May 2013
62 posts
Slinking into the office really late on a short...
When LifeNPublishing has kind of been failing of...
Hey guys, I owe you an apology. I know I’ve been pretty lame about updating these past few weeks. There are a number of reasons:
1) I don’t have much to complain about.
2) I’ve already covered a lot of territory and I don’t like to repeat posts
3) I’m busy, my life moves on, and to be honest, I’m less into tumblr than I was 6 months ago.
So the point...
Finally getting the email announcing Summer...
And then realizing yours start a week later than your friends
(Submission from BookDreamerGirl, thanks!)
When you receive a completely unprofessional,...
(Submission from Echo, thanks!)
When authors ask questions that could easily be...
(Submission from Anonymous, thanks!)
Double plus bonus if the question is idiotic or offensive. I once had an author call and ask “Hey, what is the name of that terrorist Mosque by the World Trade Center?”
When an author asks me to do something I already...
(Submission from ReturnandFetch, thanks!)
Having to explain to an author that ‘cocaine and...
(Submission from LondonLitLover, thanks!)
When I'm late to the BreakingIntoPublishing...
My bad, b.
Errbody, check out BreakingIntoPublishing.
When a highly anticipated manuscript is even...
(Submission from SpecialEdition87, thanks!)
When every person on NetGalley begins their bio...
When a blogger tells me their litany of life...
When an author does not understand that I too have...
That one manager who doesn't appear to do a damn...
The poor production assistant, trying desperately...
What I dream about saying when an author thinks...
When an author makes the same grammatical mistake...
Editorial feedback on a cookbook
When it's someone's birthday and the boss calls us...
When someone comments that literary folk are too...
When one awful book just turns into a thousand...
Sometimes logging on to your email in the morning...
When one of the trades totally hates on a book I...
When an author bitches about me to their editor...
When people use elipses in work emails
When a ghost writer I did not know existed is...
When an assistant gets uppity
(Submission from Anonymous, thanks!)
When you realize that part of the reason your...
(Submission from Anonymous, thanks!)
note: I have actually gotten a few submissions/notes along these lines. To be honest, this is not at all what I have observed in my own experience. I’ve only met one ‘trust fund kid’ in publishing and the rest are poor and making it on their own like me. *Shrug* I don’t particularly think the CEOs of our companies are keeping us under...
Happy Friday!
When I lament that Summer Fridays have not started...
The actual truth when a book gets no reviews
(Real Talk Rant from LifeNPublishing: The thing that really sucks about this situation is that this is the one thing you can never say to an author. An author will call and ream out their editor, publicist, anyone who will listen, about how everyone must be bad at their jobs. But the real truth is that their book is just fucking terrible. And despite that usually being the most obvious answer to...
When I open an author's marketing questionnaire...
(Submission from an anonymous publicist)
How I feel when a book I rejected gets tons of...
(Submission from Anitra, thanks!)
When our meetings are extra long because the boss...
(Submission from Anonymous, danke!)
How I want to reply to author's e-mails everyday
(Submission from Stephanie, thanks!)
When a blogger says in their review policy that...
(Submission from Hannah, thanks!)
When I find YA novel with a Jewish character:
When that character inevitably turns out to be an all-but-secular, socially awkward comic relief sidekick:
(Submission from Tzviaariella, thanks!)
When an author calls to bitch us out, loses their...
We listen patiently:
and eventually:
because we know something they don’t. See, the author thinks doing this will get them their way. But really…
No, friend, just no.
In actuality, it will get them completely written off.
Because in this situation, the author is Kim Jong-un and the Publisher is America.
And in the vast majority of cases, an author’s sales are...
Yay Diversity!
Ok everyone, I’ve gotta run away from Tumblr for a while but I want to thank everyone for submitting! There will likely be a few hold over posts tomorrow. Hope people enjoyed the discussion of sorts!
How my children feel when they see just how vastly...
(Submission from Anonymous, thanks!)
When the protagonist of a YA novel is blond, thin,...
When Someone Asks About the Representation of Gay...
When they’re asking about gay men:
When they’re asking about gay women:
(Submission from Peliconaut, thanks!)
When disabled characters are lessons in humility...
(Submission from Anonymous, thanks!)
How I felt when I met the only other hispanic...
(Submission from Anon, thanks!)
How It Feels to be a White Woman in Publishing
Me:
Publishing:
(Submission from TheLifeOfABibliophile, thanks!)
When I noticed that our managing editor, HR...
(Submission from Stephen, thanks!)
When being the only hispanic person at a book...
(anecdote from a friend)
When an editor kept randomly but pointedly talking...
(anecdote from a friend)
Searching a SF/F company's list for a black author
Realizing that the only "diversity" in the...
(Submission from Anonymous, danke!)
Girladactyl: On publishing diversity
While you may be right in a general sense, I think it’s also largely dependent on what segment you’re in. I used to work in YA and FOR SURE it was mostly mid-twenties to thirties white ladies. Now I work in comic book publishing and while it’s still very white-washed in the offices (as many industries are) the diversity is much larger across our talent. Also, as a woman I’m...
