Smart Bitches, Trashy Books

Ask the Editor: Questions and Answers, Part V

We're back with more answers from the editor who is living a very fine life in my basement. She installed a wine cellar, and says it's a job requirement. I presume editors everywhere are nodding at that idea. 

Tessa asked: 

How much do the business considerations drive your acquisitions?  I expect it varies by publisher, even by the imprint, maybe by the quarter? Do you often find yourself reading ms you love, but are unable to purchase, because projected sales don’t meet a minimum?  How are those numbers derived?

Ask the Editor:

We don’t acquire to lose money. We acquire so that we can publish books we love and so everyone can keep their jobs. Have I bought books from authors who didn’t sell so well because I loved them? Yep. One author. For small money & small print run and they at least had a proven track record. And I didn’t lose money on the deal.

However, we often find ourselves unable to buy particular projects (the ones that got away!) It’s part of the day to day. That can be because without rights to certain countries (perhaps the project sold to UK… read more »

Ask the Editor: Questions and Answers, Part IV

The editor I kidnapped is still in my basement, though I've moved a wine cellar and some fruitcake down there so  my sequestered editor has plenty to eat. And she's consented to answer more questions for you, in the fourth edition of "Ask the Editor."

Taylor L. asked:

What tips a book from the maybe pile to the yes pile as far as acquisitions go? How much more scrutiny do you give a first time author than an author you’ve worked with for a while?

Ask the Editor:

Voice, honestly. And how much more scrutiny? I hope I’m being equally hard, but I know in some cases I haven’t been. (Because there’s the ‘trust me, you know I can deliver’ factor.)

Kim asked:

There’s a big name author that signed a 3 book contract in 2004. She published book 1 under the contract in 2005, but the second one has been repeatedly delayed. How much time does a publisher give an author to complete the terms of the contract before they ask for part of the advance… read more »

Ask the Editor: Questions and Answers, Part III

Don’t worry - I do let the editor locked in my basement come outside for fresh air and a nap and some wine and whatnot. She’s a freerange editor when she’s not answering reader questions here!

J9 asked: How has the explosion of the e-reader and e-book market changed publishing, especially acquisition, marketing and sales expectations?  And related, has the e-book market caused editors’ job duties to change?

Ask the Editor In a nice way, it’s given us other avenues in which to find readers. And in another it makes it insanely easier for us to bring books home to read. Every editor I know has a manuscript bag. (In the case of my old roommate, Kate Spade, paid for by a nice author) Now, fewer of them! It hasn’t really changed our job duties except that the negotiation for digital rights can take longer as part of a contract negotiation, and of course social media exploration/use is part of what we do too. And as I said, it’s now another area to review for potential authors.

And a last positive point—some types… read more »

Ask the Editor: Questions and Answers, Part II

She’s still in my basement (which is dry, thank heaven) and I’ve still got a lot of wine for bribery purposes, so Editor X is happy to answer more questions. Here we go with installment two of “Ask the Editor.”

Anony Miss asked: My question: why aren’t there more scratch-n-sniff contemporary novels? I think it’s a whole niche market being totally ignored.

Ask the Editor  Speaking as a person who had to research the embedding of a music box thingie in a book cover, I can say that it’s too expensive. We’d print in China/Singapore, which means it’ll take me a year to make that book, and scratch & sniff won’t store well on a shelf with all the anklebiters in Walmart scratching away at books they don’t buy. Lord, I’m grumpy today. I need more wine!

Ask the Editor: Lots of Questions, Lots of Answers

Remember that editor I have tied up in my basement? She’s been fed and I shared my wine supply because I’m not TOTALLY evil, and she’s consented to answer some of your questions from our original entry. I’ve got quite a few answers - she’s really freaking wordy, my GOD - so I’ll break them up in to several posts.

Kim in Hawaii asked Do you read bloggers’ reviews and readers’ comments?  If yes, does their feedback influence how you acquire and edit future books? 

I think readers do grow frustrated that they take the time to express their displeasure with a trope, plot, character, or even cover to the point that readers do not want to see “it” again.  Yet “it” appears again in the following year’s crop of books as if readers’ opinions don’t count. 

Ask the Editor We do read some of the reviews—those our author forwards to us and those we find online—I’ve read the PW, Booklist, Library Journal,  Amazon ones and the B&N, etc. ones on the books I work on too.

However,… read more »