II. SUBMISSIONS
(Queries, Synopses, Manuscripts)

Some agents give preferential treatment to conference attendees’ submissions for one to three months after the event. What is your time frame?

Not fixed, but up to one year is fine.

Some editors say they hardly read queries; others say queries are an important reflection on the author and the story. Which is true for you; why?

I prefer a full manuscript, but certainly want to see at least a partial. A query can sometimes articulate a strong, high concept book, and we do occasionally acquire on the strength of a proposal if the author has a track record, but usually I want to see what sort of voice an author can give to an idea, and whether he or she can deliver on a concept.

What’s your usual response time to queries?

Four to six weeks.

Today, many houses are “closed.” Do you consider unsolicited queries and/or those submitted without a referral?

We do not consider unsolicited manuscripts.

What makes a query irresistible to you?

Voice, freshness, confidence: the sense that “I haven’t read anything like this before”; and audience appeal—kids (or teens) are going to love this!

Biggest peeve is an ill-informed submission: the query or pitch that suggests (or sometimes, says right out loud) that writers have decided to write a children’s or YA book because the idea just came to them; because they’ve been telling the story to their grandchildren at bedtime; because their experience in some unrelated field moved them to decide they have something to say to young readers, and so on.

None of these things is an absolute disqualification from writing a good book, but I think of writing as a craft that has to be practiced, and part of practice is knowledge of the literature and the audience—reading what’s being published and read.

b) Synopses

Do you read the synopsis before or after reading a manuscript—or do you sometimes bypass the synopsis entirely?

I always turn to the manuscript first—page 1, chapter 1. If I’m engaged by the writing, I’ll turn to a synopsis for a sense of development and story arc. If the writing and the voice are great but the synopsis is weak, that’s something I can work with—it’s relatively easy to suggest direction. If the synopsis is good but the writing is weak, it’s much harder.

What makes a synopsis intriguing to you?

If a synopsis encapsulates a really strong, fresh idea—and great concept—well, that’s intriguing. But synopses are necessarily reductive; it’s a writer’s ability to deliver character, atmosphere, and detail that counts—to draw readers into a world and keep them there. Imagine a synopsis of Harry Potter: it might be intriguing, but it would probably not seem particularly fresh or remarkable.

Should writers include a brief “pitch” (such as how their novel might fill a marketing niche), or will a succinct plot summary show you the story’s potential value?

A great pitch line is always a helpful thing: it not only encapsulates an idea and (more importantly) the feeling and excitement of a book, but it also is an indicator of the way a writer thinks: someone who can write a good pitch line can often do other important things well, too. But it’s not essential, and it’s not for every book: it’s a device that serves the “commercial” side of the spectrum more readily than the “literary” side.

Manuscript Elements and Edits

What’s your usual response time to manuscript submissions?

Four to six weeks.

How many pages do you read before deciding to continue or decline a manuscript?

It varies: on regular occasions, fewer than 10; sometimes, I will read an entire manuscript twice before making up my mind whether to move forward. For most submissions, I’m likely to read a minimum of two or three chapters.

What self-editing tips do you suggest; what are common flaws in manuscripts you see?

My answer to this is a bit of a paradox: I think the two biggest submission “flaws” are two sides of the same coin. One is writing too consciously for a “young” audience—writing “down” to a perceived young reader. I often see an adult write down to a younger audience, even if that audience is teen, rather than seeing (and writing) through the audience’s eyes and experience. The other flaw is obliviousness—writing with no consciousness of the audience, but only for oneself. The tip in either case is educating yourself as a writer: read, read, and read what’s out there; study the craft by studying those have succeeded at it.

As far as self-editing is concerned: I think feedback from trusted readers—friends, colleagues, or writer’s groups—can be very valuable. And I think there’s always great value to putting work aside for a time: finish it, go away and work on something else for a week or a month, then come back and read your work with a fresh eye. Both its strengths and its weaknesses will be clearer for the rest.

What are memorable, perhaps elusive, story qualities that hook you?

As I said earlier: freshness and surprise above all. I want to see the world anew after reading a book—to have my experience or someone else’s experience illuminated in a new way. This is true for any book I read—children’s, teen, or adult.

Tell us about your approach to revisions in an accepted manuscript—one for which you’ve provided an editorial letter and/or invitation to re-submit.

My job is to be a careful, critical reader, to ask good questions, and to anticipate how the intended audience and the marketplace might react to a book. Every author has different needs and works in a different way, so the first job is to try to get to know them and judge how I can best help move a project forward. Some writers like detailed, line-by-line commentary; others find this burdensome and like direction in broad strokes. I’ll try to give feedback direction in the way that I think works best for the author.

III. ON A PERSONAL NOTE

How has meeting writers at events affected you and/or your work? What do you enjoy about workshops?

Working on the publishing “industry” side (and in my job as a publisher as well as an editor), one can get preoccupied with business issues. The great value—and the great pleasure—of writers workshops is connecting with authors; reminding myself how they work and think and see the world, what their concerns and processes are like.

How may our workshop attendees best benefit from your critiques? What should writers know about you, the individual who scrutinizes their labors of love?

I’m a reader; I respect craft and industry; I enjoy the challenge of running a successful business based on creative work. I try to give informed feedback, based on my experience with the book industry—but remember that it’s one person’s opinion, not the last word. To be of value it has to make sense to you, and be actionable.

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