Category: Publishing Insider

The Acquisition Decision: How I Pick a Manuscript

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I’ll be the first to admit I HATE sending rejections. I usually save them all up to do every few weeks, blast the Frozen soundtrack, and force myself to type out those emails to agents and authors I admire. In life, I am a yes person. But as an editor, I have to also be a no person. It’s an incredibly hard thing to do, because even the worst book in the world has merit. All the mediocre books are steps toward creating art. And the great books have the ability to change lives.

So how do I choose those handful of titles that will be mine? Dozens of wonderful manuscripts come across my desk every year. And yet I only get to choose a select few to publish.

First and foremost, I have to fall in love. Not “oh, I could keep reading this because I have nothing else to do.” Not “hmm, that’s pretty good.” It has to be L-O-V-E love.  Continue reading →

Manuscript Dos and Don’ts: Lightning Round

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Here are some down-and-dirty dos and don’ts for setting up a manuscript. (Keep in mind that you should always follow the specific guidelines set forth by the agent, publisher, or magazine.) I’ll start out with the general, big-ticket items and work my way down to crazy-editor pet peeves.

DO: use Microsoft Word

DON’T: use Pages, Google Docs, Word Perfect, or other programs for word processing

DO: conform to Chicago Manual of Style guidelines and Merriam-Webster spellings whenever applicable

DON’T: forget to run a spell check before submitting your manuscript  Continue reading →

Life in the Slush Pile: Surely Make You Lose Your Mind

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Slush pile (sləSH pīl): the black hole of unsolicited manuscripts in an editor’s inbox

This post must start by saying many incredible authors and stories came from the slush pile. (Check out this WSJ article to read about them.) But finding that diamond in the rough is analogous to finding guys like Mark Zuckerberg who can drop out of college and become billionaires. It’s unusual. It’s unlikely. But it isn’t impossible.  Continue reading →

Behind the Scenes at a Publishing House: What Really Happens to Your Book?

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The day has finally come: Your manuscript has been acquired by a publishing house! Congratulations. Whether you’re a first-time writer, self-publishing success, or veteran author, you may still have questions about what happens when the manuscript leaves your hands. How does a word document turn into the finished product? How much control will you have? How long will the process take? Every publishing house works differently, but I’ve broken down the basic steps that traditional publishers take to create a book.  Continue reading →