Editors Look Forward to Meeting Booksellers

How does a book get from an author’s imagination to the shelves of your store? What part does an editor play in the acquisition of a submission, the development of a manuscript, or the production of a book? How does book editing work on a day-to-day basis — and what does a book editor actually do?

All ABA member booksellers who are registered for BookExpo America 2014 are being offered a unique opportunity to go behind the scenes at some of the top publishing houses in New York City to learn the answers to these questions and more.

On Wednesday, May 28, starting at 8:45 a.m., publisher reps will escort groups of 10 – 12 booksellers from Hotel ABA (the Grand Hyatt) to their various Manhattan offices. The structure of the meetings will vary by publisher, but each is meant to give booksellers an up-close-and-personal look at the philosophy and process of book editing, and how both play out each day at a publishing company.

“Editors have great relationships with authors but most of us are at a remove from that essential player on the other end of the book’s life cycle: the reader,” said Jennifer Barth, vice president and executive editor at HarperCollins, who will be taking part in the event. “No one is closer to readers than booksellers; having the opportunity to spend time with them offers a window onto the world in which our books arrive at their final destination.”

Katherine Nintzel, executive editor at William Morrow, said, “Booksellers are our most important ally in getting the word out about books we are passionate about — and yet we editors so rarely get to meet them! What a privilege it will be to talk books with the people who are out there handselling every day.”

Meet the Editor is open to all booksellers from ABA member stores. The new, the experienced, the young, the seasoned — anyone from an ABA member store is welcome to register. Children’s booksellers don’t have to worry as Meet the Editor won’t overlap with the ABC Children’s Group Illustrator Tours. ABC members will be able to get to the Czech Center, where the tours begin, by 11:00 a.m.

Booksellers will be randomly assigned to Meet the Editor groups and will receive their publisher information by e-mail prior to BEA.

The list of participating publishers, which is still growing, includes Abrams, Bloomsbury, Egmont USA, Grove/Atlantic, Hachette Book Group, Harlequin, HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Macmillan, Other Press, Overlook Press, Penguin Group, Perseus Books Group / PGW, Random House Adult, Scholastic, Seven Stories Press, Simon & Schuster, Soho Press, Sourcebooks, The New Press, and W. W. Norton. Check BookWeb’s Meet the Editor page  often to find more publishers as they sign on.

To register for Meet the Editor, ABA members should log in to BookWeb and then proceed to the registration page.

Questions about Meet the Editor or anything else related to ABA programming at BEA should be addressed to ABA’s Member Relationship Managers, Catherine Cusick and Nathan Halter.