STEPHEN KING'S FIRST EDITOR AND PUBLISHER - MICHAEL GARRETT

On Wednesday, August 15, 2018, I received a note via LinkedIn from the man himself, Michael Garrett. He wants to introduce himself…

“My name is Michael Garrett and I'm an internationally respected editor. As credited in Mr. King's non-fiction book On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, I served as Stephen King's first editor. In a professional capacity I've also edited the works of such greats as Joyce Carol Oates, Harlan Ellison, Lawrence Block and many others for major publishers like Pocket Books and Kensington Publishing.

“I'm also an internationally published author and have been extensively published since 1979, in periodicals ranging from Twilight Zone magazine to my novel, Keeper, which sold out its initial printing and was optioned for a movie. My short story, "At the Count of Three," was also optioned as the pilot episode of a late night cable television series. My works have been published in England, Germany, Japan, Italy, the Netherlands, France, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Spain, Finland and Russia, as well as in audio book format.

“I serve as co-editor of the internationally award-winning Hot Blood anthology series, a popular selection of the Doubleday, Mystery, Literary Guild, and Science Fiction Book Clubs. The series has also been optioned for television.

“I served as an Editorial Associate of the Writer's Digest School for over fifteen years, and since 1986 have presented highly acclaimed writing workshops at major colleges and universities across the nation. A featured speaker at numerous writers' conferences, I currently serve on the Advisory Board of Kentucky's Green River Writers. Read more @ http://www.writing2sell.com/.”

Michael Garrett was responding to the following note, in which I wrote:

"Mr. Garrett, your article, like yourself, is formidable. As I read, I thought back to the words you bestowed upon me in May of 2006 with your 'Final Edit Report' when you completed your editorial of my potboiler, THE POSSESSION, of which you believed was a project too ambitious for a first novel. And you were correct.

"Even though it has been a whopping eleven years since your editorial, all the advice you gave me continues to serve me well. In that 'Final Edit Report' you wrote...

"I honestly feel that you're a gifted writer but you'll need a strategy just like in any other career to help you move forward over an extended period of time."

-Michael Garrett, Final Edit Report, 2006

You then urged me to 'stick with it,' and to 'be thick-skinned against rejection.' I did. "Suffice it to say, I worked on many projects throughout the years, but all roads led back to THE POSSESSION. In 2010, five years after your editorial, I returned to the project. I rewrote it a number of times, following, to the letter, every advice you gave. After I was satisfied with the finished product, I began submitting it to publishers. And, yes, I remained thick-skinned against rejection. There were many, but persistence has a way of paying off, yeah?

"Thank you, Mr. Garrett, for providing that necessary light to the literary world."

And this note of mine followed his spot-on November 27, 2017 article entitled: 

THE FIVE BIGGEST MISTAKES OF NOVELISTS SEEKING COMMERCIAL PUBLICATION.

Well worth a read for any writer seeking commercial publication for their works. Be aware, however, Michael Garrett doesn’t just edit books and stories. He edits the author’s themselves. That, I believe, will be his lasting legacy.

Pretty cool, huh?


Pragmatic author A.K. Kuykendall has a passion for writing conspiracy, espionage, horror, and suspense literature that blend the concepts of fact and fiction. For more information on his projects, visit https://www.thewriterofbooks.com/list-of-works/ or, to email the author directly for Q&A on this post, write to info@thewriterofbooks.com.