花季传媒

Editing nonfiction books, said Brant Rumble 鈥�95, executive editor at Hachette Brook Group, 鈥渋s essentially a three-pronged job.

鈥淥ne is the part that everyone would think of, which is the editing and book development, working with authors,鈥� said Rumble. 鈥淭wo is really that outreach part, where you鈥檙e networking with agents, you鈥檙e looking for writers who are doing interesting things. 鈥�

鈥淎nd then three is 鈥� you鈥檙e the in-house champion for a project. You鈥檙e not doing marketing, but you鈥檙e definitely in conversation with the person who is.鈥�

Literary agents usually approach Rumble with a proposal for a nonfiction book, rather than a completed manuscript. If he is interested, he meets with the prospective author and makes an offer based on his company鈥檚 expectations for sales or he pursues the book at auction. Once a deal is struck, he gives the author a year to write the book.

Editor Nan Graham hired Rumble as her assistant at Scribner, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, a few months after he graduated from 花季传媒 and completed a summer program in publishing. She taught him to pursue his tastes and bring in books he loved, he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 about finding the books you鈥檙e passionate about 鈥� and, of course, in order to keep going and advance, you have to have some success.鈥�

He is drawn to books about music, sports and popular culture, especially 鈥渜uirky and fun stuff,鈥� he said. He has published numerous bestsellers, including 鈥淪ex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs,鈥� by Chuck Klosterman, and 鈥淵ours Cruelly, Elvira: Memoirs of the Mistress of the Dark鈥� by Cassandra Peterson. He has worked with Julie Andrews, George F. Will, Peter Frampton and Ken Jennings.

After two years with Graham, Rumble got a job as an editorial assistant. In all, he spent 19 陆 years at Scribner, moving up the ranks and 鈥渄oing a little bit of everything.鈥� Eventually, he got restless, so he moved to Blue Rider Press. After that imprint was dissolved during the merger of Penguin and Random House, Rumble worked briefly as a freelance editor before landing at Hachette.

He publishes about a book a month. His editing usually takes about twice as long as it would take the average reader to get through the book. 鈥淎 lot of things are handled in the early development stage, when we鈥檙e talking through it and looking at an outline or an author wants me to read a particular piece to get feedback on that,鈥� he said. 鈥淕enerally, if things go to plan, usually the final manuscript I receive is in pretty good shape. It鈥檚 not something I have to rewrite or reconfigure.鈥�

His goal, he said, is to develop a book as the author envisions it. Rumble said he rarely finds himself 鈥減ushing against a writer or trying to spin something different out of what I鈥檓 being given. It鈥檚 really a matter of helping every writer achieve that vision for what they want to do. It鈥檚 their book. Their name is on it, not mine.鈥�