From Manuscript to Book -- Questions for Emily Krump

[Teresa Edgerton]

Emily Krump, who is an editorial assistant at Eos (the SFF imprint for HarperCollins US), has very kindly agreed to an interview. Assistants like Emily are in a very good position to describe the day-to-day workings of a large publishing house, as well as to explain a lot of the things that seem puzzling to the rest of us on the outside.

So, if you have questions -- about the submissions process, about who is involved in the final decision to publish a book and what happens to the manuscript after it is accepted, or even what's new and exciting coming up from HarperCollins -- this is the thread to ask them.

I'll be sending out your questions (and my own) around the end of the month.

 

[kitsune_boy389]

What do editors look at when reviewing a manuscript?

Just thought I might ask that one.

 

[scalem X]

Mmm I should ask at least something.
So here he goes:

What is the general policy of big publishing houses on the percentage of 'new' writers? From a financial point of view it's of course reasonable to lower the odds by focusing on the 'established writers'. Are the major publishing houses still in search for new talent or do they mainly rely on smaller publishing houses to sort them out to then take the writer on after his first book has sold really well?

 

[Patrick Mahon]

Teresa, thanks for organising this. I'd be interested to hear Emily's views on the question of how Eos find a balance between looking for the next new thing (in terms of subject matter or treatment, for example), and going for material written in an established area or style?

 

[littlemissattitude]

One thing that interests me is why it seems like so many more books - of all genres, and in both fiction and non-fiction - make it to the shelves these days with typographical errors intact. What goes into the process after a book is accepted for publication in the editing and proofreading process as far as physically preparing the book for publication? Is there anything different in the process now, say in the past five or ten years, that would make it easier for obvious typos to slip through?

Thank you ,Teresa, for arranging this opportunity for us, by the way.

 

[dwndrgn]

LMA has hit on something I've always thought of - how can a manuscript that goes through so many edits and whatnot end up with so many simple errors? Many of them seem to be due to the overuse of computerized spell checks (using their for there and hear for here etc.) but others are just baffling typos like htis.

Also, I'm a visual kind of person so the ideas of the cover intrigue me. Many images are clearly specific scenes from the books and others are just mishmashes of possible characters, important images and such. Are there specific departments that debate and consider differing ideas and do they get samples from artists or have an artist pool to choose from? I've heard from many authors that they don't normally have a big say in what the final design looks like but many do get to at least give their input.

 

[Daniel Hetberg]

Also, I'm a visual kind of person so the ideas of the cover intrigue me. Many images are clearly specific scenes from the books and others are just mishmashes of possible characters, important images and such. Are there specific departments that debate and consider differing ideas and do they get samples from artists or have an artist pool to choose from? I've heard from many authors that they don't normally have a big say in what the final design looks like but many do get to at least give their input.

I can add a bit of circumstantial hearsay to that. The cousin of my girlfriend happens to be a professional artist, and he has had several comissions to "draw a cover for a fantasy book". He didn't get access to the book (because it was still in the pre-publishing stage, obviously), and info on content was sometimes as little as "there's dragons in it".


edit:
typo, and a question that hasn't been asked so far:
How is the initial monetary offer made to the writer determined? What are deciding factors: previously published books, subject matter and treatment, quality of writing (as deemed by editors), etc.?

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Good questions, everyone. (But there is still plenty of time to ask more.)

 

[Rawled Demha]

seeing as though The End has not been explicitly stated, i will assume the gap to be an Intermission.

could a bundle of useful relevant statistics be rustled up concerning publishings.... not things like distribution of length of printed works but proportions of submissions to prints, new writers prints to prints for old hands et al.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I doubt she'll be able to look up statistics -- that would be asking a bit much, anyway -- but I will ask her to give her best estimate how many manuscripts they receive at Eos, and ask how many new writers they generally take on per year.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

OK, last day to ask your questions, because I'm sending them out tomorrow morning.

 

[Culhwch]

Something I am curious about is the endorsements on book covers and inside pages by other authors. Are they generally authors contracted to the same publisher who are sent advanced copies to comment [favourably?] on, or is it less of a 'setup' than that, and just genuine approval?

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Thanks, Culhwch. I'll add a question along those lines before I send the others to Emily -- which will be within the next few minutes.