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Editor Interview: The Paul Nemser Book Prize

Q: Describe what you publish in 25 characters or less.

A: Award winning poetry

Q: What other current publications (or publishers) do you admire most?

A: Harbor Editions, Nixes mate Books. and Copper Canyon to name a few.

Q: If you publish writing, who are your favorite writers? If you publish art, who are your favorite artists?

A: Paul Nemser, Kevin Prufer, Rhina Espaillat, Lucie Brock-Broido, Marie Howe, Ellen Bass, Jane Hirshfield, Ellen Bryant Voight, Mary Ruefle, Cathy Park Hong, Rowan Ricardo Phillips. and so many others.

Q: What is the best advice you can give people who are considering submitting work to your publication?

A: Be sure your work is authentic to your voice. and that the reader will understand what is at stake when they read it.

Q: Describe the ideal submission.

A: The ideal submission is by a poet who has mastered their craft and knows who they are as a writer. The submission follows the guidelines and is humane, in that it does not disrespect any person or group of people. Beyond that. the book lifts off the page and follows the reader home. It is lyrically resonant and its narrative is intriguing.

Q: What do submitters most often get wrong about your submissions process?

A: Most often. writers are anxious to be published before the work is ready. They impose artificial timetables for their publishing goals.

Q: How much do you want to know about the person submitting to you?

A: I do not initially read the cover letters, though I scan them. Once I am interested in a book, I look to see if the bio mentions the author being involved in literary citizenship or community. I look to see if the letter is polite. I do look at publication credits to see how the writer is engaged with sharing their work. Although we would not decline a wonderful book due to lack of publication credits, we accept with more confidence if the writer has published widely.

Q: If you publish writing, how much of a piece do you read before making the decision to reject it?

A: Initially, I read several poems deeply to get an idea of what is going on with the manuscript and the writing, I then skip around and if I am intrigued or if the quality of the writing is excellent, I move to a deeper reading. I re-read and think about the book many times, and each time decide whether to keep it. It ultimately comes down to what I cannot let go after several readings.

Q: What additional evaluations, if any, does a piece go through before it is accepted?

A: There are some intangibles like how the writer interacts with us, how enthusiastic the writer seems, and if the writer is conversant with their work. This seems a strange thing to say, but sometimes a writer is not yet aware of what they are doing with their work and of their impulses for writing it, so though it may be well written and even excellent, it is not fully realized.

Q: What is a day in the life of an editor like for you?

A: I work full-time as a nurse but also spend about 3-4 ten-hour days editing per week. These hours can be divided into the late night and early morning. I spend about 1/5 of that time reading submissions, 3/5 of the time editing including revision and proof edits, pub bin edits, and ordering/arranging manuscripts, and about 1/5 of the time dealing with metadata, promotion, planning events for books, and the mechanics of getting books to print. This doesn't include time communicating with authors, which happens every day at any point of the day.

Q: How important do you feel it is for publishers to embrace modern technologies?

A: It is important to embrace technology that makes sustaining a press possible. If it weren't for modern technology, I don't believe our press would exist.

Q: Do you nominate work you've published for any national or international awards?

A: Yes.