Guys -- I know you're going to read this, Susan, Alfred, and Ed Barber --- didn't anyone copy edit it before it went to the printer? Didn't anyone check the galleys?!? I have never seen so many problems with a book before. Glaring typos -- here are but three I'll mention offhand: in the middle of page 249 ("Way was Beecher so important to his times?" Um, I think you meant "Why") or the middle of page 23 ("you prefer not to factor in them in" -- huh? one too many "in"s, yes?) or on page 30 ("because they wanted something beyond money as settlement for their terrible loses." Um, isn't it "losses"?) Aaaauugggh!! And then, throughout the book, something else: first I thought it was a single occurrence, the second I opened the book up for the first time, randomly, to page 73 and noticed the typesetting error on line 9. But then I noticed this problem occurs THROUGHOUT THE BOOK! Sentences end with a period, followed IMMEDIATELY by the capitalized letter of the first word of the following sentence -- no space! And then the weird word break at the very bottom of page 22: the word "message" is broken in half with no hyphen. The last three letters of page 22 are "mes" and the first four letters of page 23 are "sage" but there's no hyphen!!! What's up with that?

It's just bizarre --- for a book called "Think Like An Editor" one would THINK someone would have caught this stuff in the galleys. Oh, ok, so maybe I have to wait for the sequel: "Think Like a Copy Editor"??? :-)

Note to W.W.Norton: Guys. Please. Stop the presses. Fix the errors. You do your readers and your esteemed authors a great disservice. Reprint the book. Make the world a safer place for readers. They will thank you. I will thank you.

Bottom line (more on why this book is GREAT) --
I will forgive the typographical errors however distracting and embarrassing they are. Because the book is such an INCREDIBLE breath of fresh air. No disrespect Jeff Herman, but your books just never helped me, even though they were about nonfiction proposals. I am inspired, I am encouraged, my confidence is at a new peak because of this new book. Thank you Susan and Albert. My own book proposal will be incredibly stronger because of what I've learned from your book, and because of issues in my own proposal that I already was aware of but didn't want to deal with -- until you explained succinctly why I have to deal with them if I want my book to be successful. Thank you.

"Thinking Like Your Editor" may offer a helpful peek into the workings of the "serious nonfiction" publishing industry, but oh, at what a price! Perhaps a case of the cobbler's children having no shoes, Thinking is an editorial misstep with a snappy title. Getting it placed on Amazon is marketing genius.
Rabiner wrote this book primarily for academics trying to break out of ivy-covered walls and the university press. It's not for those of us writing what Rabiner calls "narrative nonfiction." She dismisses that kind of writing as "human-interest stories" that rely on "the human struggle [to keep] you reading" (p. 178) and that may somehow teach you something about business or law or adventure along the way. The best-selling "Barbarians at the Gate," for example.
Rabiner claims that editors of "serious nonfiction" look for manuscripts not laced with "graceful, image-provoking prose," but with precise and persuasive use of language that demonstrates the author's ability to use "reasoned and reasonable argument" in a "dramatic and paced narrative" (p. 28).
"Thinking" is certainly not elegant prose. It's not precise use of language and it's not a dramatic and paced narrative. It's not "serious nonfiction" itself. It's a cookbook. Good cookbooks provide clear, simple directions. This one doesn't.
I slogged my way through the book, thinking like an editor. I could cut 35-45% of the book and lose nothing. I would rewrite what was left. What WAS her editor thinking?
I waded through most of the introduction where Rabiner spends pages telling readers what she'll tell them in later chapters. (That may be good technique in the classroom, but it makes for tiresome reading.) I skipped over distracting digressions (p. 86-87) and rolled my eyes at what she herself damns: "coded" expressions, phrases that only those in the know will understand (stella polaris, lacrimae rerum, ad hominem). To untangle convoluted phrasing and to link subject with predicate, I reached back to skills I learned parsing Cicero. (See p. 178, para. 3, sentence 1 for one of the easier-to-decipher examples.) I blew through the samples she dummied up-too confusing with their "blah, blah, blah" cop-outs (p.72 for one) and requiring far too much work to mine for whatever nuggets of insight they might provide. I cringed over misplaced commas, run-on sentences and her fondness for the less standard form of verbs ("have forgot" rather than "have forgotten").
Rabiner hits the nail squarely on the head, though, when she preaches "audience, audience, audience" to wannabe writers. I thought I was in her target because I really do want "to write great serious nonfiction-and get it published."
My mistake? I didn't know her code. I didn't realize that "great serious nonfiction" is her description of a dissertation rescued from the dusty halls of The Academy and turned into "Kah-ching" at bookseller check-out.
My advice? Save your money and your time.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Help for Nonfiction Writers
This is one of the few books on writing nonfiction that has actually been useful. While it is geared toward nonfiction, the ideas presented are valuable for any genre. Read more

Published on Jun 28 2004 by ABC123

5.0 out of 5 stars Helpful and well-written
If you want to write serious nonfiction, this is an immensely helpful guide that will take you through conceptualizing and writing your book. Read more

Published on Feb 24 2004

2.0 out of 5 stars An absolute shame for its publisher
This book provides useful advice in its first 125 or so pages. Then it starts going into material that is rehashed in virtually every book on publishing your manuscript. Read more

Published on Dec 2 2003

5.0 out of 5 stars A Tremendously Valuable Book
I am finishing a business/non-fiction book and found "Thinking Like Your Editor" to be an invaluable resource. Read more

Published on Oct 23 2003 by Chris O'Leary

5.0 out of 5 stars A solid nuts and bolts guide
Having just gone through the arduous process of co-authoring a non fiction book (recently published), which started with many misguided iterations of a proposal that ate up a good... Read more

Published on Sep 29 2003 by Kathy Elliott, co-author "...

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Approach
I found this book to be both enjoyable and valuable. In particular, I like the authors' emphasis on how it is important that you get a sense of the questions that are driving your... Read more

Published on Aug 4 2003 by Chris O'Leary

5.0 out of 5 stars Best book out there on audience and structure
I've read or skimmed several of these books, which have been highly uneven, and typically covering the same turf so I wasn't expecting to find much new here. Read more

Published on Mar 5 2003 by David Cullen

4.0 out of 5 stars Fiction or nonfiction.
Actually, there were some good advice in this book. I'm not a nonfiction writer, but if I were to change over; the advice would be there for me to view and study. Read more

Published on Oct 30 2002 by Evelyn O. Simon

5.0 out of 5 stars Blah Blah Blah isn't a Dirty "Word"
Susan Rabiner could've written a 150-page book for folks interested in writing general non-fiction book proposals. Read more

Published on Aug 29 2002

5.0 out of 5 stars Blah Blah Blah isn't a Dirty "Word"
Susan Rabiner could've written a 150-page book for folks interested in writing general non-fiction book proposals. Read more

Published on Aug 29 2002

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