trueromance

Selina McLemore
Editor
Grand Central Publishing

Summary of your job (no more than a paragraph):

When most people hear I’m an editor for Grand Central Publishing, acquiring romance and women’s fiction, they assume that means I read all day. That would be great, but unfortunately it’s not quite accurate. I do read most every day—submissions, contracted manuscripts, and published books like everyone else—but definitely not all day, and typically not at the office. Reading and editing mostly happens at home. At the office, I’m dealing with the business side of things—contracts, covers, marketing and promotional plans, etc. And email. Lots of email. Your editor is typically the one person at the house who has all the information on your book, and she is the one responsible for making sure anyone else who might need that information, gets it.

Why you like your job:

I like the variety of my job. Not only am I involved in a lot of different parts of a book’s life, but every book and every author is different. So no matter how many titles I edits, nothing every feels quite the same. It’s a very social job in that you get to know a lot of people, from writers to agents to booksellers, and in that you work closely with an author to help her bring her story to life.

How you choose what books to publish:

First I look for stories with strong hooks—something fresh and intriguing that catches my eye. Then I evaluate the writing. Are the characters well developed and do I feel connected to them? Is the dialogue clever and natural? Is the setting atmospheric? Does the plot move at a good pace? If all of these pieces fall into place, then I’ll share the manuscript with colleagues and get their opinions. Not everyone has to love a book for an editor to acquire it, but often other editors can offer valuable insights. That’s one of the best parts about working with a strong team.

What do you look for in a good book? How does that compare to your readers?

I think what I look for in a good book is the same as what my readers look for in a good book: great storytelling, great characters, great writing. Also innovation. An author who offers a new idea—or who brings a new twist to a familiar theme—is someone I want to read.

What is your favorite subgenre:

I love historical romance. Especially Regency-set stories—the clothing, the ballrooms, the intrigue. Jennifer Haymore was one of the first acquisitions I made for Forever, our romance imprint at GCP, and the sincerity of her characters, and the surprising ways she bends her plots impresses me every time. More recently I’ve gotten into paranormal romance. Really dark vampire stories are always good, and I’m getting into the werewolf thing. But I’m also interested in skewed scientific tales. That’s how Caridad Piñeiro caught my attention when I first read her new series about humans who are genetically altered without their knowledge.

How do you monitor sales trends?

There are different ways we do this, the most important being talking with our sales team to see what’s working for their accounts.
How many books do you read a month?

That’s actually kind of hard to answer…let’s see… This past month I’d say I’ve read about seven novels, plus at least that many submissions.

What is a slush pile & how do you mull thru it?

I learned about the slush pile during my first publishing internship. I was in college and thought my position was going to be very glamorous, discussing literature and meeting famous authors. Instead I was assigned to the slush pile—then literally a tall pile of unagented submissions occupying three shelves in my borrowed office. My job was to read through them and pull out the ones that sounded interesting, and write a short report for the editor who was mentoring me.

Now my slush pile is smaller, but it is still the waiting place for unagented, unrequested submissions. As a company we don’t accept unagented manuscripts, but I do try and look at every query letter that crosses my desk. My process for mulling through it still pretty much the same, except that now I have an assistant—Latoya Smith, who also acquires romance—to help me search. We read the letters, setting aside anything we know is automatically not right for our list, and look for premises that sound interesting. If we find one, we write the author to request more.

Anything else you’d like to tell our readers?
Forever is on Twitter! You can find out all the latest info on Forever authors, titles and contests by following us at @ForeverRomance.

Question of the Day: I’ve heard people accuse romance novels of “all being the same,” but I disagree. I think it’s one of the most innovative, creative genres out there. That said, I do sometimes see certain trends I get tired of. What are you tired of seeing in romance, and what do you wish you saw more of instead?

Don’t forget our GIVEAWAY - 5 sets of “The Best of My Desk” - comment below & winners will be randomly chosen!