Rating: 
Summary: Great guide for first-time nonfiction writers
Review:
If you plan to write a nonfiction book, you should first read this guide by Susan Rabiner and Alfred Fortunato. It is useful because it talks you through the process of submitting a book proposal to a publishing house and tells you what to expect during the writing and publication process. The authors disabused me of some mistaken notions that I had about how books are published. This is why this book is most useful before you begin to do anything with your project.
The book's key point is to pin down exactly who your audience is and to then write for that audience. It sounds simple enough, but it actually turns out to be a much more profound idea. Without a clear audience that can be captured, you won't get a book published. It also teaches you to determine what question your book is answering and to then write a story that answers the question. Again, this seems like common sense, but we have all encountered books that are bad because their point is unclear or because their is no narrative.
For first-time nonfiction authors, this quick read is full of good advice. It is very honest about what you can expect, and helpful in reaching your goals.
Rating: 
Summary: Sorry, Miffed in Memphis is right - good advice, bad book
Review: ... The authors deal with a narrow interpretation of non-fiction. Think of it as the kind of books you see on the "new non-fiction" table at the bookstore - nothing specialist like business, travel, or cookery.So, although I'd sworn off writing another book I thought I'd at least read it to find out what Rabiner and Fortunato have to offer. I'm still wondering, although I've been reduced to a slog. Reading this book is like wandering through a forest at night. You don't know where you're going. Just keeping moving is hard work. You don't know what you might get, although every so often you get hints and occasionally the odd nugget. But all too often you think, "Why am I doing this? What's the point?" I don't know what the writing style is meant to demonstrate. Maybe that you don't need a manuscript editor? Is it meant to impress the amateur writer market, or to give you the impression that you're overhearing an acquisitions editor advising an author? Whatever the reason, it's tough sledding. For instance, take the introduction. No, sorry, it's the prolog. It's a story that you're sure will lead to some basic truth about non-fiction writing, something that will stay with you all your writing life. The stage is set: "When I was editorial director of Basic Books . . . I went to a lunch meeting with buyers from [a big retail bookselling chain] . . . blah blah blah . . . those were my thoughts that day as the three of us arrived at [bookseller's] offices." The excitement is palpable. But after ten pages of this, here's the moral of that story: In big retail booksellers, books are often shelved in one area only, which may not be the most appropriate. So far as I can tell there's not much of an effort to show authors how to avoid this. I was ready for some big deep thought, but instead I got a little dance about how authors don't know enough to write saleable books. No wonder the last sentence of the introduction is: "For those of you still interested, let's begin." If you ignore this early warning you'll find that the vines begin to cling to your ankles. I'll admit I skim books, but I lost track of the number of times I missed a negative in the middle of a convoluted sentence, so I read things like "After due consideration, and taking all things on the one hand and then taking them on the other, it is usually but not always not necessary to do X" which I read as "It's necessary to do X." It's my example sentence, but the actual sentences in the book are equally confused. What is annoying is that there are many useful pieces of advice buried in this impenetrable prose. Probably after four or five readings you can unearth them all, but who would want to read this book more than once? Here's my advice. Get this book. Get two highlighters of different colors (let's say red and yellow). Every time you come to some sentence that you think is very difficult to read, mark it in red. Every time you come to some particularly good advice, mark it in yellow. Buy a second red marker if need be. At the end of your ordeal you'll have a book that is almost completely red...
Rating:
Summary: Extremely helpful
Review: As a published author, I picked up _Thinking Like Your Editor_ hoping to find a few ideas I could use for my next book proposal.
Instead, I found a whole new level of understanding about what goes into a first-rate and marketable book, what editors want and need, and how to craft a proposal that is as cogent, well-written and persuasive as the book it represents.
Rabiner and Fortunato have distilled their deep expertise into an extremely helpful and useful book.
I recommend it strongly to anyone contemplating writing a book or book proposal. Read it before you write another word.
Robert Adler, author of _Medical Firsts: From Hippocrates to the Human Genome (Wiley, 2004); and _Science Firsts: From the Creation of Science to the Science of Creation (Wiley, 2002).
Rating: 
Summary: Very helpful
Review: Drawing from their many combined years as editors, agents, and writers, the authors flesh out, among others, 3 helpful take-home points for writers wishing to sell a nonfiction proposal:
1. Budding nonfiction writers often don't think about the AUDIENCE for their book and thus have a hard time selling proposals;
2. Budding nonfiction writers need to work more on TELLING A STORY -- developing narrative & pacing to make readers want to finish a nonfiction book.
3. Nonfiction writers undermine their own credibility if they don't tell a BALANCED STORY and show the other side of their thesis.
Yes, there may be some weaknesses in the writing, etc., but I frankly am baffled by the anger informing some of the reviews here. This is a help book for beginning nonfiction writers, not a successor to the works of Hemmingway.
I defy anyone to read the Appendix's sample proposal on Henry Beecher and not want to go out and buy that book. That's what it's all about; writing a proposal that makes your agent or editor want to push for your book.
Rating:
Summary: A solid nuts and bolts guide
Review: Having just gone through the arduous process of co-authoring a non fiction book (recently published), which started with many misguided iterations of a proposal that ate up a good year of effort, this book will most certainly make writing a second book propsal so much easier and straight forward. Even with the insights from a great agent and publisher, I believe this book will enable me to focus my thought process and work and put together a sound proposal from the get-go. I delved into the book with such intensity, I did not notice the editorial mishaps cited in many of the other reviews. Not to deviate, but I have heard other stories about publishers eliminating the double space after each sentence in order to save on paper. One manuscript I heard about was sent to Malaysia to be reformatted and came back riddled with errors. So who knows where the finger should be pointed, but don't let the discussion of typos, etc get in the way of utilizing a very helpful book that can make a difference in the process of getting a book to market.
Rating:
Summary: Helpful and well-written
Review: I am finishing a business/non-fiction book and found "Thinking Like Your Editor" to be an invaluable resource. In particular, I found the emphasis on understanding the question that lies at the heart of your book to be wonderful advice. I highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: Helpful and well-written
Review: If you want to write serious nonfiction, this is an immensely helpful guide that will take you through conceptualizing and writing your book. The authors have clearly given a lot of thought to structure, arguments, and narrative elements as well as more mundane aspects like writing book proposals and working with editors. Great for academics who want to reach a wider audience, this is the best book I've read on writing nonfiction.
Rating:
Summary: finally - a useful "how to publish" book
Review: Not a word in here about margin sizes! These two authors present a genuinely useful text for getting your proposal - and book - in shape for presentation, and hopefully publication. Their tone is interesting and not a bit condescending. I loved it.
Rating: 
Summary: Good information, needs more work
Review: There is good information in this book. Much of it concerns
unwelcome but important realities of book publishing. For example, the fact that readers tend to favor strident, opinionated nonfiction over those books that are more objective and milder in their tone would not have occurred to me right away. The authors go to some trouble to explain many common problems nonfiction writers run into.
I felt that Jeff Herman's work on book proposals was superior to
the discussion in this book.
On the whole, the book is not well written and often difficult to wade through. I was put off by the tone at times, which had me thinking of someone's daffy old aunt scolding a child by using convoluted examples and stories that only served to cloud the simple point she was trying to make. I didn't notice typesetting problems, but the lack of competent editing for clarity was evident. I ended up giving the book three stars instead of two only because serves as such a good example of how not to write a nonfiction book.
My sense was that the authors thought at first this would be a fun and relatively easy project, then despite years in the publishing business found out first hand just how hard writing is-and didn't rise to the challenge. This is too bad; with the quality of the existing information and the substitution of a more adept writer, it could have been outstanding.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Help for Nonfiction Writers
Review: This is one of the few books on writing nonfiction that has actually been useful. While it is geared toward nonfiction, the ideas presented are valuable for any genre. Because it is written by a former editor turned agent, the advice about what it takes to impress an editor in the nonfiction world should be taken seriously. This is a good book for anyone who knows how to produce grammatically correct writing, and is ready to move into what it takes to impress an editor with what you can offer. This book explains to potential authors what writing style, book proposal format, and other necessities are required for publication in a highly competitive market.
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