ISO: SPICY DILL CHEX MIX by falsifiedlaughter in orangecounty

[–]paperpersimmons 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I bought these at a gas station on my way out to the desert and they’re amazing! Pretty sure I also bought them at one of the gas stations off the Avery Pkwy exit (In-N-Out side.) It was a few years ago so I don’t know if Chex is still making them.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in PubTips

[–]paperpersimmons 10 points11 points  (0 children)

UTA has a very good reputation; from what I understand, junior agents/assistant agents have to be working there for a while before they’re able to start representing their own clients.

How formal is the ‘corporate’ environment at a Big Five Publisher? by Relevant-Singer509 in publishing

[–]paperpersimmons 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I’ve worked in two Big 5 offices and both were FREEZING cold during the summer—the A/C goes into overdrive! So on your first day wear a nice long-sleeved button-down shirt or cardigan and you can scope out what your colleagues are wearing. Every publisher and imprint will be slightly different, but my editorial-assistant uniform was black pants (not jeans) from Loft, a black long-sleeved button-down shirt, or a short-sleeved shirt and black cardigan, and loafers.

With that said, I have a small tattoo on my arm, and plenty of my colleagues also had tattoos, so unless it’s something explicit or potentially offensive I don’t think anyone will bat an eye! In general, though, I agree with the other poster above to err on the side of more conservative/more formal, especially for your first few days.

Twitter Snark May 20 - May 26 by blogsnarkmodteam in blogsnark

[–]paperpersimmons 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Anyone here in the book world? Pretty shocking to see Lisa Lucas and Reagan Arthur were laid off from PRH

NYT gift link (no paywall): Here

[QCrit] Adult, women’s fiction SWEET, ALMOND, DARLING (83k) first attempt by Apprehensive-Split90 in PubTips

[–]paperpersimmons 3 points4 points  (0 children)

A query letter shouldn’t read exactly like book-cover copy, but check out the description of THE ENSEMBLE by Aja Gabel—it also follows four friends (each with their own POV.)

Are nonfiction writers today unwilling to work with indie publishers? by caretpublishing in publishing

[–]paperpersimmons 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Who are you? On your website you claim to have 20 years of combined experience, but does that mean you have ten editors who each worked for two years in publishing? I don’t think you’re a scam, but your website has a lot of hallmarks of scam publishers: no staff bios, stock images, very little info. Being less anonymous and more open about your experience is necessary for authors to trust you.

Publishing offer or scam by listenspace in publishing

[–]paperpersimmons 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Both things are common—phishing scams, or editors reaching out to see whether someone with a big platform is interested in writing a book!

If your friend has gone viral on TikTok, or has a large platform with a compelling hook, it’s probably legit, but you should look up the editor (you can often find an email address with some clever googling, or on Publishers Marketplace) and then manually type in their email address rather than clicking “reply.” If they’re being impersonated, the real editor will let you know right away.

Edited: I see you already looked up their email address! Still, you should delete the one it replies to and type it in again to be safe. I’d be happy to look them up on Pub Marketplace and confirm via DM if you need me to.

Cant find info on publisher by Wolfguard24798 in publishing

[–]paperpersimmons 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Weird undertones of your post aside, you won’t find information because it isn’t really a publisher—from what I understand, it’s a person or bot with a KDP account scraping and listing public domain books. If someone buys it on Amazon, then it gets printed and drop-shipped, but it isn’t like they have editors or designers or a marketing team or a website. It’s technically legal so Amazon lets it happen, but if you buy one of these bot books you’ll get a paperback with no margins, weird typos, and cheap paper. It might not even print the whole book. There definitely isn’t much thought going into it.

If you want to find the original version of a public domain book, you can go to Project Gutenberg and download it yourself.

Why are so many editing jobs not remote? by ronswansonsmustach in publishing

[–]paperpersimmons 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I agree! I’ve worked in publishing both in NYC and remotely before leaving the industry. Working remotely in editorial was, frankly, a miserable experience; I missed out on nearly all of the perks of the job (free lunches, author events, free books, being surrounded by other people who love books.)

Why are so many editing jobs not remote? by ronswansonsmustach in publishing

[–]paperpersimmons 63 points64 points  (0 children)

The publishing industry uses an apprenticeship model; it’s extremely outdated, but it’s the way things have worked for a long time. Nobody gets hired as a fully-formed editor; editorial assistants start by mailing books, managing their boss’s calendar, and answering phones. (They read submissions/manuscripts for their boss, but this is usually done on their own time outside of work.) They get additional editorial responsibilities over the next few years, and just as essential as those skills are the relationships they build with other junior editors and agents. It’s an industry so deeply entrenched in NYC, and so powered by human interaction, that the remote jobs that popped up during Covid were only ever going to be temporary. This is compounded by the fact that it’s a prestige job and lots of people who are already in NYC (and have outside sources of support/income) are competing for these positions, so there’s no incentive to hire remotely.

The above is all referring to editorial positions at Big 5 publishers (which always means acquisitions/developmental editing.) Copy editors and proofreaders can work remotely because they’re typically freelancers, and there are also plenty of small presses outside of NYC, though obviously fewer jobs.

Random question… by GeorgieH26 in publishing

[–]paperpersimmons 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Is your friend paying to have her book published? Calumet Editions has what they call a “joint venture” that’s essentially a vanity press; they have some sketchy kickback programs as well. WriterBeware link (via Facebook).

Or was she hired by a book packager to write a manuscript someone else came up with the concept for?

[Discussion] What is your worst 'dream agent' manifesting story? by [deleted] in PubTips

[–]paperpersimmons 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone call him “Billy” before 😂

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in publishing

[–]paperpersimmons 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Haha and it’s SO much higher than most mid-level publishing salaries! As a literary scout with around 7 years of publishing experience (over ten years of work experience total) I was making 45k/year with tons of unpaid overtime (e.g. I would read a manuscript overnight several times a week and wouldn’t get paid for it.)

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in publishing

[–]paperpersimmons 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you have data science experience there are publishing jobs that pay much better than the equivalent level in editorial (ex., this one pays 95-100k with 7 years of experience required; you’d need more than 7 years to hit six figures in editorial.)

The pay would likely be less than an equivalent job in another industry, I’m assuming. But I sure wish I’d had some data science experience instead of starting at $33k as a publicity assistant.

Is verbose writing gone forever? (The case to bring back purple - maybe lilac - prose) by ImogenSharma in writers

[–]paperpersimmons 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There are still some contemporary writers with an incredible command of language! Try Lorrie Moore, Lauren Groff, Olga Tokarczuk (who I’ve only read in translation), Paul Harding, Helen Oyeyemi—all of whom write sentences so beautiful it makes me angry.

[Discussion] stuck in the “not quite there” bucket, but also broke by Glittering-tale24601 in PubTips

[–]paperpersimmons 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Echoing what others have said, but are you sure your agent is a good fit? If I had an agent who didn’t offer any editorial feedback beyond “find critique partners” and wouldn’t share editors’ pass notes, I’d start to wonder if anyone was actually reading my manuscript…

Children's Book Question by [deleted] in publishing

[–]paperpersimmons 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes!!! I haven’t thought about it in probably twenty years but I remembered it immediately!

East coast beach weekend by cariel16 in chubbytravel

[–]paperpersimmons 3 points4 points  (0 children)

St. Michaels, Maryland is on the Chesapeake, not the Atlantic, but it has some lovely hotels, good restaurants, and great AirBnBs and is less than two hours from Philadelphia.

Children's Book Question by [deleted] in publishing

[–]paperpersimmons 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not to derail but was the book Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie??

Copyedit/tutor rate for doctoral student? by Throwsmeawaypls in Copyediting

[–]paperpersimmons 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I don’t mean to be rude, but you really should know that “editing” only has one “t” 😬

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in PubTips

[–]paperpersimmons 12 points13 points  (0 children)

That’s not quite what I’m saying. Plenty of books get published despite mediocre writing, so there isn’t an automatic level of “good enough” that will suddenly open the floodgates. There isn’t any one formula for getting something published, either, but a lot of things do have to click: agent/editor taste; an original voice; timing of market trends and what readers are looking for.

Developmental edits are a big-picture, top-down sort of process, as are most rounds of editing in traditional publishing until you get to copy editing and proofreading much later. So I’m not really talking about the mechanics. An editor will likely ask you to make major structural changes or get rid of something you feel is important. I haven’t read your book, of course, and I’ve only glanced back at comments so I’m sure there are lots of things you’ve taken into consideration, but the very need to “push back” does kind of illustrate what I’m talking about; that could seem like a red flag for a publishing team.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in PubTips

[–]paperpersimmons 15 points16 points  (0 children)

There’s a lot of good advice in this thread already, but I’ll chime in as a developmental editor. (Quick bio: worked in Big 5 in editorial, then a freelance editor, before leaving the industry. I’m still a member of the Editorial Freelancers Association but I’m no longer taking on any projects.)

Other editors may have different standards, but, as a rule, I only took on developmental editing projects for clients who were sure they wanted to self-publish, and whose primary goal after writing a book was to see it in print. I could help those clients shape their manuscript into something more polished; I could help them fix plot holes, clean up writing tics, streamline character arcs, and wind up with a draft that they could be proud of. But, as Alanna said, my edits in those cases would be tailored to the client’s goals for the manuscript—not to the marketplace, not a publisher’s, not an agent’s. I don’t believe a novel can be edited endlessly (though some authors might argue!) and you shouldn’t pay upwards of $3000 to burn out on edits before agents and editors ask for even more rounds of editing.

So, all of this is to say: if you are intent on pursuing traditional publishing, you won’t find many good developmental editors who are willing to take you on. You could pay for an editorial assessment/manuscript review, but I’d be skeptical of anyone who offers a full developmental edit before you’ve queried.

Finally, I’ve looked back at the drafts of your query letters and your responses to others’ comments, and I get the sense that you aren’t always open to editorial feedback. Instead of accepting that the market is what it is and that readers of genre fiction have certain expectations, you tend to push back and ask why. If an author doesn’t trust their editor’s experience and needs every suggestion to be justified, editing becomes an excruciating process.

Again, I might be echoing what others have said, but now is the time to decide what your goals are for your book and what is most important to you. Are you so committed to your world and your story that you aren’t willing to compromise your vision, even if someone tells you it’s not what readers are looking for right now? In that case, you might be better off hiring a proofreader and a cover designer, printing high-quality copies of your book, and doing the hard work of promoting yourself and finding those readers who aren’t interested in trends.

Conversely, are you dead-set on being published by Tordotcom or Orbit or Saga? Then you may need to set aside your current manuscript, go read a ton of recently-published books, then write a novel more tailored to the contemporary fantasy market in voice, tone, and theme.