Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

First-time meeting with publisher & editors (What to expect)

+0
−0

My fiancée is a first-time children's book author. What should she expect from her first meeting with the publisher and editors? Any advice?

They've already seen some samples of her unpublished work and are interested in interviewing her before signing any contract. The meeting is to be a panel-style interview (Skype call) with a few editors and a head publisher/director-type. How can she prepare for this? What expectations might they have of new authors?

History
Why does this post require moderator attention?
You might want to add some details to your flag.
Why should this post be closed?

This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/6070. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

0 comment threads

1 answer

+0
−0

The precise process from manuscript to distribution may be different from publisher to publisher - in fact, explaining what to expect is probably a major purpose of such a meeting.

In many ways, this meeting will be similar to a job interview - and the advice will be the same. Don't stress out too much - you're already on their good side (or they wouldn't be arranging all this), and they know you're new to the industry; you'll be nervous and you'll have concerns and you'll want stuff explained, and that's absolutely fine.

They'll probably want to explain the process; this is a great time to ask any questions that you have about what to expect. Come ready with questions if you can. It's good if you can read up on children's publishing a bit (if you haven't already), so things won't be completely new to you, and so you'll notice if anything seems unusual or off-kilter.

They'll probably want to get a personal impression of you; this needs some social skill, but nothing extravagent. They'll want to see that they can have a pleasant conversation with you, that you seem on top of your work and of their expectations of you, that you don't have any major issues which would make working with you a problem. I'll be honest - more than anything, they'll be looking for warning signs, like "this author refuses to accept any criticism," "this author swears like a sailor," or "this author appears mentally disturbed." This kind of thing is a deal-breaker. Of course, anything you can impress them with - professionalism, wit, dazzling beauty, what-have-you - is a very nice bonus.

They might already talk about the contract. Don't commit to anything you're not absolutely certain of - contracts are serious stuff. Handling the contract itself is a whole seperate issue, which you should come into prepared. I won't expand on this here, but be sure you expand on it elsewhere...

For extra reading, here's one of many available essays describing what makes a dream author. A lot of these will only be self-evident when actually working together, but this might give you a certain ideal to aim for.

History
Why does this post require moderator attention?
You might want to add some details to your flag.

0 comment threads

Sign up to answer this question »