The Way We Were

The work has officially begun. I’m updating The Forest for the Trees for a 10th anniversary edition. Rereading it now,  I can’t believe I had the chutzpah to write it at all. The only thing that explains it (besides my vast and passionate love of writers and their craft) is that I wrote the proposal and sold [...]

You Are So Beautiful To Me

I did two very close line edits over the last few weeks, a novel and a memoir. They were both quite brilliant in their own right and as a result the editing was a pure joy. There were many books I’ve had to work on over the years where the prose was less than stellar. I [...]

FAQ- How Important is My Platform?

Here’s a recent letter that touches on the “P” word: Dear Betsy, My wife has a terrific idea for a book, a kind of sourcebook or compendium. She doesn’t work in the field, and has no qualifications that particularly scream Expert. Having said that, she has a prestigious MFA and excellent publications from small literary magazines [...]

Pistachio

You know how sometimes a seemingly random detail from the past stays with you? Over a decade ago, I read an article that, as an aside, noted that the President and Publisher of Knopf, Sonny Mehta, snacked on pistachios as he stretched out on his sofa and read manuscripts. With that in mind, I queried [...]

Postpartum

Almost every I writer I know goes through some form of postpartum after finishing a book. For some it’s more pronounced than others. It depends on different factors: how long you’ve worked on the book, how passionate you were about it, how much of  a toll it exacted from your life. Some writers already know [...]

While U Were Out

A lot of really nice things happened while I was away. Makes you wonder if it’s sometimes better to clear out instead of  trying to make things happen. On the other hand, that’s my job description. Goat Song went into a fourth printing after a rapturous NPR. Dreaming in Hindi gets a UK offer. Columbine sells [...]

Hey, Boo Boo

Since the only thing more boring than listening to someone’s dream or the plot of their novel is hearing what they did on their vacation, I will keep this  brief. First, and  I know the suspense is killing you, I did indeed defend my title as world’s greatest mini golfer. I was less successful at [...]

All My Bags Are Packed, I’m Ready To Go, I’m Standing Here Outside Your Door, I Hate To Wake You Up To Say Goodbye.

Dearest darling readers of this blog, I am going on vacation for a week. Well, if you call a vacation schlepping up to Lake George to defend my title as mini-golf champion of the world. Future posts  you won’t want to miss:  How I Almost Came to Blows With A Writer Over the Use of [...]

Hold the Mayo

It’s funny, but I didn’t hate publishing today. A film contract six months in negotiations got resolved and signed. I got to the swimsuit part of the competition for a highly desireable writer interviewing potential agents. A client celebrated a year of sobriety. Our assistant found a novel in the slush that I couldn’t put [...]

You Were Always Waiting For This Moment To Arrive

Spent the last two days going over page proofs with a writer. One of my favorite moments in the publishing process is when you see the manuscript transformed into typeset pages. I’ve always had great respect for book designers and all the decisions that go into making a page. Today our work centered on space breaks. Her book employs three [...]