Editor Interview: Literary Wanderlust

Well-written novels

I admire publishers who take the time to put out the best possible product for readers. Publishers who take risks on new authors are also important to me. Henery Press is a great example of a risk-taking, best-product-releasing publisher who is also successful for their authors and for themselves.

My favorite writers at the moment depend upon my mood. Since I read all genres as well as non-fiction it is difficult to limit authors I admire to just a few. But I must include Diana Gabaldon, Stephen King, Roger Zelazney, Andre Norton, Douglas Adams, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Kevin Hearne, Karen Marie Moaning, just from the top of my head. I love authors that create dynamic characters engaged with active plots.

Because we are a small press, we are able to take more risks on new authors, as well as pick up mid-list authors who have been dropped by larger publishers (which is a current trend in the market unfortunately). We simultaneously release both print and ebooks and are working toward a regular process for releasing audiobooks. We are a royalty paying publisher who also provides marketing for our new releases. We do expect our authors to assist with marketing, of course, but we make a concerted effort to market each new title.

Take the time to write a great synopsis. The synopsis shows us how well you know your story craft. We want to know that your story makes sense, has a dynamic plot, that your characters have good goals, motivations, and conflicts, and that the story has a beginning, middle, and end. All that information is revealed in the synopsis. You can submit a synopsis of any length, but the average length is three pages.

The ideal submission begins with the query. The query tells me the title of your novel (or non-fiction project), the genre, the number of words, and a brief pitch. The query is made in the body of the email. Attached to the email is a brief synopsis of the story (or non-fiction project), three chapters of the work, and also a marketing plan. Note that we ask for the marketing plan because we want to know that you have thought about how to market your book. Discoverability is the key issue for sales and is something that we (both the author and the publisher) must think about.

They submit before the book is ready for publication. It is a major achievement to finish a book! Each author should be proud of themselves for finishing. It is hard work, and exciting. But, this does not necessarily mean that your book is ready for publication. Take the time to make sure it is the best possible book it can be. The author may need a critique group to help them polish their pages, or beta readers, or even professional editors (though less necessary unless they are going to self-publish).

At Literary Wanderlust, our authors are both our business partners and the relationship is important. We work together as a team. It absolutely matters who you are as a writer, and as a person. If there are previous publication credits, we would love to hear about those. If the writer has won awards, we want to hear about those as well. Be accurate but don't be shy.

Honestly, this depends upon the piece. If the pages are engaging, we will read every word, and pass the submission around to all our editors to read. Sometimes the pages are well-done but the synopsis shows a large plot hole or conflict issue. In those cases, we request a new synopsis from the author. We know that a good synopsis is not easy to write, and not usually an author's forte and we want to give them a chance to answer our questions. Sometimes the synopsis is not clear, but we will request a full manuscript anyway because the pages are so engaging and we want to read further. Sometimes, unfortunately, the pages are not as engaging and we will read until we are no longer interested in the story.

Each submission being considered is read by the entire team, including editors and the marketing director. Ultimately the publisher makes the final decision, but a positive response from the team makes the decision easier.

It depends on where I am in the production schedule, but can include approving book covers, proofing media kits, contacting bookstores for author signings, reviewing submissions, and doing final proofs on manuscripts, as well as teaching writing craft. And those are only a few of the myriad tasks that we do.