Editor Interview: Common Deer Press

Vivid books all ages.

Common Deer Press seeks to expand the mind of readers through uncommon and exceptionally well-written literature. At Common Deer Press, we believe that books are magical. Black ink on plain white paper can cause you to cry, laugh, sigh, get angry, anxious, nervous. Fall in love. Inspire wonder. They can transport you to far off lands---places you’ve never been to. Even other worlds. They can make you think seriously about things you’d never even considered before. Time travel exists, my friends. We do it every time we open a book. The teleport machine was invented centuries ago when the first caveperson made the first marks in the stone and someone else saw them and imagined something.
Our vision is to publish books that are so beautifully written they border on art. We strive to to be both publishing partners and a caring people to our community of authors. We are willing to take smart risks and think outside of the box--unless the

Authors: Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, Christopher Moore, Philip Pullman, Deborah Harkness, Dan Brown, Roald Dahl, and our own authors, of course.

Common Deer Press is open to most genres, though we do tend to gravitate toward fine children's literature (from picture books to young adult). What makes us different is that we are after a certain kind of "voice" in the work we publish. We live to publish uncommon books. For us, uncommon means a combination of exceptionally fine writing combined with a quirky or unique perspective. Books that can take the reader on an emotional rollercoaster, fill them with wonder and transport them to other places, other worlds. But other worlds can also mean giving the reader an experience completely foreign to their own. We believe this applies particularly to our children's books. We want them to be magical, giving us something that is removed from everyday life and the feeling that something extraordinary has occurred. All our books have that effect of opening the reader’s mind to new possibilities and ways of viewing the world. There is a lot of competition for a
young reader’s attention; we feel that if a child gets ‘hooked’ on books at a very early age the habit is much more likely to stick.

First, write something awesome. Then, revise. Repeat step two. Get a great writing buddy or two and listen to their constructive criticisms and feedback (remember that they are on your team. If they're not, get new writing buddies). Revise accordingly. Then put the manuscript away for a while, maybe 6 weeks or more. Then read it again and tweak and revise as necessary. Next, consider hiring an editor to help you clean it up. We do not expect perfection, but we do want to see that our authors are professionals too. Part of that means investing in your work when the occasion arises. Write a killer query letter, prepare your synopsis, and hit us with it.

The ideal submission is for a really great manuscript that is within our tastes. The letter is concise but engaging, the synopsis is logical and short, and the sample has us screaming to read more.

We are not particularly easy to annoy, so though many of the submissions we get are from authors (and agents) who do not follow our guidelines, we will might still consider them. We are not the kind of house to get all uppity about the formatting of a letter. We need to see that writing sample though. The genre (and your publishing credentials) are less important to us than your voice and treatment of an idea. That doesn't mean your letter should be "in character" though. That's what the sample is for. We are unlikely to request pages if you didn't send the pages with your submission like we asked. For us, receiving only a query letter is a bit of a let down. And please send it to the right email address, not to our individual emails. No points for that.

We DO like to see decent covering letters, but the most important parts are the story sum-up paragraph and the pertinent information paragraph (word count, genre, etc.). We don't really care about the author's publishing history. If the author has the voice we are looking for, and an engaging premise/concept what happened in the past means little.

We always read the query letter. We always read the first paragraph. If the voice is not there, we move on. If it IS there, we keep reading. Voice, unlike a hook, is something that is there and apparent right from the very first word.

We have a first reader who brings all submissions that fit our 'brand' and wish list to me. If I think it has 'legs' I request other members of the team to read it. Then, if we haven't published something like it recently and it fills a hole in our upcoming releases list, I will seriously consider making an offer for it.

Well, everyday is different. Because I am the publisher here at Common Deer Press, my day might consist of reading, editing, marketing and publicity for our current and upcoming books, discussing book design and typesetting, artwork for covers/interiors, doing interviews, talking to our signed authors, working on financial matters, preparing and negotiating contracts, or discussions with our distributors. Because we are a small house, most of us wear more than one hat.

Our books are...everything. The quality of our books is what tells readers we are serious about the industry and its betterment. Every manuscript we take on undergoes substantive, stylistic, and copyediting, one round of each at the minimum. Once the books are fully edited and typeset, we agonize over the proofing. We check physical and digital proofs to make sure everything is perfect before we release a book into the wild. Always. We believe the quality of our product, inside and out, is what will carry our name.