Finding the right agent or editor is a very important piece of the publishing puzzle. I spent several months learning about various editors and agents, following their Twitter feeds to get a feel for who they were and what they might be like to work with. Many talked about receiving queries that didn’t fit them—something I wanted to avoid. There’s no point in sending a Romance to an agent who doesn’t handle them, or sending an Urban Fantasy to an editor who’s looking for Romance.
I’ve seen people so eager to send out finished pieces that they don’t always take the time needed to make sure they’re sending it to the right person (and honestly, I’ve been that person). It’s important to find someone who will understand the author’s vision and can best help bring that story into the world. A person who gets it.
After doing the work of searching for the person I thought would be the best match for my stories and personality, I decided to send Wandering Soul to Holly Atkinson (@editorHolly) with Samhain Publishing—and she loved it! Working with her (and everyone at Samhain) on The Summer Park Psychics series and Gray Card has been an amazing experience.
Holly has an uncanny talent for finding the exact areas of the story that I sensed needed help, but couldn’t quite figure out what to do with, and pointing me in the right direction to fix them. Seriously—we’re talking superpower levels of discernment here. And her feedback is always very clearly respectful of maintaining the artistic integrity of the piece and preserving my author’s voice. Plus she’s just plain fun! That’s a very important part of the author-editor dynamic for me.
The time it took to find her was so worth it. I wish all my writing friends the same good fortune in their search.
I couldn’t agree more. I’ve talked to lots of authors about their editors. I kind of feel guilty for the Hollyless ones. Working with her is one of my favorite parts of the writing process.
Who else would put up with random Christopher Walken jokes in our back-and-forth comments? 🙂