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Creating the conditions for growth
We have a saying in Canada: Good weather, eh? We’ll pay for it later. Canadians have a lot of sayings about weather 😉 It has been a cold, wet spring in the Pacific Northwest. A lot of my veggies and herbs bolted early (went to seed). I’m now drying kale pods in my house so…
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Don’t play no game that I can’t win
I sometimes chat with folks who are overwhelmed by their writing hopes. They want to write the book, and they beat themselves up for not having done it by now. They can’t seem to find time to write. They wonder if they should even try. Why are they failing in this way, when they achieve…
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Write for one person
The Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist Carol Shields wrote, “A story is something moving to someone else. That is all.” A story has extra impact when you identify that “someone else.” Shields advised writing for someone in particular. She imagined herself whispering her story into her sister’s ear. When I wrote my first book, Tracking Giants (coming…
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Sebene Selassie
Editors have impeccable taste. We shape writing so it lands with its target audience, but before that, we spot talent. It’s the literary equivalent of digging down deep in the record bins. (We also know a little about a lot, so you absolutely want us on your trivia team.) Each Friday, I share a book,…
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What is a book proposal, and do you need one?
When an editor “acquires” a book, that means they buy it. An acquisitions editor usually works in house, for a traditional publisher. Penguin Random House, Milkweed Editions, and Scholastic are examples of traditional publishers. Generally, but not always, when they buy your book a publisher pays an advance against royalties, in several instalments tied to…
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Dear Editors: Big city hair
Dear Editors, I was 25 when I landed an editorial internship at Knopf Canada, an imprint of what is now Penguin Random House Canada. I had recently finished my master’s in literature, and was having the time of my life in Vancouver: working at a cafe, biking around the city at all hours, going to…
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The long game
“I’m planning on writing a novel,” she told me. “But I have a bunch of ‘life’ things to sort out at the moment. I’ll be in touch in September about working together in the fall.” “You can absolutely take your time,” I said. “But in my experience, booking an editor in September leads to pushing…
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Ear Hustle
Editors have impeccable taste. We shape writing so it lands with its target audience, but before that, we spot talent. It’s the literary equivalent of digging down deep in the record bins. (We also know a little about a lot, so you absolutely want us on your trivia team.) Each Friday, I share a book,…
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Chart your own career path
Here’s the standard way to rise as an editor in publishing: Finish an undergrad degree (or graduate degree). Pursue continuing studies in publishing, often as night school or as a graduate degree. Land an unpaid or underpaid internship. Before the pandemic, this internship usually took place in house—an amazing learning experience, but an expensive undertaking…
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Editors, time to blow your own horn
There’s a tendency in writing and publishing to think of editors as “invisible.” It’s the author’s book, and the editor is working in service of the author and reader, but in some cases the editor is co-creating the idea and the words with the author. I’ve long advocated for editors to speak up about the…
