Twenty years ago this month, having recently graduated from college, I started working at my dream job: Assistant to the President of Curtis Brown Ltd. Amid the post-9/11 recession I felt reluctant to move to NYC, so I focused my job search on San Francisco and somehow lucked into one of the few prime entry […]
Publishing Industry
Don’t criticize a book’s editing unless you saw the original manuscript
Few things set my teeth on edge more than seeing reviewers criticize a book’s editing. I do understand the impulse. It’s a shorthand for saying the book is bloated or sloppy. In a famously conflict averse industry, it seems easier to blame a faceless editor than it is to pin it on the author. It’s […]
How to write a synopsis for a novel
Of all the things you will write throughout the publishing process, a synopsis may be what you dread the most. It’s not fun to have to shoehorn an entire novel into a relatively brief one-four page summary. But if you follow just a few relatively simple steps and follow the guidance in this post, it […]
New classes on navigating the publishing process!
I’ve been hard at work putting together some brand new online classes on finding a literary agent, writing a query letter, and navigating the publishing process! They include videos, exclusive downloadable resources, and the opportunity to ask me questions you have along the way. The new classes: How the Traditional Publishing Process Works ($19.99) What […]
How a book goes from acquisitions to bookstore shelves
Hello writerly people! I’m back with another guest post to take you behind the scenes in the sometimes all-too-mysterious world of book publishing. In my first post last month, we talked about the acquisitions process: how an editor acquires a book for a publishing house/imprint. Now let’s pick up where we left off and discuss […]
How an editor at a publisher acquires a book
Greetings writerly people! I’m so happy to be here in this great community my friend Nathan has built to offer semi-regular posts about the publishing industry. For the last two decades, I’ve worked as a book editor at various Big Five houses, as a freelance editor and ghostwriter, and in October will be publishing my […]
