Heidi R. Kling’s Author Chat: With…Putnam Editor Stacey Barney!

Today we have a very special guest, my Putnam editor Stacey Barney! What’s it like working inside that drool-inducing Chocolate (Publishing) Factory with so many of us standing outside tearing apart candy bars trying to find that golden ticket? How tough is it wearing Willy Wonka’s purple velvet jacket?

I think like any job, you have your good days and your not so good days. Generally, I have a lot of really great days working with authors and my colleagues in the office. What I’m doing provides real meaning to my life, so I’m happy to struggle through the not so good days to be surrounded by books. I really don’t know what else I’d be doing if I wasn’t doing this. So I happily wear the purple velvet jacket. In fact, purple is my favorite color!

What is it you are looking for in a novel? Let’s say YA. (Though it may apply to all genres.)

I look for a strong voice and fresh subject matter. At the end of the novel, I want to be able to say WOW! That’s something I haven’t read before, and after reading it, I feel something I’ve never felt before. I’m looking for that WOW factor. Something new and relevant. I also, of course, look for really good writing. I love when sentences are put together in a way that just seems miraculous–in a way that makes me say, Wow, I didn’t know words could do that. Again, that WOW factor. I also look for the funny. I love to laugh. I love to be silly. I also look for narratives that explore deep emotions. Whatever I publish, I want it to be affecting. I want the words and characters to jump off the page and shimmer and shine.

You had a lot of experience in adult publishing before you moved to Putnam, what is it you like about editing and acquiring YA?

Having been a teacher, I’ve always wanted to edit Young Adult. I got into this industry because I wanted to be a part of providing a young readership with more books that truly echo their life experiences. And editing YA is almost like the work I did with my students. Managing personalities, listening and hearing their voices. Teenagers are so much more sophisticated than we (adults) give them credit for. I like acknowledging that in the books I acquire and publish for them. My YA books make me feel like I’m still surrounded by my kids in the classroom. Sometimes my kids made me laugh; sometimes my kids made me feel deep sorrow; and sometimes my kids made me think and rethink what already thought I knew and understood. Sometimes my kids taught me just as much or more than I taught them. In editing and acquiring YA, I get a glimmer of what I got from my kids when I was teaching.

After you decide YOU like and want a book, what happens next?

After I decide I like a book, I hand it off to a colleague for their opinion–this is what I like to call the reality check. If my colleague echoes my opinions about the book and will support me in the acquisition, I’ll take it to my publisher. If she likes it as well, we’ll decide how much we should pay and then I’ll call the agent up and say, hey, this is our offer. Sometimes it’s an auction situation, sometimes not. There’s some negotiation, and if all goes well, the agent will call up and say, “It’s yours!” Publishing is still a gentlemen’s business, so a lot of the business stuff can be pretty informal. It does work differently at every house. Some people have Ed Boards. After acquisition, the editor and author will set up an editing schedule, and when the manuscript is ready, it’s scheduled for publication. After the editing is done, and the manuscript is in production, art, sales, marketing, and publicity step in, and along with editorial, we decide how we’ll package the book, how we’ll pitch it to accounts, and what support we can provide through marketing and publicity. Galleys are made somewhere along the line and sent out for pre-pub reviews. And shortly thereafter, books arrive in the office. Of course, I’ve simplified it a bit, but I think you get the picture.

Why is it important to get paperback approval?

It’s important to get a paperback read, because you want to make sure that the book will have a long life. Publishing a paperback can also give a book a second chance to reach its market, even if it doesn’t do well as a hardcover.

Foreign approval? (ie: hanging on to the foreign rights)

If a book potentially has legs, meaning the subject matter will translate well in different parts of the world, it’s important to a publishing house to retain those rights. It’s another way to make sure a book will be profitable.

Do you enjoy conferences? What is it that you like or that you find challenging?

I do enjoy conferences. I like meeting writers and discussing the business and the market. I also find a lot of writers have a great deal of misinformation. I think it’s good for them to hear from the editors or agents themselves about the business instead of relying on books or websites that may have out of date or just plain wrong information.

The only thing I’ve found challenging thus far is when writers pitch me when I’m in a bathroom stall.

Has anyone ever pitched a book to you in the ladies room? If not, where was your strangest pitch?

Wow, did you anticipate my last response. Yes, this has happened. Stranger still was a writer who was going to a conference I was to attend as well, and was also leaving from New York. She thought we might be on the same plane, and asked the flight attendant to check her roster for my name and point me out to her. The flight attendant obliged, and I happened to be sitting right in front of her. Suffice it to say, the plane ride was five hours long.

You said you read thirty or so odd books a month and they are mostly the same, so when a book is unique and fresh, it gets your attention. Many writers are struggling with rejections, what is this ‘sameness’ quality you mean? Is it content? Voice? How can they break into that ‘unique’ area and get your attention?

The sameness quality is that many of the novels I read feel familiar–like I’ve read some version of this story before. I’m looking for boy novels, but not necessarily boy novels about a teenage boy who gets his girlfriend pregnant in middle America, and who has abusive parents and can only rely on his older or younger sibling. This is certainly still a viable storyline, and unfortunately, still relevant, but it feels familiar to me. Without something really special or different about the plotline or writing, I’m not sure I can justify publishing the traditional angst-ridden teen novel. I need the cool factor to also be present in the books I publish, even if they do explore traditional teenage angst. Writers need to capitalize upon that element that sets them apart from the pack. That’s what I’m looking for.

Why does it take so long to go from acquiring a book to it coming out in a store near you? What are the steps?

You just never know how the editing process is going to go for one. An editor usually can’t start editing a book, the moment she’s acquired it, as she’s got other books already on her roster and queuing ahead of the newly acquired book. And revisions can take many rounds, even seasoned writers may go through 5 or 6 rounds of edits, and consequently, their book gets pushed to the next list because it won’t make the cut off dates to get into production because it’s simply not done. Editing just isn’t an exact science. But aside from that, sales needs time to sell the book to accounts–that takes time. Art needs time to do the cover design. That takes time. Production has to get the book copyedited and proofread and typeset. That takes time.
Publicity needs time to send galleys to media outlets who work months in advance themselves. Without the proper marketing/publicity done in advance of the book hitting the shelves, you’re shooting yourself in the
foot. You need the months before a book comes out to produce the best book possible–and one that will hopefully sell.

There’s a lot of buzz out there about how writers should be pro-active with their publicity: myspace, websites, lj…how different is marketing and publicity now that we have the internet (and like with this interview, you are reaching who knows how many people with one click of a mouse?)

Well, I’ve not worked in publishing at a time when there was no internet, so I’m not sure I’m the best person to ask that question. How old do you think I am???? But I will say that the internet, especially in the YA market is essential. Books are in competition with not only the internet, but video games, movies et al. Kids spend major time on the internet. If you want to compete with all the other things vying for their attention, YA writers have to be on the internet too. I love how so many writers are online, though I do worry that even though they’re reaching a lot of people that those people are mostly other writers. This is great, but I think it’s important to get kids on your site and looking out for your book as well.

I was really worried about revising SEA, but you’ve been so encouraging and welcoming of my suggestions. Are you always this wonderful to your authors, or is the really scary stuff coming up around the corner?(cringe)

Yes, the really scary stuff is to come. :) I try to be nice and respectful to all my authors. It’s a hard dance in that we’re not yet really friends, and you don’t really have a reason to love me other than I bought your book. The test of our relationship will be how we come through the editorial process together. Don’t worry, I’ve had some blow ups, but not many. Most first time writers are shocked at the degree of edits they receive from me, especially after I bought their book based on falling in love. I still love the book, but I am an editor, so I edit. :) But I don’t think you have anything to worry about. It seems our personalities are a very good match, and besides that unless I feel an edit you don’t want to abide by for whatever reason would be truly detrimental to sales and reviews, I often let my authors have their way or work with them to shape the manuscript so that both sides are happy. At the end of the day, it’s your work, and your name goes on the cover, and I’m not here to publish something you feel isn’t truly representative of you and your vision. I always, always respect the author.

Now an easy one. And since you are my beloved editor you get a good one: if you had to be stranded on a desert island with any one author, who would it be?

Danielle Steele. If I’m going to die of starvation, then I want to go out being thoroughly entertained. But the author of SEA is a close contender.

Okay. Any one agent?

Hmmm. Not answering that one. I’ll only ever get submissions from one agent for the whole of my career! :)

Any one movie star?

Well since I just recently had my photo taken with Djimon Hounsou, I’d have to say him. Sorry Kimora.

(Does Djimon have any cute friends that may wanna go on a double-date?)

And while you’re on that island you’ll need to cast your little foursome as Muppets. Which muppets would play who? Remember, there are four of you now: An editor, an author, and agent and a movie star.
(That sounds like the beginning of a very bad joke.)

I’m definitely Ms. Piggy! Djimon would be my Kermit. The agent I won’t name would be Gonzo. And Danielle Steele? I don’t know. Who were the other girl muppets? But then again, Danielle Steele would probably want to be Ms. Piggy too, and then I’d have to kick her off my island, so I guess it doesn’t really matter. :)

And you thought your day job was hard! Imagine being a muppet casting director! Anything other words of wisdom you’d like to share with my readers?

Yes, buy books. And then read them.

Thank you so much for coming to see us, Ms. Stacey. We all promise not to pitch to you in toilet stalls unless, of course, it’s a requeted roll of T.P. under the door WITHOUT our book title and plot scribbled on it!