I Interview the Legendary Editor Alan Rinzler:

If you’ve read any of my series “Better Late Than Never…” you will have heard a little of experience in trying to become a writer.  The biggest part of this education was not trying to write but learning accept others’ edits.  Alan Rinzler was a big part of that.  Alan has worked with some of the best in the business and I knew better than to challenge his advice.  Now that the book is mostly done, I thought it would be interesting to turn the microscope around and ask him a few questions.  In pure editor’s style, he told me that I could ask him whatever I liked and that I was only to post it verbatim.  I guess he still doesn’t trust my edits!

 What was it like working for Rolling Stone in the early days?  Can you share a story?

We were all very young. practically no one out of their twenties and a few younger. Seventeen, eighteen... It was thrilling, since we had no bosses and the lunatics were running the asylum. It was also scary because we had no idea what we were doing on the business side -- no financial planning, no experience with advertising, printing, distribution -- and we nearly went Chapter 11 on several occasions. The daily experience was intense, since we had bi-weekly deadlines to meet that had to be fulfilled. Individual stories are hard to discern since there was, to be frank, a great deal of pot smoking (and more) in the office. "If you can remember, you weren't there." I do recall, however, one day when we heard a shout from the receptionist that sounded like "the cops are coming." In a flash, everyone rushed to our fourth-floor windows and threw bags and bottles of miscellaneous substances out the window and into the street. A few moments later one of our best rock culture critics Jonathan Cott strolled out of the reception area and into the back of our office. The original cry had been "Cott is coming!" Hoho. Luckily we were able to get down the stairs and out into the street to retrieve most of our contraband.

One other story: A few years later (i.e. 1973) one of our art directors, probably under the influence of something, got in my face about graphic decision and I knocked him down, largely in self-defense. He sued me for assault and battery and I wound up settling out of court for the cost of his torn up shirt. Such are the unintended consequences of recreational past-times.

 How was working as an acquiring editor at Simon and Schuster, Bantam, and Wiley (to name a few) different from working for yourself as a developmental editor?

Well... it's the authors who are paying me, not the company, so I feel responsible for doing the very best job possible with no one looking over my shoulder. The lack of supervision requires the opposite of laissez faire. Also the income is unpredictable.

 You’ve been the editor for some of the biggest authors of our times including Hunter S. Thompson and Toni Morrison as well as unknowns like me.  What do you look for in an author before taking them on as a client?  Can you share a story of an unknown author that you helped find success in the industry? 

That's two questions, not one. Everybody needs an editor.

 What I look for in an author is the certainty that with my help, this will be a good and worthy book. It has a voice, a story, authenticity, integrity, meaning and significance. I reject two-thirds or more of those who approach me for editorial consultation or services.

 An unknown author whose had success is David Tomlinson. I edited his first collection of short stories, which was self-published and more recently spent two years working with him on a novel, "The Midnight Man" which was picked up by the stellar agent Eleanor Jackson and sold to Tyrus Books.

For most of its history, the publishing industry has had a bit of a paternal relationship with its readers – they told us what to read.  Now anybody can “publish” just about anything and potentially put it in front of millions of people.  The question is – is this better?  For whom? 

I don't agree with your assumptions here. The publishing industry has tried to publish good books they loved that would also make money. Every decision is without research or market-testing, so 80-90 percent don't sell more than a handful and lose money.  

Also, sure anyone can self-publish, but in fact they can't get their work in front of millions of people, so self-publishing and going around the traditional houses is better only for an author who has a great book and does a lot of work with self-marketing. It's also good for publishers who search for successful independent books and make a deal with the author to publish them traditionally.

Who is your favorite fictional character in literature?  Are there certain winning attributes that you look for in a character that you know will win over readers? 

Phillip Marlowe in "The Long Goodbye" by Raymond Chandler. A hard-boiled guy who can fall in love, never loses his integrity, and kills bad guys when it's necessary.

I don't know what particular attributes will win over readers, and no one else does either. What wins over readers is a hugely diverse and unique quality of characters that depends on brilliant writing, as with Raymond Chandler, Scott Fitzgerald, Virginia Woolf, John Le Carre, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Adam Johnson, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Paul Beatty and others.