One of the most important things book editors do is acquire books. Book editors read manuscripts (aka unpublished drafts of books and decide whether the work should or should not be bought and then sold to the public. That decision usually comes down to taste and an eye for the market. Another aspect of an editor’s job entails cultivating relationships with authors. Book editors are ultimately looking to discover new talent, publish them as unknowns, and then continue working with them as they build a bigger audience. For this reason many authors will have only one editor for most of their career.