51勛圖厙

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

���One is the part that everyone would think of, which is the editing and book development, working with authors,��� said Rumble. ���Two is really that outreach part, where you���re networking with agents, you���re looking for writers who are doing interesting things. ���

���And then three is ��� you���re the in-house champion for a project. You���re not doing marketing, but you���re definitely in conversation with the person who is.���

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���s 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 DePauw and completed a summer program in publishing. She taught him to pursue his tastes and bring in books he loved, he said. ���It���s about finding the books you���re passionate about ��� and, of course, in order to keep going and advance, you have to have some success.���

He is drawn to books about music, sports and popular culture, especially ���quirky and fun stuff,��� he said. He has published numerous bestsellers, including ���Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs,��� by Chuck Klosterman, and ���Yours Cruelly, Elvira: Memoirs of the Mistress of the Dark��� 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 翻 years at Scribner, moving up the ranks and ���doing a little bit of everything.��� 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. ���A lot of things are handled in the early development stage, when we���re talking through it and looking at an outline or an author wants me to read a particular piece to get feedback on that,��� he said. ���Generally, if things go to plan, usually the final manuscript I receive is in pretty good shape. It���s not something I have to rewrite or reconfigure.���

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