It's somewhat difficult to write an introduction for someone with the accomplishments of Renni Browne without resorting to cliche.  "She wrote the book on editing":  she certainly did, but that barely scratches the surface of her accomplishments over nearly fifty years of editing.  To call Renni an expert in this era of instant internet expertise seems trite, so you'll have to read her bio yourself and find out for yourself why we're so proud to be part of The Editorial Department, which she founded in 1980.

JS: This is a huge question, but how has the experience of founding and running this company been for you?RDB: I'd have to say exciting and fulfilling. I've never been bored, not for one minute. Every book is different, every author is different, every page is different. When I left mainstream publishing there was such a need for what we do. Books needed editing just as much as ever, but that wasn't happening at anything like the extent when I entered publishing in the 60's. It was so exciting to see the TED idea slowly catch on.

Finding out that my son, Ross, was so good at it has been tremendously rewarding as well, and further discovering that he had inherited the family's business sense...well, there's a Yiddish word-naches-Sol Stein told me it means the kind of pride you have in a child who has accomplished more than you could ever have expected. It's been such a pleasure to see Ross take the company further than I ever could have taken it.

JS: I'm asking everyone this question: What was your first literary love, the first book or story that made you love books?

RDB: The very first? My mother taught me how to read when I was four years old, and she had this ten-book set, originally published in 1928, called Book Trails. I remember fairy tales (the brothers Grimm), poems, Aesop's fables, a story about a little boy's bed that ran away because he hated going to bed. And I loved Winnie the Pooh.

I spent a lot of time reading as a child, and my father was a great storyteller. He would take a nickel out of his pocket and say "would you like to know about Johnny Nickel?" and make up a whole saga about the life of that nickel, starting with metal in the ground. And I'm a southerner, so everything's a story.

JS: Did you always intend to be an editor?

RDB: I really did. When I typed student's term papers in college I'd sometimes make the sentences clearer, and that's editing. I just immediately knew I was good at it. I thought about getting a master's degree but decided No, I need to go to New York and become a book editor, which is a lot like saying "I'm going to Hollywood to become a movie star." My first editorial job was in the publicity and promotion department of a magazine. My boss fired me after three months because "You're a born editor--go take editorial-only jobs and quit as soon as you've learned everything you can." I followed his advice and as a consequence had 21 jobs until I finally became an editor at Charles Scribner & Sons in 1966.

I would hear Harry and Charlie Scribner argue about me-the offices were very open back then. Mr. Scribner would say "Dammit, Harry, she acts like a senior editor" and Harry would say "Dammit, Charlie, I hired her, and I like her work." Then Harry got leukemia and while he was in the hospital I dealt with agents, important authors, and paperback editors, doing things only a senior editor was supposed to do. The head of personnel told me I was "a situation waiting to happen" and I should find another job before Charlie fired me. "Can't," I said. "I haven't learned everything I can here yet." Then Mr. Scribner fired ten people, including me. I got three part-time editing jobs that would give me valuable experience toward my new goal: senior editor! I reviewed manuscripts for a literary agent, a paperback publisher, and advance reviewers.

All the while I interviewed for a position as senior editor and kept getting turned down. Finally the top man at Simon and Schuster told me the truth. "You're absolutely qualified, but you won't get to be a senior editor because you're a woman." My reaction was to go out and get non-prescription glasses, what I thought was a Rosalind Russell business suit, and a briefcase with only my resumes in it. One morning I came into the literary agent's office to deliver critiques and he said, "Sol Stein's looking for a senior editor, you're perfect for each other." I went to Stein & Day and lied about my age, said I was 30 because it sounded so much older than 29, and Sol, a brilliant editor himself, hired me for all the reasons Charlie Scribner had fired me. I stayed 7 years, took a sabbatical, then went to William Morrow, a bigger house. There I was about to acquire a bestselling author I'd edited at Stein & Day, but when I told the head man it would take me a month, he said, "It's out of the question, we pay you too much for that."

I dropped out of publishing and in 1980 founded TED. We gradually built a reputation and added editors. On our ten-year anniversary we sent out a press release and The New York Times sent out a photographer and wrote us up. The rest is history-we have clients all over the world, a lot of whom have been published mainstream, some of whom have made the bestseller list. We're just coming up on our thirty-year anniversary, so...

JS: You've been called the "best editor in America." What's your response to that?

RDB: (laughs) Well, I don't know every editor in America! And it's not a competition. My favorite author compliment is being called the Tiger Woods of editing, which happened twice in the last year. But there are other truly gifted editors out there, including the ones who work for TED.

JS: Do you have a preference for a certain kind of writing? Can you describe it?

RDB: I like writing with a distinctive narrative voice (as do agents and publishers) where the effort to achieve that voice doesn't show.

For more information about Renni Browne, visit her bio page, where you can learn more about her preferred genres and read testimonials regarding her work.  If you're interested in working with her on your project, contact us via our editor availability page.