Interview With Grand Central Publishing Associate Editor Latoya C. Smith
As an associate editor for Grand Central, what
do you do on a daily basis? The one thing I love about my job is that each and every day is
different. Mostly, my days consist of meetings, email correspondence with
my colleagues, authors and other industry professionals, reviewing submissions,
editing manuscripts, taking phone calls, going to business lunches, dinners and
events, and overseeing all of my authors’ projects.
What do you love most about being in the book
industry? I love the challenges. Each and every day I am learning
new things about the industry and new ways of doing things. I’ve always
been a lover of education so I feel as though this industry has so much to
teach me and I am ready to learn. On a personal level I LOVE
the reaction I get from people when I tell them I’m a book editor. They
are always fascinated and amazed, and normally the conversation ends in my
telling them what I do at work.
What are the rewards and challenges to working
with your authors? The biggest reward is helping authors hone their craft and make
their dreams of being a published author come true. I think the biggest
challenge is finding new avenues to promote authors and making sure the word
gets out about their brand and titles.
Which genres and formats are very popular
these days? I mainly work on romance, so I’d say
contemporary and erotic romance is hugely popular now, particularly in ebook
format.
What advice do you have for struggling
writers? Join writing groups and pair up with critique partners (not
friends or family members unless they will be brutally honest with you!) to
polish your manuscript as much as possible before submitting to agents and
publishers. Also, do not try and write to trends. Oftentimes the
subgenre is not one the author is strongest in which can really harm his/her
chances of being published. Lastly, self-promote like crazy whether you’re
published by a publisher or self-published.
How are you reacting to how publishing is
changing today? Nothing in life ever stays the same and that
includes the ways in which we do business as new technologies arise.
There will always be readers even if the formats they are reading change.
We all just have to adapt. So far, I find the changes exciting.
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Brian Feinblum’s
views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of
his employer, the nation’s largest book promoter. You can follow him on Twitter
@theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in
the third-person.
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