A couple of weeks ago, my lovely editor Catherine moved to Hyperion, where she's now a Senior Editor. Honestly, I couldn't be happier for her. She is super talented and bright and has a keen sense for what's selling in the market. That's not all--she's a top-notch editor who supported me through every draft of ROMEO & JULIET & VAMPIRES. I couldn't have made it to the finish line without her.
Also, she and the design team at HarperTeen get a million bonus points for nailing the book cover. I mean, come on, have you seen anything cooler than this lately? I know I haven't! :)
Still, I gotta admit that it was hard to see Catherine go. Of course, I wish nothing but the best for her and her career, but I can't deny that I felt a little scared about what would happen to our project. As an editor, I've seen books fall through the cracks when there is a changing of the guard. It's unfortunate, and no one's fault, really, but nevertheless, it can happen. So I wrote up a little list of what I needed to do in the next coming months and made a lunch appointment with my editor in the interim, Erica. I wanted to do everything possible to keep the book on track, and for some reason, putting my ideas down on paper made it feel all official, even though it was written in red pencil on a subscription card from Glamour magazine.
I have to say, I was a bit nervous meeting with Erica. Although I know her from the office (when I'm wearing my editor hat), I had the same concerns every author has when their editor has been replaced. Are we going to click? Is she going to be invested in the book as much as my former editor? Will she even like the book at all?
Thankfully, there was no need to be nervous. Erica and I had a great lunch! Not only was she excited about my book, she was excited to get to know me, which felt fabulous. We have a lot in common--an obsession with the TV show Friday Night Lights and a deep love of Sushiden on 49th and Madison, to name a few. I didn't even need to pull out that Glamour subscription card! The conversation came so easily to us.
So Catherine was absolutely right--I am in good hands. Now I can exhale and start doing some of the stuff on that list, like creating a book trailer!
To be continued...
So accustomed to seeing the male as the vamp (or vamp to be)that this cover literally had me doing a fist pump in the air.
ReplyDeleteI imagine that changing editors would feel a lot like changing agents. Both are so integral to your books and career that the idea of changing either--especially in the middle of a project--would be kind of terror inducing no matter how smoothly it went.