The blog for writers

The Book Deal

Let’s hear it for neighborhood bookstores: Here’s mine

May 5, 2009 by Alan Rinzler

We all know it's cheaper to buy books online or at the big box national discount chains. I could have saved $12.10 the other day if I had gone on Amazon or over to Barnes & Noble. But if we're lucky enough to have a local bookstore nearby we ought to do what we can to help keep it alive, right? … [Read more...]

Literary destination: Taos, New Mexico

August 1, 2008 by Alan Rinzler

Taos, NM ~ This special place in the high desert has for generations drawn writers and artists, who come for the spiritual power of the endless skies, blazing sunlight, and thundering cloudscapes over the vast open plains and dark jagged mountains. D.H. Lawrence and Willa Cather, playwright … [Read more...]

Literary destination: Martha’s Vineyard

June 22, 2008 by Alan Rinzler

Chappaquiddick, MA ~ I'm writing today from this remote sandy outpost off Martha's Vineyard, the most famous literary island in the US. I can't think of anything better than spending the day in a remote location. Sometimes, I even find that I can do some of my best work when I'm in a place that … [Read more...]

I can’t thank you enough!

"Working together was interesting, challenging, and fun. I can't thank you enough for taking my stories and putting them in a comprehensible order, focusing more on my younger, formative days with my parents, and helping me remember great events that added so much to the book."

– US Senator Barbara Boxer. Her memoir, The Art of Tough, was published by Hachette in June 2016.

Figure out how to get Alan on your side

"Figure out how to get Alan on your side. He took my rambling manifesto and helped me hone it into a sharp, funny, culture-changing book featured in the New York Times, the New Yorker, The Atlantic, the Times of London, and most recently on The Daily Show."

– Lenore Skenazy, author Free Range Kids – How to Raise Safe, Self-Reliant Children Without Going Nuts with Worry.

Enthusiastic, imaginative and razor sharp

"Alan is enthusiastic, imaginative, razor-sharp, concise. His line-editing is specific and actionable; his developmental advice truly invaluable, providing focus and direction to the often chaotic process of writing a first novel."

– David Tomlinson, author of The Midnight Man.

An advocate, friend and mentor

“Alan can tell you at one glance, where a manuscript works and where it doesn’t. More than an editor, he’s an advocate, friend, mentor, and a bullshit detector of the highest caliber.”

– Celeste Chaney, author of In Absence of Fear

A 5-star Olympic Gold Medal for editing!

"Alan Rinzler has edited seven of my books, and no one compares to his competence as an editor. Everything I write he makes better. Alan knows the business, knows writing and understands a writer’s needs. He has my 5-Star Olympic Gold Medal for editing! I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to work with him."

– Michele Borba, author of Building Moral Intelligence, The Big Book of Parenting Solutions, and others.