Alan Rinzler

Consulting Editor

  • Home
  • About
  • Author List
  • Services
  • Testimonials
  • FAQ
  • Video
  • Blog
  • Contact

The blog for writers

The Book Deal

The new author pitch: Show, don’t sell

January 16, 2012 by Alan Rinzler

Authors today need a whole new attitude toward the all-important pitch. Until now, the author pitch was defined as a hard-sell verbal punch to persuade agents and editors to take on their book. It was typically brief, high-concept, often hyperbolic and was designed to convince the agent standing … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Book Industry Trends, Marketing Your Book, Self-Publishing Tagged With: Alan Rinzler, author platform, authors, editors, pitching, selling your book, the author pitch, the new author pitch, writers

Grand finales: Tips for writing great endings

December 31, 2011 by Alan Rinzler

Writing a great ending for your book is just as important as a dynamite opening that rivets our attention and compels us to keep turning those pages. A well-written book requires some kind of symphonic climax that resonates in our heads and hearts like the famous 40-second E major chord at the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Craft of Writing Tagged With: Alan Rinzler, authors, books, closures, developmental editor, endings, last sentences, writers

What authors can learn from the bestseller lists

September 12, 2011 by Alan Rinzler

The gold standard for success as an author is to make the New York Times Best Seller list. That’s the big brand banner that publishers, authors and readers want to see on the front cover. It shouts “Read Me! I’m certified!” How does an author accomplish this feat? What does it take for a book to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Book Industry Trends, How To Get Published, Marketing Your Book, Self-Publishing Tagged With: Alan Rinzler, authors, Best Seller List, Garth Stein, Kathryn Stockett, New York Times Bestseller List, The Help, writers

Strategic tweeting for authors

March 20, 2011 by Alan Rinzler

If you're an author who isn't active on Twitter, you're making a huge mistake, say savvy book-marketing gurus. Some activist authors and screenwriters like Roger Wolfson are getting onto social media to attract an audience, but they're using the likes of Instagram and Facebook as their go-to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Book Industry Trends, Marketing Your Book Tagged With: Alan Rinzler, strategic tweeting for authors, tweeting, Twitter, writers

What makes writers special: An editor’s valentine

February 12, 2011 by Alan Rinzler

All good editors love working with writers. To us, writers are special people, compelled to put words together as they look at the world.  They can’t stop, must return to whatever is in their heads, what they’re thinking and feeling, making sense of their lives, to explain, to teach, so write … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Book Industry Trends, Craft of Writing, How To Get Published Tagged With: Alan Rinzler, developmental editor, editor, freelance editor, traits of writers, writers

How an endorsement can help land your book deal

January 8, 2011 by Alan Rinzler

Smart writers and agents know the value of including outside endorsements with the query letters and proposals they send to book publishers. A persuasive quote from a big name or a well-connected expert can have a major impact on the level of attention we give a new submission, whether it’s fiction … [Read more...]

Filed Under: How To Get Published Tagged With: agents, Alan Rinzler, authors, blurbs, book deal, editors, endorsements, publishers, quotes, testimonials, writers

Hot young agent’s old-school methods

December 8, 2010 by Alan Rinzler

How do literary agents who blog, tweet and carouse online find the time to do the real work of agenting: reading, hobnobbing with editors, reading some more and making great book deals for their clients? That’s what Chris Parris-Lamb, a rising star at the Gernert Company in NYC wonders, and it’s … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Book Industry Trends, How To Get Published, Literary Agent Profiles Tagged With: agents, Alan Rinzler, book deals, Chris Parris-Lamb, editors, Genert Company, publishing, writers

The last laugh: If self-published authors owned the midlist

August 31, 2010 by Alan Rinzler

Mega publishers like Simon and Schuster and Random House could someday cede the midlist to a vast army of self-published authors. In that scenario, they'd focus instead just on blockbuster books by brand-name authors and celebrities. All the rest -- the literary fiction, the cookbooks, the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Book Industry Trends, Self-Publishing Tagged With: Alan Rinzler, Author Solutions, authors, midlist, publishing, self-publishing, writers

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • 2

About The Book Deal

Welcome readers.  Let me introduce myself and offer up some credentials for the opinions, perspectives and insights in this blog. In nearly … more »

Working with Alan

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.

Featured Video

view more »

Ask the Editor

Tips for blending in the backstory

Tips for blending in
the backstory
2015-07-28T14:50:53-07:00
Tips for blending in the backstory
https://alanrinzler.com/testimonials/tips-for-blending-in-the-backstory/

Wake up your readers! How to thicken a plot

Wake up your readers!
How to thicken a plot
2015-07-28T15:29:05-07:00
Wake up your readers! How to thicken a plot
https://alanrinzler.com/testimonials/another-link/

Memoir or novel for my true story?

Memoir or novel
for my true story?
2015-07-28T20:47:16-07:00
Memoir or novel for my true story?
https://alanrinzler.com/testimonials/3172/

Is your book in need of emotional glue?

Is your book in need of emotional glue?
2015-07-28T20:51:25-07:00
Is your book in need of emotional glue?
https://alanrinzler.com/testimonials/is-your-book-in-need-of-emotional-glue/

Can I really become a better writer?

Can I really become a better writer?
2015-07-28T21:05:22-07:00
Can I really become a better writer?
https://alanrinzler.com/testimonials/can-i-really-become-a-better-writer/

7 techniques for a dynamite plot

7 techniques for
a dynamite plot
2015-07-28T21:17:53-07:00
7 techniques for a dynamite plot
https://alanrinzler.com/testimonials/7-techniques-for-a-dynamite-plot-2/

What to expect from a developmental editor

What to expect from
a developmental editor
2015-07-28T21:21:18-07:00
What to expect from a developmental editor
https://alanrinzler.com/testimonials/what-to-expect-from-a-developmental-editor/

Categories

  • Ask the Editor (23)
  • Book Industry Trends (81)
  • Book Proposal Critiques (4)
  • Craft of Writing (72)
  • Guts Ball: Editing Hunter Thompson (3)
  • How To Get Published (80)
  • Literary Agent Profiles (11)
  • Literary Destinations (3)
  • Marketing Your Book (33)
  • Memoir (7)
  • Parts of a Book (5)
  • Self-Publishing (34)
  • The writer's toolkit (3)
  • Writers at work (2)

Follow me on

2008-2025 © Alan Rinzler Consulting Editor