REVIEWS FROM WRITERS
In a profession constituted of tired
readers and failed writers, Jess Taylor stands alone as a true soup-to-nuts
editor. He can edit comprehensively, from major thematic commentary right
down to tweaking word order to make a sentence pop. I worked with Jess for
over a year on my first novel and without his input and dedication I'm certain
it would not have reached a level of quality to make it attractive to publishers.
I use him now as my brightest - and most demanding - reader and my publishing
house has been consistently pleased with the standard of the manuscripts I
deliver.
--Gregg Hurwitz
novelist and screenwriter
Trust No One (St. Martin's, 2009)
[UK edition: We Know (Little, Brown, 2008)
The Crime Writer (Viking, 2007)
[UK edition: I See You (Little, Brown, 2007)
Last Shot (Wm Morrow, 2006)
Troubleshooter (Wm Morrow, 2005)
The Program (Wm Morrow, 2004)
The Kill Clause (Wm Morrow, 2003)
--and others
Jess
(is) different….a throwback to the time of Max Perkins, when editors
and agents collaborated closely with their clients to shape their manuscripts….
Evidently, unbeknownst to us, the manuscript that Jess had pitched to (Alexander)
Payne's agent months earlier had reached the summit of his reading pile….
With one phonecall I had gone from acutely suicidal to deliriously hopeful.
Reflecting on the last six years, my first thoughts went to Jess Taylor…
who took me on when nobody wanted anything to do with me…. Without his
coming out to LA and risking his sanity, the likelihood of my manuscript wending
its way to Payne would have been remote.
--Rex
Pickett
novelist/screenwriter
Sideways (St. Martin's, 2003)
chronicling in Premiere (October 2004)
the progress of his novel from
first-draft to
Fox feature directed by Alexander Payne
When I can't see the forest for the trees (which is nearly all the time) I know you can see not only the forest (AND the trees) but the topography of the entire surrounding countryside, and your sense of direction is unerring. Writing can be terrifyingly lonely, and it's so much easier to go into that space knowing you're there as backup - even (perhaps especially) when we end up bickering like we're in a cheap cop-buddy-flick. You are a sort of midwife/godfather to my creations, and a smart-ass, tough-love Prometheus to me. (I don't know if that metaphor actually holds up but doesn't it sound GREAT?) It's SO rare for me to trust people's judgments and critical comments, but you're so damn good at what you do that I look FORWARD to it from you. Who else can make me giggle with delight while insulting me? You make criticism not only profitable but FUN. It's hard to voice how deeply I value your investment in my projects - you throw yourself into the worlds I create, never trying to wrest control from me, but determined to understand it all as deeply as I do. It's such a treat, such a luxury, that frankly it's a little addictive - to wit: I haven't even written an outline of my next novel but I've already decided you're coming along on the research trip with me!
--Nicole Galland
novelist
Crossed (Wm Morrow, 2008)
Revenge of the Rose (Wm Morrow, 2005)
The Fool's Tale (Wm Morrow, 2004)
I see you as the Mad Scientist.
--Will
Staeger
novelist, TV executive
Public Enemy (Wm Morrow, 2006)
Painkiller (Wm Morrow, 2005)
The time I most
appreciate you is when I've been drained by the process and need someone to
jumpstart my own smarts again. And excitement. Because you get the possibility
and potential inherent in any good idea and know instinctively how to bring
it to fruition - not just artistically, but also practically.
I think you already know exactly how your clients use and value you - the
guy who gets the bigger idea and can help you stay focused on it, even when
you lose track of it. But you also have
an amazing ability to do what a screenplay does, which is zoom in and out
of something - fix the nuts and bolts of it, while keeping track of how it
fits into a contextually larger picture. That is your brilliance. (Well, that
and the sustained highly amusing commentary that comes with all your missives.
We all might get yelled at. But working with you is just fun.) The other thing
that you do particularly well is adapt. To date, you've helped me tailor a
book of eulogies, a pitch for same, and a collection of e-mails, and you're
now helping my boyfriend with his teen novel. Even when you don't know the
genre it seems to matter little, you're still full of pointed commentary.
--Cyrus Copeland
author/editor
A Wonderful Life (Algonquin, 2006)
Farewell, Godspeed (Random House, 2004
It can be surprisingly difficult to
find a reader or editor who can see both the big picture and the small one.
Jess is a terrific guide whether you're staring down the barrel of a single
sentence or an entire book. He's both a particle AND a wave.
Also, he's funny.
--Henry Alford
author/magazine writer/investigative humorist
How to Live (Twelve, 2009)
Big Kiss (Random House, 2000)
Municipal Bondage (Random House,
1993)
I knew I had great material for my next non-fiction book. But the trick was how to get it to be a fun read without sacrificing crucial nuts-and-bolts stuff that would make the argument solid. Jess came up with the perfect game plan. And he helped me execute it every step of the way. On top of this, his editorial wizardry and engagement in the material made the writing process a joy.
--Leslie Dunton-Downer
writer, playwright, librettist, writer-creator
for French television
Essential Shakespeare Handbook (Dorling Kindersley, 2004)
Opera (Eyewitness Companion Series, Dorling Kindersley, 2006)
(both co-authored with Alan Riding)
Jess is relentless -- in the good way -- about getting you to turn your material into a STORY. He takes lumpy, shapeless prose and points out all the ways you've gone wrong, and at the end of the process you'll have something that gets readers (and agents, and editors) to want to keep turning the pages.
--Jeff
Garigliano
novelist and magazine editor
Dogface (MacAdam Cage, 2008)
