The Forest for the Trees: An Editor's Advice to Writers

183 Pages·2001·0.97 MB·English

by  Betsy Lerner

Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Introduction

PART I. - WRITING
Chapter 1. - THE AMBIVALENT WRITER
Chapter 2. - THE NATURAL
Chapter 3. - THE WICKED CHILD
Chapter 4. - THE SELF-PROMOTER
Chapter 5. - THE NEUROTIC
Chapter 6. - TOUCHING FIRE

PART II. - PUBLISHING
Chapter 7. - MAKING CONTACT: SEEKING AGENTS AND PUBLICATION
Chapter 8. - REJECTION
Chapter 9. - WHAT EDITORS WANT
Chapter 10. - WHAT AUTHORS WANT
Chapter 11. - THE BOOK
Chapter 12. - PUBLICATION

BIBLIOGRAPHY
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
A LOS ANGELES TIMES BESTSELLER A FINALIST FOR THE
BOOKS FOR A BETTER LIFE AWARD ONE OF NEWSDAY’S
FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR A KANSAS CITY STAR BEST
BOOK OF THE YEAR
“Lerner, a literary agent who was most recently executive editor at Doubleday,
assumes the posture of a writer’s sympathetic friend, coach, and psychotherapist
all rolled into one. . . . Lerner candidly draws on her experience working both
sides of the fence, as poet and teacher of writing workshops as well as editor and
agent. She offers hard-nosed advice on topics overlooked, such as the dynamics
of the author/editor and author/ agent relations; struggles against the temptation
of alcohol and drugs; the testing of book titles for marketability; acrimony over
jacket art. . . . The book’s real value, however, lies in compelling the ambivalent
writer to confront his or her inner dreams, demons, and strengths.”
—Publishers Weekly

“What writers want is good company and by writing this book, Lerner has given
them just that. The Forest for the Trees provides excellent companionship for the
long-distance race confronting every writer. . . . [Lerner’s] prose is supple, witty,
always informative, and frequently moving. . . . This elegant and funny and
informative and passionate and moving book is not only a course in the great
dance but a fine example of the dance itself. The Forest for the Trees will move
many tortured writers that much closer to becoming well-published authors.” —
The Providence Sunday Journal

“The Forest for the Trees is a delightful and very helpful read, a distillation of
both editorial and writerly wisdom. You will enjoy it, and learn something from
the book, whether you are an aspiring writer, editor, or professional already on
the court.” —The Seattle Times

“Experienced book editor Lerner has done everything right in her desire to offer
relevant guidance to writers. This combination memoir and handbook is reading
for the soul.”—Booklist
“When Lerner writes about the relationship between publishers and writers, the
reader feels privileged, as though forbidden secrets were being divulged on how
to get published.”—BookPage

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While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers and Internet addresses at the
time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors, or for
changes that occur after publication. Further, the publisher does not have any control over and does not
assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
The passage from Maxwell E. Perkins’s March 30, 1942, letter to Marcia Davenport is excerpted with
permission of Scribner, a Division of Simon & Schuster, from Editor to Author: The Letters of Maxwell E.
Perkins, edited by John Hall Wheelock. Copyright © 1950 by Charles Scribner’s Sons. Copyright renewed
© 1978 by John Hall Wheelock.
An excerpt from the letter Susan Cheever wrote to the New Yorker in response to James Atlas’s article “The
Fall of Fun” is used with Cheever’s permission.
Copyright © 2000, 2010 by Betsy Lerner
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First Riverhead trade paperback edition: April 2001
First Riverhead revised and updated trade paperback edition: October 2010
eISBN : 978-1-10144407-8
eISBN : 978-1-10144407-8
1. Authorship. 2. Authors and publishers. I. Title.
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FOR MY AUTHORS
I really think that the great difficulty in bringing “The Valley of Decision” into
final shape is the old one of not being able to see the forest for the trees. There
are such a great number of trees. We must somehow bring the underlying
scheme or pattern of the book into emphasis, so that the reader will be able to
see the forest in spite of the many trees.

—Maxwell Perkins, in a letter to Marcia Davenport
(A. Scott Berg, in his biography Max Perkins: Editor of Genius,
recounts that author Davenport had turned in a completely dis-
jointed manuscript of nearly eight hundred thousand words, which
she revised over a five-month period, according to the editor’s
extensive notes. The book went on to sell six hundred thousand
copies.)