In the early 1960s, the great agent Sterling Lord began to work with Stan Berenstain and Jan Berenstain, helping the couple sell a new children’s book to Beginner Books.

The Random House imprint was founded by Theodor Geisel (who wrote under the legendary pen name, Dr. Seuss). In his new Lord of Publishing memoir, the literary agent recalled how Dr. Seuss dissected the entire first draft in front of the aspiring writers.

We’ve collected Dr. Seuss’ advice below–this draft eventually became the classic kid’s book, The Big Honey Hunt.

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

That has him upset, as a statement released to bookstore accounts by his agent, Laurie Abkemeier, attests. “John has not been an employee at the Philadelphia Inquirer for several months. It was after his departure that the Inquirer and Vanguard struck a deal without Grogan’s knowledge and, in fact, the Inquirer purposely waited until after a contract was signed before informing John of their intentions. Further, Vanguard Press negotiated and signed the deal knowing that Grogan had not yet been made aware of the publication.” Former Chicago Sun-Times books editor Henry Kisor not only calls the Inquirer’s action “exceedingly cheesy” but points out that “old miscellaneous journalism doesn’t sell, unless it’s by an immortal like Mike Royko or Jimmy Breslin, and even then sales tend to be modest.”

In other words, this is not “a new book by John Grogan,” and he won’t be promoting or endorsing the new collection at all. Instead, Grogan will devote his attention to the children’s books about Marley that HarperCollins has already published or will be publishing in the future.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.