Alan Rinzler presents “Once More Unto the Breach,” February 17, 2018

Alan Rinzler, a consulting editor, will speak to local writers Saturday, Feb. 17, about “how valiant agents and publishers are still taking chances on debut writers despite the dwindling unit sales and net profits of the book business today.”

Rinzler will also discuss his 56 years of experience as Assistant Managing Editor at Simon and Schuster, Senior Editor at The Macmillan Company and Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Director of Trade Publishing at Bantam Books, Vice President and Associate Publisher of Rolling Stone Magazine and President and Editor-in-Chief of Straight Arrow, the book division of Rolling Stone. He’s also been the West Coast Editor for the Grove Press and Executive Editor of Jossey-Bass, an imprint of John Wiley & Sons.

Join us on Saturday, February 17, at 2:00 p.m. at Four Points by Sheraton, 5115 Hopyard Road, Pleasanton to hear Rinzler’s presentation. Check-in begins at 1:30 p.m. RSVP to Haihong Liao by Wednesday, February 14,  at reservations@trivalleywriters.org. See “TVW Monthly Meeting Details” on this page for meeting fees.

Among Rinzler’s notable authors have been Toni Morrison, Hunter S. Thompson, Tom Robbins, Robert Ludlum, Shirley MacLaine, Andy Warhol, Clive Cussler, Senator Barbara Boxer, Jerzy Kosinski, and Oscar Acosta.

“As an industry insider, I’ve been able to give my private clients a unique perspective on how to get published,” Rinzler says. “I know what literary agents and publishers are looking for and how they decide to take on a project. I’ve also worked with many authors who have chosen to self-publish.”

Rinzler is a “longtime developmental editor.” He writes that these editors “offer specific suggestions about the core intentions and goals of the book, the underlying premise, the story, character development, use of dialogue and sensory description, the polish, narrative voice, pacing, style, language—the craft and literary art of the book.” He added that developmental editors do not correct spelling and grammar, which is the job of copy editors.

For more information about Alan Rinzler, visit his website.