Bio

Renni Browne has been editing fiction and nonfiction for forty-eight years. Before she became an editor for Scribner's in 1966, she was a copy editor for Time-Life Books, co-author of a novel, and assistant fiction editor for Woman's Day. When she left Scribner’s she worked part-time for a paperback publisher and a literary agent while reviewing books for Kirkus, Library Journal, and Publisher's Weekly.

In 1968 she became senior editor at Stein & Day, where she stayed seven years until she became a senior editor at William Morrow. Because she was not allowed to take the time needed to edit the titles she acquired, she dropped out of mainstream publishing in 1979.

In 1980 she founded The Editorial Department. In 1991 she and Dave King wrote Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, the bestselling title on editing, now in its fifth printing and second edition from HarperCollins. She has written book reviews and magazine articles and appeared on NPR.

Over the years Renni has given lectures, workshops, and seminars around the country on self-editing, dialogue, getting published, and other topics of interest to writers. She's originally from Charlotte, N.C, and now lives in Asheville with two cats. Hobbies include old-time music festivals, walks in the mountains, and reading fiction. She especially enjoys Elizabeth George's and Lee Smith's fiction.

In her own words:

I'm happy to do manuscript evaluations, but my preferred entry level service is manuscript annotation. This service also addresses characterization, plot, and literary style with a lengthy overview memo but in addition places comments throughout the manuscript whenever something occurs to me. Most writers can figure out where to make changes from the overview alone, but annotation can make the review process go faster. I've been doing annotations for over a year now, and writers have let me know they find the in-text comments really helpful.

I work with Shannon Roberts, who's young and smart (I'm old and wise). She does the first pass, and I do at least one full read of the manuscript as well. Another service I enjoy providing is manuscript consultation, which is billed by the hour ($150, but I've been at this so long I'm really fast!) and is ideal for a work in progress or for follow-up after an evaluation or annotation--e-mails, phone calls, any kind of feedback that's useful to the writer who needs to run changes by his/her editor. It's really exciting to midwife a good story, see it develop into a great one.

Articles

Five Questions with TED Founder Renni Browne

Interview with Literary Agent Owen Laster

The Truth About First Novels

The Writer's Secret Weapon: The Power of What You Leave Out

Characters: Making Them Real

Q&A With Renni Browne (writing craft)

Excerpts from Self Editing for Fiction Writers

Preferred Genres

Absolute favorite fiction genre: southern fiction

Preferred fiction genres: crime, mystery/suspense; literary fiction; horror; legal thrillers; psychological thrillers; political thrillers; action-adventure, romance; family drama; women's fiction, mainstream fiction of virtually any type.

Other fiction genres Renni enjoys working on: general science fiction, espionage and all types of thrillers, erotica, westerns, Christian/inspirational, historical and biographical, children’s, satire, multi-cultural, gay/lesbian.

Genres Renni prefers not to work on: techno sci-fi, "message" fiction

Absolute favorite nonfiction categories: true crime and memoirs

Other areas of interest in nonfiction: memoir/autobiography, arts/photography, Christian, also general religion/spirituality, psychology, crime/criminals, entertainment, gay/lesbian, history, outdoors/nature, philosophy, politics, science, pets, social sciences, sports, travel, true stories, women's issues

Testimonials

"What can I say about Renni Browne that hasn't been said? She's a wonder, has an hysterical sense of humor and she gets it. She gets the pain of a writer trying to find the words, changes everything for the better with one red line and though tough in her critique sometimes, does so with a true desire to develop something good into something great. She has my respect admiration, and my friendship for life."

Jacqueline Gum
Ft Lauderdale, FL

"I feel lucky. I feel humbled. But most of all, I feel grateful. I'm grateful to everyone at the Editorial Department, and especially grateful to Renni Browne. Without them, my dream would not have come true."

Scott Pratt (Author of An Innocent Client and In Good Faith)

Gray, TN

"Renni is tough but in a good way. She's also supportive, complimentary, encouraging, and funny as heck. When she tells you something is falling flat, she means it, and when she tells you she loves something, she means it. And when I say Renni Browne has been a wonderful editor, mentor, support-system, cheerleader, coach, and now someone I call a friend, I mean it."

Chevy Stevens, (Author of Still Missing coming in May, 2010 from St Martins Press)
Vancouver Island, BC

"I had several “ah ha!” moments when Renni or Shannon pinpointed weak areas in the plot – and offered solutions. Both editors had ideas about how to add depth to main characters and spice up the conflict. Renni suggested I expand a key idea and bring it into the first chapter, which has increased the stakes and made the main characters worthy of a reader’s interest and concern. The annotation was incredibly thorough – a full critique plus many specific notes in the body of the manuscript. Something stopped my novel from being riveting. Renni zeroed in with her laser insight to illuminate the murky areas and shine a light on the right path. Thank you! I am working on the revisions with fresh energy. It seems at last that I am getting it right. I am very grateful. "

S.E. Floyd

Temple Terrace, FL

"I've digested Renni and Shannon's notes, comments, suggestions and encouragement and can honestly say I've never been more fired up about a rewrite. Their insights, thoughtful analyses and gentle techniques for steering me past my thousand squishy sentences have given me the tools and ideas I need to put the final polish on Killer, Cop and Me."

Jane Howatt

Oak View, CA

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Submissions

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