'I'm always anxious about the author's response,' she confides. But she also lets writers in on a little secret of her own. Lerner is aware of how excruciating it is for a writer to wait for feedback on his or her work. 'An editor gets off,' says Lerner, 'on the thrill of discovering a new writer.' Editors crave 'succinct, well-written cover letters,' inspiration that comes from within (as opposed to from the bestseller list), and 'catchy, clearly targeted title.' They detest unsolicited phone calls, 'query letters that sound as if they were penned by Crazy Eddie,' and writers who offer to 'write it however I want it' (it's 'like saying I'll be straight or gay you tell me, I have no preference'). Guess what: Editors don't lug home hundreds of pounds of manuscripts to read each year because they aren't looking for good writing. They won't take calls, they don't offer feedback-sometimes they don't respond to queries at all. To writers, particularly unpublished ones, editors can seem imposing figures determined to thwart their success. 'Like shrinks,' she says, editors 'have a privileged and exclusive view into a writer's psyche, from the ecstasy of acquisition to the agony of the remainder table.' Like all experienced editors, Lerner has seen writers at their best, and at their worst.

There are so many books by writers and agents promising to disclose what editors really want here, finally, is one straight from the source. In The Forest for the Trees, Lerner reflects on writing and publishing from an editor's point of view. The forest for the trees by Betsy Lerner. How rare and wonderful it must have been to have such an advocate, advisor, and, yes, admirer so firmly ensconced in publisher territory (at various times, Houghton Mifflin, Ballantine, Simon & Schuster, and Doubleday).

But too bad for them: In gaining her as an agent, they lost her as an editor. The Forest for the Trees should be on every writer’s shelf, right next to Strunk & White’s The Elements of Style. Oh, sure, Lerner must be a fabulous agent.

Betsy lerner forest for the trees