Tag: Industry Insider

Editor Interview: Maria Modugno (Random House)

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Maria Modugno has had an amazing career in children’s literature. Currently, she serves as Executive Editorial Director at Random House Studio, an imprint of Random House Books for Young Readers. Prior to that, she was vice president and Editorial Director at HarperCollins Children’s Books where she acquired such popular series as Pinkalicious by Victoria Kann and Splat the Cat by Rob Scotton. She also worked at Harcourt Brace Jovanovich and Little, Brown.

Some of her recent titles for Random House Studio include Uni the Unicorn by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and illustrated by Brigette Barrager, Grumpy Monkey, written and illustrated by Suzanne and Max Lang, Penguin Problems by Jory John and illustrated by Lane Smith, and Attack of the Underwear Dragon by Scott Rothman and illustrated by Peter Oswald.

Yeah, I’m pretty excited to learn more about all Maria does. Let’s find out together!

RVC: You’re living in Chicago these days?

MM: When we went fully remote, I left New York after 20 years and moved to Evanston. It’s right outside Chicago.

RVC: I’m from Chicago myself. My brother still lives in the suburbs.

MM: Oh, it’s great. My family’s out here, too. Whoever thought businesses would go remote and then say, “Sure, take off! Go wherever you want!”

RVC: This industry is well suited for it.

MM: You’re right. We do everything electronically now. I can work from Chicago as easily as I could work with people back when I was in New York.

RVC: Let’s circle back to the start. You’re a lifelong lover of reading and books.

MM: I just loved books even though I grew up in a really small town with a really small library. Kids were only allowed to take out three books a week. Maybe it was because of that rarefied status that I knew books were something really great. My family says I have the Reading Gene. Those who have it, walk around with a book in our hands all the time.

Honestly, if I could do anything in the world, I’d just want to read!

RVC: Speaking of reading…what were some of your special early reading experiences?

MM: They’ve fallen out of fashion, but I love the Little House on the Prairie books. And there was a picture book from Italy called The Circus in the Mist which had opaque and different kinds of paper. I was fascinated by it.

I just loved picture books, like Millions of Cats by Wanda Gág. At one point, Tomie dePaola took me took me to the Kerlan Collection at the University of Minnesota where they have all this art. Tomie asked, “What would you like to see?” And I was able to look at the original art for Millions of Cats.

RVC: Terrific.

MM: I also loved Two Little Miners, a Golden Book. Young readers really don’t have very discriminating taste.

RVC: So long as you love what you’re reading, it’s all fine in my mind.

MM: I wish I could say something profound to your question, like “Oh, I loved The Little Prince.” But no, whenever you hand me something, I’ll read it, you know?

RVC: I totally get it. Now, when did you realize that kidlit was the career for you? Is that what you studied at University of Vermont?

MM: No, I was an English major who specialized in poetry mostly because that’s what I was drawn to. I started out being a science major, but I found I was spending most of my time in the stacks pulling down books and just reading. Studying poetry helps me with editing manuscripts because in a picture book, every word has to count. Every word carries a big burden–it has to say more than just one word typically does.

RVC: You brought up Tomie a moment ago. Rumor has it that he taught you how to become an editor.

MM: I was so lucky. I knew Tomie because my first job in publishing was in marketing. I had toured with him because of that, when Harcourt moved to California, they put me in charge of the editorial department because no one else wanted to pack up and move to the West Coast. I was young and stupid enough to say “Sure, why not?”

I found out we had a contract with Tomie and I said, “Tomie, what are we going to do? I don’t know how to edit.” He generously said, “Why don’t you come out to Whitebird for the weekend, and I’ll teach you.” And so I packed up my warm clothes and went. We talked through the idea of the whole book together–Merry Christmas, Strega Nona. We carefully went through the story and its arc. Then Tomie said, “Now I’ll go off and write it.”

Then he brought the manuscript back to me and said, “Go read it, but don’t change any of my words. Just question things in the margin if something doesn’t sound right. Read it out loud to make sure it sounds right–not just reads right.” And I did exactly that. Then we met up and discussed my comments.

Through that, Tomie instilled in me the importance of someone else’s words. You don’t just trash them off the page. The author put them there for a reason, so let the author make changes when something’s not clear.

That’s how I started as an editor.

RVC: Wow, you were so lucky to have worked with someone like that.

MM I was lucky indeed.

RVC: Fairly early in your career, you went from being an editor to being in charge of editors, which is more like an administrative role.

MM: That’s right. I went from being a marketing manager to being a director of the department. I did that at Harcourt and I did that at Little, Brown and then at Harper, though I was never really happy with that role. I really, really love working on books. That’s what I want to do. Honestly, in publishing, that’s not what’s valued most–what’s valued most is being able to run things and stuff like that. And so I’ve given up a lot of that.

RVC: But that allows you to have your hands on a lot of creative efforts these days, right?

MM: Oh, yeah. At the end of the day, that’s what I want to do. That’s what makes me happy.

RVC: Can you share what the acquisition process is like for picture books?

MM: I’m part of a very small imprint at Random House–it was just founded three years ago. It’s run by Lee Wade, our publisher who’s formerly of Schwartz and Wade, and there are four editors and two designers here. Basically, when I see something I want to sign up, I discuss it with Lee and we talk about what I want to pay for it. It’s as easy as that. I also have to run a P&L [profit & loss statement], which means I have to gather sales data and track information. But I never ask an author to make changes until they have a contract in hand.

RVC: That doesn’t seem to be the norm these days. There seems to be a lot of R&Rs (revise and resubmit) requests before the potential contract arrives. Or not.

MM: When I read a manuscript, it’s either there or it’s not. I can see what needs to be done, and I see that it can be done. I can’t take a manuscript that’s a good idea but is badly written and make that good. That’s not my skill set. But if there’s something there that’s good and I can see where it needs to go? I’m all in.

RVC: Could you talk a bit about working on some of the bigger projects? As you were working on projects like Pinkalicious or Splat the Cat how big they’d become?

MM: Here’s the truth. I never imagined going beyond the first book with any of these. I liked Pinkalicious simply because I thought it was a great idea. You eat too many pink cupcakes, you turn pink. I also like that the little girl sticks her tongue out at me–that’s such a kid thing to do. I was surprised when it took off. I think some of it was shrewd marketing on the part of Harper because Fancy Nancy had just come out and Pinkalicious rode the coattails of that success.

With Splat the Cat, I was at a stationery show and Rob Scotton was there selling mugs and prints. I saw this mug he had with a sheep on it, and that became Russell the Sheep. We just took that image and expanded it. The character of Russell was very involved, in spite of not really having a mouth. I found out that it’s really hard to have a character express emotions without one, so I said to Rob, “Let’s find another character that we can develop.”

Rob had done a set of dishware around this cat named Splat and I said I want it to be a kid. Rob showed me how he could make the head bigger, the arms a little shorter, the body rounder, which made Splat more kid-​like. It worked.

RVC: Yes, it did!

MM: One of the things I do with any book launch is have a promotional hook. That first Splat the Cat book was about going to school, so it was a back-​to-​school story and that helped get it on tables.

OPB: What’s the story behind Toot & Puddle?

MM: Holly Hobbie came to see me at Little Brown. She had heard about me from another artist–Jane Dyer. And Holly had just finished a 30-​year contract with American Greetings where they owned everything she did with that little bonnet girl. She came to me and said, “What do you think I should do?” I told her, “Anything you want.” I mean, she’s such a great artist. She could paint with an eyelash–she’s just amazing!

The first Toot & Puddle as a story about one pig. Then we realized that if you have two pigs, they can play off each other and be two halves of a whole. And they’re charming stories.

RVC: Totally agree.

MM: The first book was cobbled together by some existing artwork. To me, it looks like the seams are showing a bit, but it all worked out fine.

RVC: I’m a big fan of Grumpy Monkey, which is another of the books you edited.

MM: The Langs are so talented that I can’t even believe it. I think they were one of the first to tap into the whole social emotional learning trend because that book comes right out and says, “It’s okay to be grumpy. You don’t have to put on a happy face.” Their books are funny, but they all have this truth–something kids need to learn.

I want to add that I don’t deliberately publish books to teach kids anything. They get that elsewhere. If somebody gave me a book and said, “Here, this is a good book for women who can’t get along with their mothers!” I’d throw that book right back at their head. That’s not why I read books. I like to read books to read books, not to learn things.

RVC: If you learn something, it’s just a bonus. But it’s not the point.

MM: No. And if it is, there’s Sam Goldwyn, who said, “All I want is story. Let Western Union take care of the messages.”

RVC: What do you look for in illustrations?

MM: Among the first people I worked with was Tomie, who was obviously a gifted artist. I also work with a lot of animators because they have the ability to tell a story. What I’m always looking for is movement. I also look for funny because I think the world needs funny books. There just aren’t enough of them.

A lot of do at work requires me to substantiate my decisions with data. But honestly, sometimes I make a preliminary decision and then I look for the data to substantiate it.

RVC: That makes sense. The art+story package should generate a gut reaction.

MM: Yes, that’s right. I don’t like mood pieces. I don’t like fancy words that don’t add up to anything. I don’t like bad rhymes. I just want great stories.

RVC: What are your thoughts on marketing, particularly for debut picture book creators?

MM: It’s the hardest thing with picture books because we don’t market to our direct audience (because we can’t). The biggest marketing or promotion you can do for a book is to get it placement in a bookstore. I never sign up a book without envisioning where it’s going to go in the bookstore. I think about what’s going to compel a bookstore buyer say, “I have to have THIS book and not THAT one.”

Honestly, a beautiful book and a beautiful story isn’t enough. It has to fit into something that a bookseller will promote, like a holiday, or Black History Month, or some other event. You need to have that kind of promotional connection because most picture books have the shelf life of a quart of milk.

If you don’t get it out there and get it noticed, it’s gone.

RVC: Will you talk a bit about your own writing, such as Santa Claus and the Three Bears?

MM: I wrote that book on a lark for a friend. I love that classic story, and I love giving it a twist. But I don’t consider myself a writer at all.

At one point, I took drawing lessons, but believe me, there’s no hidden talent there. I just wanted to know what it felt like for an artist or writer to confront a blank piece of paper. What does it feel like to put that first mark on it?

Maybe that’s what I learned from Santa Claus and the Three Bears–I had to mentally see the story and where it was going to go before I could write it.

RVC: What’s the most important trait that you bring to the editing process?

MM: I never forget what it’s like to be a kid.

When my nephew Chris was four years old, he moved from a very old house in New England to a brand-​new house in the Midwest. I asked, “So, Chris, how’s the new house?” He said, “All the doorknobs are the same.” That’s the viewpoint of a kid. They’re not in our world. They’re in a world that comes up to our waist. You have to remember that. You have to remember the things that interest them.

Kids also like funny things, but a lot of editors prefer serious things. I think the world is serious enough already.

RVC: What are some of your proudest moments as an editor?

MM: I love when a new book comes in. And I love when books hit the bestseller list. Funny books don’t win awards, though. They don’t get starred reviews either. And it took me a long time before I figured that out. By the time I figured it out, I decided that winning awards wasn’t what I was about anyway.

I come from a working-​class background, so I always felt it’s my job to keep authors and artists earning money and working. I don’t like to make them wait for a response from a publisher because that time is time that they’re not making money.

RVC: A lot of writers are going to love that you said that!

MM: I’ll add this–a high point for me is working with Lane Smith. I’m in awe of him. Over and over again, he proves himself to be both brilliant and nice.

RVC: I’m not surprised. That seems to be the brand not just for Lane but also a lot of people in the kidlit industry. It’s good people and good audiences.

MM: You’re right about that.

RVC: Beyond the obvious–join SCBWI, read a lot, write a lot, etc.–what’s your advice for aspiring picture book writers?

MM: I think it’s more than just reading other books–it’s reading them critically. To do this, ask good questions.

  • What did I like about this?
  • What made me turn the pages?
  • Why didn’t I like this?

I also encourage writers of picture books to think visually. As they write, they should see the picture that their words are going to suggest. I’m not talking about art notes, but rather how you imagine these words looking when they’re illustrated. You have to tie the two together all the time.

RVC: Alright, Maria–it’s time for the Speed Round. Are you ready for some zip-​zappy goodness with super-​fast questions and super-​duper-​quick answers?

MM: Sure.

RVC: If animals could talk, which would be the most annoying?

MM: A gnat.

RVC: If you built a picture-​book-​themed hotel, what would the theme be and what would the rooms look like?

MM: Classic fairy tales because they’re so popular and I’d want people to come. Either that or The Nightmare Before Christmas.

RVC: What secret talent do you have that no one would expect?

MM: I make hats. I’m an amateur milliner.

RVC: What’s your dream project in the picture book world?

MM: I’ve already lived so many of them! But my dream would be to sign books without having to go to auctions. They’re really competitive and they rub me the wrong way.

RVC: What’s the One That Got Away?

MM: There’s one every year. That’s one of the things about a picture book–different editors will envision it differently. So, if I saw a book one way and somebody else published one another way, did it really get away or was that book meant to be what it became?

RVC: What is your picture book philosophy?

MM: Don’t forget kids are going to read it.

RVC: This has been a real treat, Maria. Thanks so much!

OPB Favorites: Best Agent/​Editor Interview Moments from OPB in 2022

On By Only Picture BooksIn Bonus Goodies

Thanks to having such a GREAT crew of writers, artists, and industry folks visit OPB this past year, tons of terrific/​useful/​exciting things came out in the interviews. For this final Industry Insider post, I decided to compile some of the most memorable agent/​editor interview moments right here in one handy-​dandy end-​of-​the-​year post.

**If their answers required a lead-​in/​framing questions, I included those. Many of these gems, however, stand well enough on their own.**

Did I miss a great line or idea from a 2022 Industry Insider interview that really stuck with you? If so, go ahead and tell me in the comments.

See you in 2023!

Reka Simonsen (Editorial Director, Atheneum)

RVC: What’s the most common misconception about editors?

RS: Even in the book world, I find that most people still think that editing means correcting grammar and punctuation—the kind of red-​pen editing that a lot of us are familiar with from the notes teachers wrote on our school essays. More experienced writers and agents know otherwise, of course, but first-​time authors still often expect that the first thing they’ll see from an editor is a detailed line-​level edit of the manuscript, which is usually a much later step in the process, rather than a letter or conversation that looks at the bigger picture aspects of the story, which is more often the first editorial step.

Kayla Tostevin (Senior Editor, Page Street)

RVC: What important lessons did editing that book teach you?

KT: This book was probably my first big lesson on how incredibly subjective publishing is. The author-illustrator–my bosses–and I all had many different ideas about the best way to handle many aspects of this book, and I realized, oh, being an editor is much less about fully controlling the development of a book than it is about finding the best route to solid middle ground between multiple visions. It’s not steering the car so much as politely giving directions from the shotgun seat, while sometimes the driver ignores you to make their own rogue turns, or the backseat passengers argue, or your maps app dies and you have to ask everyone to pull over and be patient with you while you reroute.

It’s a kind of chaos I’ve learned to fondly embrace. Having to come up with a new title that satisfied everyone was an especially hard piece of this lesson.

Frances Gilbert (Editor-​in-​Chief, Doubleday Books for Young Readers/​Random House Children’s Books)

RVC: Let’s help some of the aspiring writers out there. What’s a common misconception about kidlit editors?

FG: I know our industry can feel opaque when you’re trying to break in. One thing I always let people know is that we’re always earnestly trying to find exciting new works. I think people have the idea that we enjoy rejecting things, when in truth it’s the opposite. We’re always avidly trying to find great writing. We don’t enjoy saying “No” as often as we must. “Yes” is always more exciting.

***

RVC: One more question for aspiring writers—what are your feelings on art notes? 

FG: If I don’t know what you envision happening in the book without art notes, then give me art notes. It’s that simple. I don’t understand why people worry about them so much.

Catherine Laudone (Editor, Paula Wiseman Books)

CL: Today, I make time to read for pleasure (and for school), and I go to the library once a week to check out picture books and graphic novels. Although I will admit that I consume novels mostly in the audiobook format these days. It’s easier to listen while doing the dishes, making dinner, or driving somewhere than it is to find time to sit down and read a physical copy.

Allison Cohen (Editor, Running Press Kids)

RVC: All the time, I see editors moving into the field of agenting. You did that, but then you boomeranged back to editing. That’s really quite rare.

AC: I loved being an agent. I loved working with writers across genres—children’s and adult, fiction and non-​fiction, etc. And the relationships I built with my authors were unbelievably special. But the 24⁄7 hustle was a lot. You’re not just an agent—you’re an editor, an accountant, a lawyer, a therapist, etc. I often found myself pulled away from some of what I loved best about the job—working with authors on developing their manuscripts. Don’t get me wrong, being an editor requires hustle—nights and weekends reading and editing—but it’s a different kind. I had been talking to an editor friend of mine about life and maybe making a change but not really knowing what that change was.

***

RVC: What’s one thing that a lot of people just don’t quite understand about picture books?

AC: There is SO much that has to come together to make a book. That’s why schedules can be so long. It takes a lot to create synergy between the text and illustrations—you have the manuscript, then you find the right illustrator, then you get the sketches (almost always adjustments are made), then you see the color art (more adjustments are made). You’re getting together materials to share with sales so they can sell in to their accounts. You’re building marketing/​publicity plans to launch the book into the world. All this is happening while the managing ed and production teams are doing their best to make sure the books are printed, shipped, etc. There are so many hands that touch a book. It takes time. It’s a lot of work, but then you get the advance copy, hold it in your hands and think, THIS IS WHY. It is incredible when everything works out.

Lisa Rosinsky (Senior Editor, Barefoot Books)

LR: Early mornings are still my favorite time to write…when my creative brain is still loose and dreamy, before my critic/​editor brain has fully awoken.
***

 

RVC: Who or what has influenced you as an editor?

LR: That’s a tough one…I’d have to name every book I’ve ever read and every editor I’ve ever had the privilege to work with. Most recently, though, I have to say that reading books with my two-​year-​old has taught me an enormous amount about editing. There’s nothing like reading a book over and over with a toddler to show you where the plot lags or fails to hold a reader’s attention, where the syntax is clunky or there are missing details. And picture books are a shared experience between an adult and a child—you have to think about the grownup buying and reading the books as well as the young audience. My new test for a manuscript when I’m reading submissions is, “Would I still want to read this one again after reading it at bedtime every single night for MONTHS?”

RVC: That’s a high bar, indeed!

LR: Absolutely.

Tricia Lawrence (Agent, Erin Murphy Literary Agency)

RVC: What’s the most important things authors should know or understand about effectively using social media to support their careers?

TL: That social media DOES NOT MATTER without the writing. It supports the book, but it doesn’t supersede the book. You only need a massive social media platform if you’re writing nonfiction for the mainstream adult trade market, say, if you’ve got a new approach to phlebotomy or something (ha!), but the story matters the most in children’s literature and teen literature. It’s ALL that matters.

That said, pick the social media tools you enjoy and leave off the rest. If you don’t like Twitter, it will be obvious. If you LOVE TikTok, go with god and have fun.

Jacqui Lipton (Agent, Tobias Literary Agency)

RVC: You work as a legal consultant for writers and creative artists. What’s the most frequently asked question you get? 

JL: Definitely questions about including other people’s work (e.g. song lyrics, lines of poetry, photographs) in your own work—and the extent to which that infringes copyright. A lot of people think that giving attribution to the original creator avoids a copyright infringement problem and it really doesn’t because copyright isn’t about attribution—it’s about copying. Attributing the original creator is always nice, but it’s not a copyright issue. If the original creator gives you permission to use their work and asks for attribution in return, that’s a contract (it’s a contractual license to use their work with attribution).

The other common question is about defamation—say, someone is writing a memoir and want to know what they can “get away with” writing about real people in their lives without being at risk for a defamation suit. Luckily for authors, defamation is a pretty weak law in the United States as compared with other countries. Truth does tend to be a defense and statements of opinion, rather than fact, are typically not defamatory.

***

RVC: What’s your personal feeling on Art Notes from authors?

JL: I think they’re fine as long as they’re not overdone. Some pieces require more art notes than others to clarify what’s happening in the text. As long as the author isn’t being overly prescriptive and not giving any room for the illustrator to shine, or, conversely, the author isn’t leaving too much of the narrative to the illustrator because the author, say, doesn’t really know how the story ends (!), I think, with practice, it’s usually relatively clear where and when illustrator notes should be included.

Agents should be able to help with this, too. I’m often discussing adding illustrator notes (or removing them) with client work, so there’s no “perfect” amount of illustrator notes to include when querying agents, and an agent who likes your work should be able to discuss including or deleting illustrator notes. Same with backmatter and other supplemental information.

Natalie Lakosil (Agent, Irene Goodman Literary Agency)

RVC: What are some of the lessons you learned by agenting children’s books?

NL: What I learned over the years was that you’re going to suck at it for a little bit. You have to push past that, the “I don’t know what I’m doing, and nothing is selling–why is nothing selling…WHY?” because you’re kind of figuring out your own path.

Obviously, I didn’t NOT sell anything, but I have a much stronger sell-​through rate now. Back then, I was still building connections. I learned that you have to stay flexible as an agent. Don’t be afraid to branch into something new, even though it’s going to take work. You’re going to have to do a lot of research. You’re going to have to talk to colleagues. You’re going to have a lot of trial and error and not be perfect in your style and process. That could all take years, but it’s worth it in the end. You just have to push past that learning curve.

***

RVC: What is the hardest part about being a literary agent?

NL: The emotional roller coaster of the industry. I get rejection daily. I pour my heart and soul into projects that don’t sell. I fall in love with projects that I don’t get to work on. I get horrible news when a book is cancelled, or something bad happens and something’s in jeopardy for an author or client. There are so many things that shift daily that you have to practice self care a lot so you can manage the ups and downs.

It’s commission work, too. Not everybody works on commission, but at least for me, it means there are ups and down throughout the year. You could have a fantastic first quarter that makes your year, then maybe nothing comes in for the next couple months and you’re questioning, “Am I ever going to sell a book again?” because you’re seeing other agents doing amazing things. And you’re thinking like, “Oh, should I be doing that?” There’s a lot of comparison going on. It’s like the Facebook thing, a lot of people shouting about all their amazing things. But they don’t share the hardships, and we all experience hardships.

James McGowan (Agent, BookEnds Literary Agency)

JW: What was the most helpful lesson you learned as an intern?

JM: Ask questions. I am by nature a question-​asker but it is crucial that every intern abandon any level of fear and just ask the question they have. There is no stupid question when you’re learning a field. Also, it makes you look engaged, interested, and people remember you better when they talk to you more.

***

JW: Was there anything about the process of having your book published that took you by surprise, having worked in the industry?

JM: Ha! No, not really. I knew what to expect. Well, maybe just the general anxiety of it all. I did not realize how much pressure one can feel when gearing up for a publication day.

 

And since OPB underpromises and over-delivers…here are a few inspirational SCBWI FL conference highlights from this year’s Orlando event, as well!

(If you want to see all of them, here’s the full write-​up on it @ OPB.)

 

Brett Duquette (Executive Editor, Little Bee Books)

BD: Revising can be hard. One idea is to take it like a cake in layers. Don’t try and do everything at the same time. Because if you’re like me, all you’ll do is just work on making verbs and nouns prettier. Have a language layer or a plot layer or a character layer. It might help to think about it like you’re painting.

***

BD: When I was younger, my brother gave me a photo of myself as a baby and said, Would you be mean to that person? So, if you’re hard on yourself, look at a photo of yourself as a child, and remember that you deserve love. Be gentle to yourself.

Aneeka Kalia (Associate Editor, Viking Children’s Books)

AK: Be patient, be persistent, and be kind to yourself.

Laurent Linn (Art Director, Simon & Schuster)

LL: Be true to your purpose. Because your purpose is one of the few things in life that you control.

***

LL: Be honest with your readers or readers who aren’t reading yet…no matter what their age or stage of development.

Joyce Sweeney (Agent, The Seymour Agency)

JS: Go ahead and feel the sorrow when something bad happens in your career, then get back up and say, Okay, well, what can I do now? What’s the next thing?

Editor Interview: Reka Simonsen (Atheneum)

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This month’s Industry Insider is Reka Simonsen. Prior to becoming Editorial Director at Atheneum, she worked at various publishers and bookstores such as Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, and Books of Wonder.

To know why we’re so excited to have her join us at OPB, just look at some of the people she’s worked with—Margarita Engle, Carole Boston Weatherford, Evan Turk, Frank Morrison, Jamie Sumner, Linda Urban, Joy McCullough, Emily Ecton, Melanie Crowder, Brian Pinkney, Sean Qualls, Lita Judge, and Lloyd Alexander, among others.

And then there’s the awards that books she’s edited have won—a Newbery Honor, a Coretta Scott King Award and an Honor, a Geisel Honor, a Sibert Honor, Walter Honors, a PEN USA Award, several Pura Belpré Awards and Honors, Jane Addams Peace Awards and Honors, Americás Awards and Honors, a Christopher Medal, Charlotte Zolotow Awards, and they’ve been finalists for the Morris Award, the Andre Norton Award, and the Edgar Award.

Wow, right? Let’s get straight to the interview to discover how Reka makes the magic happen.

RVC: What was your first vital/​transformative experience with books?

RS: Books have been such an important part of my life since very early childhood that it’s hard to think of one transformative experience that I’ve had in relation to them, but some of my earliest and happiest memories are of reading with my father. Long after I’d passed the usual age for bedtime stories, he and I would take turns reading to each other, often from favorites like My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell. I still reread that book almost every year, in memory of my dad. And I very nearly became a wildlife biologist because of Gerald Durrell’s books…

RVC: You graduated from Hunter College with degrees in art and English. What was the career plan at that point? Was it wildlife biology?

RS: Getting a job with health insurance! I’m joking, but not really. I deferred college for several years while I trained as a dancer, so when I did finally go to school, I knew the financial insecurity that comes from being in the arts. Because of that, I was aiming for a career that fulfilled both my need for creativity and my need for basic benefits. I was working part-​time in publishing while I was in college, so I already knew I liked the work; my goal was just to get into the area of publishing that I had always loved: children’s books.

RVC: Though most people think of you as a kidlit editor, you got your start by editing textbooks and coffee table books. How did that work prepare you to be an editor for children’s books? 

RS: At the time, I wondered if the skills specific to those two types of books would be of any use once I started working with children’s books. Turns out that a few of them have. Knowing how to do photo research and obtain permissions has come in handy when I’ve worked on nonfiction books. And editing coffee table books gave me a good eye for how art and text work together to create visual energy and interest for readers, whether young or old.

RVC: What was the first picture book you edited? 

RS: At first, I edited a lot of things that I inherited from predecessors. The first picture book I acquired and edited was Head, Body, Legs, a Liberian creation story by Won-​Ldy Paye and Margaret Lippert, illustrated by Julie Paschkis.

RVC: What was the most important lesson that book taught you?

RS: The importance of working collaboratively, which is something I agreed with in theory but had never had such a hands-​on experience of before this book. The text is a collaboration between two authors: Won-​Ldy is from Liberia and has known the traditional tale his whole life, and as a professional storyteller he can hold an audience rapt with his rendition of it. But he had not written a book before, which was where his friend and collaborator Margaret came in. She is a writer and educator, and she knows how to shape things so that the written version that a parent might read with their kid lands with the same impact that the story has when told in the oral tradition. Then the two of them worked directly with their friend Julie to help interpret the story visually, which was not an easy task, given that it’s about three individual body parts trying to figure out how to come together to make a person! Usually, authors and illustrators do not work directly with one another, but in this case all three of them were friends, and that brought another layer to the book. The art director and I worked closely with all three of them to help shape the folktale into a wonderful book. It was an incredible experience!

RVC: That sounds amazing! Now, what’s the most common misconception about editors?

RS: Even in the book world, I find that most people still think that editing means correcting grammar and punctuation—the kind of red-​pen editing that a lot of us are familiar with from the notes teachers wrote on our school essays. More experienced writers and agents know otherwise, of course, but first-​time authors still often expect that the first thing they’ll see from an editor is a detailed line-​level edit of the manuscript, which is usually a much later step in the process, rather than a letter or conversation that looks at the bigger picture aspects of the story, which is more often the first editorial step.

RVC: What was the most demanding/​challenging picture book you’ve worked on?

RS: I’d have to say A Violin for Elva by Mary Lyn Ray, illustrated by Tricia Tusa. The book itself was wonderful, as were the author and the illustrator, who are both incredibly talented, and lovely people to boot. But long before I started at Harcourt, the two of them had disagreed about the vision for the book, and so the project languished for many, many years. Then I approached them about finding a way forward together, and we were able to do that. While I’d like to think that my fresh perspective and sheer brilliance were what did the trick, I think it was more that enough time had passed for everyone to approach it with more clarity.

RVC: In the few years I’ve been doing interviews here at OPB, I’ve only had a few with a noticeably absent digital footprint. While you’re not quite in the running with them, you’re close! What’s your relationship to social media?

RS:  Ha! Well, it is intentional. While social media has some wonderful upsides, it has a lot of downsides, and for me there are just too many instances where it goes negative and seems to bring out the worst even in well-​intentioned people. I really don’t need to see more of that than necessary—the state of the world provides quite enough stress these days!—so I stay off social media as much as I can. I find that even without being very active on most platforms, I still hear the big headline-​level events and news fairly quickly.

RVC: How important is it for authors to use social media or maintain some type of web presence?

RS: It seems to be much more important for YA authors than for authors writing in any other age category of children’s books. While of course it’s helpful to have some online presence, there just aren’t many platforms where people outside the industry chat up picture books or middle-​grade novels, so the kind of TikTok phenomenon that some YA and adult books are benefiting from just doesn’t seem to be happening for other sorts of books.

RVC: How do you handle pressure at work?

RS: It is very easy in our industry to spend every waking hour either working or thinking about work, an unhealthy situation that has gotten even more pervasive since the pandemic has resulted in many of us working from home indefinitely. But I try very hard to shut down my computer at a reasonable time except when there’s a truly urgent reason for me to keep working at that moment and turn my mind to something else. Plus, I’ve built in other activities, fun things that aren’t work related, that force me to stop work by a certain time at least a few days a week. When things are stressful, often it helps if I take a walk to get some fresh air—even better if I get to see some happy dogs out and about!

RVC: Do you ever get editor’s block?

RS: Oh, yes; I think every editor does once in a while. For me, it helps to read a really good book that I didn’t edit! And sometimes revisiting old favorites can rekindle the spark and remind me why I love working with children’s books. I think it’s also really important to have some creative outlets that are not about books. As editors, our work is often creative and fulfilling, but we can’t mistake that for having our own creative passions that are entirely separate from our jobs. For me, those are things like singing in a chorus, working in the garden, cooking, and to keep both my hands and my mind busy but relaxed, knitting while watching basketball.

RVC: One last question for this part of the interview. It’s brag time! What upcoming projects are you especially excited about? 

RS:  Where to start?! I’m beyond excited about Daughters of Oduma by Moses Ose Utomi, an incredibly fresh, epic YA fantasy inspired by West African culture that’s coming out in February. It’s the story of an élite female fighter named Dirt who feels she’s over the hill but must reenter the competition to protect her found family of younger sisters. It’s a fiercely feminist, body-​positive novel with characters that just grab you by the heart and don’t let go.

I’m also absolutely thrilled about Emma Otheguy’s picture book Martina Has Too Many Tías which has the most adorable illustrations by Sara Palacios. It is a wonderful reimagining of the beloved Caribbean folktale “La Cucaracha Martina” that any child (or adult!) with a loud, lively family will be able to relate to.

RVC: Thanks for that, Reka. But now it’s time for the LIGHTNING ROUND! Zippy questions and zappy answers. Are you ready?

RS: Yes!

RVC: What secret talent do you have that no one would suspect?

RS: I can write backwards—mirror writing. It’s not a very useful talent, but it’s kind of a fun parlor trick. And I found out the hard way (by breaking my wrist) that I can write with both hands, though admittedly my left-​hand writing is at about a third-​grade level.

RVC: You can only eat one food for the rest of your life. What is it?

RS: Only one? I guess I’ll have to go with my favorite birthday cake: lemon cake with lemon curd and whipped cream.

RVC: Five things we’d see if we checked out your favorite writing/​editing place.

RS: My tortoiseshell cat, Maisie, who is trying to crawl into my lap; an in-​progress knitted blanket that at this point is just big enough to keep my toes warm; a view of my newly planted garden which will hopefully be more impressive next year; two very tall, very full bookcases; and two beloved original Edward Gorey prints.

RVC: What’s the One That Got Away?

RS: Oh, there’s more than one! The two that have stuck with me the most, even though they were a long time ago now, are The Thing about Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin and We Are Not Free by Traci Chee.

RVC: Who sets the standard for writing picture books with heart?

RS: So many wonderful writers to choose from, but two who always speak to my heart are Julie Fogliano and Mem Fox.

RVC: What literary agent’s compliment about you would please you most?

RS: I suppose that they’ve heard great things about me and have been wanting to work with me!

RVC: Thanks so much, Reka!

Editor Interview: Kayla Tostevin (Page Street)

On By Only Picture BooksIn Industry Insider

The October Industry Insider at OPB is…Page Street Senior Editor Kayla Tostevin! While I generally create my own bios for interview guests, I ran across this bio for her at various SCBWI faculty bio pages, and it’s so terrific that I’m just including it in full.

“When not poring over books (and sometimes while poring over books), she likes to be outside: hiking, biking, on a boat, or wandering aimlessly and smiling at animals. She hails from one end of the longest US freeway I‑90 (Seattle, WA) and now lives at the other in Boston, MA.”

Kayla got on my radar because she’s acquired books from literary agents who’ve joined us here at OPB, such as:

What I’ve found is that good people tend to gravitate toward other good people, so that pretty much explains the connections above.

And speaking of good people, let’s learn a bit more about our new good friend, Kayla, by getting to that interview.

RVC: Between the bio above and your Twitter bio (which has the line “happiest while adventuring”), I’m really curious—what type of childhood did you have?

KT: I’m very lucky to have grown up with four fantastic parents (my step-​parents both came into the picture when I was quite young), shifting back and forth between my two sides of family every few days. I think having that constant movement and two wonderfully different home environments—generally spending a lot of time running around outside with neighbor kids and hiking with family at one house, falling in love with movies and playing lots of card and video games together at the other—has probably greatly influenced my restlessness and curiosity/​enthusiasm for a wide variety of things even today. I’m so grateful for all I was able to experience during childhood and all the adventures I’m continuing to have as an adult!

RVC: At what point did you know you were going to work in publishing?

KT: I’ve loved books my whole life and suspected I wanted to work with them as early as middle school—but I originally wanted to be a writer, so I went for a writing, literature, and publishing major in college. After spending some time around other students on the same track and taking several classes, I realized I was better suited to the publishing part than the writing part!

RVC: You started at Page Street in the marketing area. What kind of advantage does that give you now as an editor?

KT: I think it really helps to have a better view of the entire process of bookmaking—and in this case, that very much includes what comes both before and after the book is made. When I’m looking at submissions for potential acquisition, I’m careful to consider not just if it’s a great story, but if it actually has some strong selling points, and my marketing experience definitely has made me stronger at pinpointing those selling points. Once the book is made, I can discuss with the marketing/​PR team what features of the story might be most useful for them to push, using my familiarity as editor to help the rest of the team promote as effectively as possible. Other perspectives are always useful. This background has also given me a much greater awareness and respect for all the other departments involved in making a book.

RVC: What’s the story behind the first picture book you edited at Page Street?

KT: I was one of two children’s editorial assistants in 2019, and we would often be assigned stories the children’s publisher at the time was interested in working on and possibly acquiring. We’d often (good-​spiritedly) fight over who got to work on which ones, and a dummy I won eventually became Moles Present the Natural Tolls of Digging Holes by Springer Badger.

Honestly, it was pretty minimally revised—I mostly just encouraged the author-​illustrator to rearrange some scenes, bring out some contrasts, and lean into the delightful weirdness lurking in the art’s background. The process was a strange one with me doing most of the editing during my temporary return to the marketing/​publicity department, and I still have a huge soft spot for the book.

RVC: What important lessons did that book teach you?

KT: This book was probably my first big lesson on how incredibly subjective publishing is. The author-illustrator–my bosses–and I all had many different ideas about the best way to handle many aspects of this book, and I realized, oh, being an editor is much less about fully controlling the development of a book than it is about finding the best route to solid middle ground between multiple visions. It’s not steering the car so much as politely giving directions from the shotgun seat, while sometimes the driver ignores you to make their own rogue turns, or the backseat passengers argue, or your maps app dies and you have to ask everyone to pull over and be patient with you while you reroute.

It’s a kind of chaos I’ve learned to fondly embrace. Having to come up with a new title that satisfied everyone was an especially hard piece of this lesson. (Fun fact–the original title of the book was We Dig Holes Like Moles).

RVC: Fun title! Now, what makes a Page Street book a Page Street book?

KT: Our publisher likes to stress that we want to make books we feel passionate about, and I second that! With our picture books specifically, we try to consider what will entertain a kid first and foremost—any messages or lessons have to come second to this, because no matter how great they are they’ll do no good if they can’t keep a kid’s attention, and like adults, children absolutely deserve to have some really great stories they can simply enjoy again and again. Though if I do have a favorite agenda to push, it’s to expand perspectives and encourage curiosity about the whole world, on scales big and small.

RVC: Describe a typical workday for you.

KT: Usually, a lot of emailing and meetings—I’m in constant communication with Page Street coworkers, authors, agents, and more. I’m also pretty consistently reading newsletters and reviews and doing research to try to keep up with kids book trends and the publishing industry as a whole. Other than that, each day holds some amount of editing manuscripts, proofreading text and reviewing art, looking at submissions, copywriting, browsing a pitch event or kidlit illustrator hashtag on Twitter, and plenty of other miscellaneous tasks. Sprinkle in some tea, snacks, and music throughout the day, plus a walk in the middle.

RVC: What’s the most important thing prospective Page Street authors should know about you?

KT: I want to be a team! I am here to listen and suggest and collaborate—even after I’ve had my hands all over it, I want the text to always feel like it’s wholly yours, or ideally even more like it’s yours, as we should be trying to make it stronger and bring out its essence together. I might put my foot down about things that aren’t working, but I’m always flexible on how those things can be fixed. Also, if I offer to acquire your book, know that I really, really love it and believe in it, and I will champion it to anyone and everyone in my immediate vicinity.

RVC: The worry writers have over Art Notes. Totally overblown, totally appropriate, or totally something they need to lose sleep over?

KT: Definitely nothing to lose sleep over! I think they’re most appropriate when either a) any part of the text might be confusing without them, or b) you have an art idea that’s so good you just have to throw it out there.

Think of them as a tool in your arsenal—they’re just there to help you communicate with your preliminary readers and the illustrator, and they can definitely be phrased more as suggestions than directives (which is my personal preference, since I think it’s wise to leave plenty of creative space for the illustrator!). The best part about art notes is that no one is going to see them in the final book, so they merely have to be comprehensible, not super carefully crafted like the rest of your writing.

RVC: Tell me about a project or accomplishment that you consider to be the most significant in your kidlit industry career.

KT: I feel most proud and accomplished any time I get to hold a real, finished book I acquired and edited for the first time. Making a picture book is a long, hard process, and every single one feels like a huge victory. Maybe that feels like a cop-​out answer, but this is a tough question, and it’s true! If you want a funnier answer, a recent personal high was proposing a title for a picture book sequel inspired by 2 Fast 2 Furious and expecting everyone to laugh and move on, but, uh, look out for Pirate & Penguin: 2 Few Crew by Mike Allegra and Jenn Harney! (After the first Pirate & Penguin releases, of course.)

RVC: Just wow. That sounds awesome.

KT: Agree!

RVC: How do you handle pressure at work? What do you do to de-stress?

KT: Whenever I feel my focus starting to slip or my anxiety starting to spike, I let myself take a little break—it’s going to be worse for everyone if I keep working and it’s not my best work. My kind of mantra whenever I’m having a really stressful time is “Nobody dies in publishing,” and that little reminder always helps me either muster up the strength to push on or assuage the guilt about taking my necessary pauses. Walking helps me immensely, especially if I go outside, or making a cup of tea, or reading a little bit of a non-​work book.

RVC: You seem to have an especially active presence on Manuscript Wish List. Why don’t more editors or agents use it?

KT: I don’t know, I think they should! It’s a super useful tool that ultimately saves a lot of time, because agents and writers are always asking me, “What are you looking for?” and I can immediately send them a link to a detailed list. I try to stay especially on top of it because I don’t really have a lot of time for agent calls, so I hope keeping this list updated, detailed, and easy to find helps make up for my very limited availability.

RVC: One last question for this part of the interview. What’s an upcoming project or two that you’re really excited about?

KT: One at the top of my mind right now is Kadooboo!: A Silly South Indian Folktale by Shruthi Rao and Darshika Varma, because we just looked at revised sketches and some potential covers for it and ohmygosh it’s so much fun. It’s basically a game of telephone, an adventure all across town, and a hearty recommendation for South Indian food all rolled into one. We’ll have to wait until Winter 2024 for that one, so coming up much sooner (this November 1st!) is Mending the Moon by Emma Pearl and Sara Ugolotti, which has such a lovely, classic storytelling feel and a really cool fantastical scenario, with the moon falling to Earth and shattering and a girl, her grandfather, and some animals working together to fix it.

RVC: Alrighty, Kayla. We’re entering…THE SPEED ROUND! The point values are quintupled, and zippiness is at a premium. Are you ready?

KT: Oh boy, I guess!

RVC: If you could only have one app on your phone, it’d be…

KT: AllTrails.

RVC: If “Spider-​Man” is the answer, what’s the question?

KT: Who’s the only superhero you’ve seen all the movies for?

RVC: You’re organizing a kidlit dinner party. Which three characters from pictures books do you invite?

KT: Pokko from Pokko and the Drum by Matthew Forsythe, Lilly from Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes, and Payden from Payden’s Pronoun Party by Blue Jaryn and Xochitl Cornejo. (This will truly be a party.)

RVC: Five words that describe your editorial process.

KT: Consider, suggest, listen, try again.

RVC: What’s a picture book from 2022 that really got your attention?

KT: I already mentioned a Matthew Forsythe book, but I gotta say Mina. The humor, art, and unexpected direction are all so, so good.

RVC: Let’s end with a single line from a picture book you acquired.

KT: “If Mimi hears one more Chinese ghost proverb, she will shriek. And not for extra credit.” (Just one of many excellent ghost jokes from So Not Ghoul by Karen Yin and Bonnie Lui.)

RVC: Love it. Thanks so much, Kayla!

Editor Interview: Frances Gilbert (Doubleday Books for Young Readers/​Random House Children’s Books)

On By Only Picture BooksIn Industry Insider4 Comments

This month’s Industry Insider is Frances Gilbert, Editor-​in-​Chief at Doubleday Books for Young Readers/​Random House Children’s Books. In addition to editing some of the top picture book writers working today, she also authored the picture books Go, Girls, Go! and Too Much Slime!, as well as numerous Step Into Reading titles and an abridgment of The Secret Garden. Among other things, Frances is well known for offering clear, supportive writing advice on social media and at writing conferences.

Let’s get to the interview to hear some of that wisdom ourselves firsthand!

Frances’ Twitter

RVC: At what point did you realize you were absolutely going to work in publishing? 

FG: I grew up in a blue collar family in a blue collar town where people didn’t have jobs like the one I have now. When I got to University of Toronto, I was surrounded by élite students whose parents had jobs I didn’t even know existed.

One friend’s mother was a sales rep at a big publisher. I asked if I could visit her office and as soon as I saw the stacks of books in everyone’s cubicles, I decided it was the place for me. She actually tried to talk me out of it! I think she was pretty burnt out. But in my head I kept thinking, “Nope, nope. This is what I’m going to do.”

RVC: What happened next?

FG: A couple of lucky breaks. A friend noticed a posting on a job board at University of Toronto while I was finishing my Master’s degree in English. It was for a Book Club Editor at Scholastic Canada. I knew I wanted to work in publishing but had my sights set on literary fiction. I applied anyway and was hired by the brilliant and wonderful Iole Lucchese, who thankfully read to page two of my resume and saw that I’d worked in the children’s department of my town library for four years in high school. She saw potential that I’d completely missed. Within days of starting, I knew I wanted a career in children’s books.

RVC: What kind of duties does a Book Club editor have? 

FG: A Book Club Editor manages the monthly book club—those flyers we all ordered from as kids. My responsibility was to select and purchase the Canadian content for each list, in addition to writing the copy and hitting monthly financial targets, so I was essentially a book buyer with a large business to manage and account for. I met with every Canadian publisher a few times a year and liaised with my counterpart in the New York office. Looking back, I still can’t believe they gave me such a big job. It allowed me to leap over assistant and associate positions and start right in the deep end. I was so lucky.

RVC: This might seem like a silly question, but I know people are wondering. Were books being published by Scholastic Canada solely for the Canadian marketplace? 

FG: Like any publisher, Scholastic Canada publishes primarily for their own country first, the Canadian marketplace, but not exclusively. Every publisher also has an international sales and foreign rights team who both sell English language copies around the world and license the rights to foreign translations.

RVC: How much French did you pick up while there?

FG: I lived in Canada from age five till I was thirty and took French in school through my second year of university, so I can get around in French at a schoolgirl level.

RVC: Très cool! Now, what are your thoughts on the Tim Hortons Double Double?

FG: I picked up a Tim Hortons Double Double each morning on my way to work. I still hit one up as soon as I land in Canada. Not Double Double anymore, but it’s still my favorite coffee.

RVC: Before getting to Doubleday where you’re at now, you spent a good bit of time working at Sterling (for those of you who don’t know, it’s owned by Barnes & Noble).

FG: Sterling was family-​owned when I was hired. I knew them as one of my suppliers for Book Clubs and Book Fairs. I bought books from them. The owner wanted to start a children’s editorial division and asked if I was interested in moving to New York to set one up. I was twenty-​nine when I got the offer, and had never actually edited a book, as my position was as a buyer and product manager.

RVC: What were some of the highlights of working at Sterling?

FG: Looking back, Sterling’s family-​owned, maverick spirit was certainly a highlight. They were nimble and independent and could take chances. When I protested during my interview that I had no editorial experience, they said, “You’ll learn!” And I did! I’ve often described those early years as “I’ve got a barn, let’s put on a show.” I was teaching myself a lot of stuff on the spot, but I had their full support to find my place. I’ll always be grateful to the former Sterling owners and executives for what they did for me. We had a large and very profitable children’s business when I left twelve years later.

RVC: How is working for Doubleday (a Big 5 publisher) different than what you experienced at your previous editorial jobs?

FG: The feeling of coming to Random House was definitely that of arriving at the Mother Ship. It’s impossible not to be impressed by basically everything–the resources, the systems, the offices, the history, the authors, the backlist, the bestsellers, the brilliant and in many cases legendary staff. But in some ways, my job was very similar to the one I left. Doubleday Books for Young Readers hadn’t published anything for a number of years when Chip Gibson, then the President of Random House Children’s Books, asked me to come over and see what I could do with it. Just like when I started at Sterling, I had to build a business from the ground up, so that was a task I was really comfortable with at that point.

RVC: Let’s help some of the aspiring writers out there. What’s a common misconception about kidlit editors?

FG: I know our industry can feel opaque when you’re trying to break in. One thing I always let people know is that we’re always earnestly trying to find exciting new works. I think people have the idea that we enjoy rejecting things, when in truth it’s the opposite. We’re always avidly trying to find great writing. We don’t enjoy saying “No” as often as we must. “Yes” is always more exciting.

RVC: What kind of things are you most looking for with picture book submissions?

FG: I’m always looking for that intangible thrill you get when you read something and it grabs you, either because it’s incredibly unique or stunningly beautiful or blistering funny. It’s hard to quantify but I know it when I see it. One thing none of us are looking for is formulaic writing. I do worry that picture book manuscripts fall into this category too often. I’m not looking for anything that simply ticks a lot of boxes that someone has heard in a seminar. That’s not how it works.

RVC: One more question for aspiring writers—what are your feelings on art notes? 

FG: If I don’t know what you envision happening in the book without art notes, then give me art notes. It’s that simple. I don’t understand why people worry about them so much.

RVC: In November 2019, you tweeted, “Gulp, so I’m a published book author.” How did your debut picture book Go, Girls, Go! come about?

FG: I actually wrote Go, Girls, Go! as a sort of practice piece. I was thinking about how most cars and trucks books have male characters behind the wheel and wondered what one would look like if we featured girls instead. I wrote it quickly and then put it away for a couple of years, never meaning to have it published. But I kept stumbling across it and finally shared it with a handful of editors. Andrea Welch at Beach Lane /​ Simon & Schuster clicked with it and made me an offer, and I ran about my apartment screaming. The feeling was as if I’d never set foot in the industry before. It was such a thrill.

RVC: What was the most important lesson you learned thanks to that book?

FG: I learned how important it is for authors to roll up their sleeves and really hustle for their books. It became like a second job to me in the evenings, writing to people, begging for favors, posting online. Now that I’ve done it myself, I feel even more emboldened in expecting it of the authors I work with.

RVC: How do your various identities—editor and author—inform each other?

FG: Certainly as an editor I can already envision how a manuscript I’m writing will fit into a publisher’s program—how it will be pitched at list launch, how it will be positioned within the larger list of books, what kind of marketing hooks the sales, marketing, and publicity team can use to help them sell and promote the book. Basically, all the things I think about when I’m acquiring, I also think about when I’m pitching one of my own manuscripts.

RVC: You’ve gone on to publish more picture books. Which one has the most unusual path to publication story?

FG: I have a new picture book coming out with Beach Lane /​ Simon & Schuster next spring. I wrote it during the first summer of the pandemic after receiving an email from an environmental group in my neighborhood. The subject line of the email sparked an idea and I immediately went out on my deck and wrote Can You Hug a Forest? I felt like I knew the entire manuscript in that one second; it just landed in my head and there it was. One moment you’re not thinking about writing something, the next moment you have an entirely new manuscript to share with your editor.

RVC: Do reviews hit you differently as a writer versus an editor?

FG: I’m thick-​skinned as both an author and an editor and can easily read a negative review and think, “Well, you didn’t understand what I was trying to do, and that’s too bad for you that you’re missing out on something really nice.”

RVC: In all of your experience as a picture book author, what has surprised you the most?

FG: How much I love doing it! I was an editor for close to twenty-​five years before it even occurred to me to write something. I can’t explain why; it just never crossed my mind. Being a writer has opened up a whole new part of my imagination.

RVC: What’s next for you as a picture book author? 

FG: Outside of Can You Hug a Forest?, which comes out next May, I don’t have a new manuscript in the works. I have to get on it!

RVC: Here’s one last question for this part of the interview. Who sets the standard for picture book rhyming?

FG: John Robert Allman, author of A Is for Audra and B Is for Broadway on my list at Doubleday. He uses rhyme so smartly to add sass and humor. It’s brilliantly inventive, like he’s landing a quadruple axel in each line.

RVC: Alright, Frances. Now it’s time for THE SPEED ROUND. Boomy-​zoomy question followed by zappy-​cracky answers, please. Are you ready?

FG: Hit me.

RVC: What would you most want—personal chef, maid, or a masseuse?

FG: Paul Hollywood baking in my kitchen all day.

RVC: What makes you roll your eyes every time you hear/​see it?

FG: The phrase “cancel culture.”

Samuel West, who indeed has a mellifluent voice!

RVC: If someone narrated your life, who would you want to be the narrator?

FG: The actor Samuel West, who has the most perfect voice on the planet.

RVC: What’s your editing superpower?

FG: I make really quick decisions. I know what I like the second I see it.

RVC: What’s a picture book you;ve edited that’s more awesome than the world realizes?

FG: Philip Stead’s I’d Like to Be the Window for a Wise Old Dog is an absolute masterpiece. Everyone who reads it will see I’m right. I don’t think it gets any better than this.

RVC: Your picture book philosophy in five words or fewer?

FG: “Grab me from line one.”

RVC: Thanks so much, Frances! This has been delightful. 

FG: Thank you for your great questions!

Agent Interview: Tricia Lawrence (Erin Murphy Literary Agency)

On By Only Picture BooksIn Industry Insider3 Comments

This month’s Industry Insider interview is with Tricia Lawrence, an agent at the Erin Murphy Literary Agency (EMLA). She joined the agency as a social media strategist in 2011 after nearly two decades as a developmental and production-​based copyeditor. Born and raised in Oregon and now living in Seattle, Tricia’s often called the “Pacific Northwest branch” of EMLA.

Let’s get to know Tricia a bit more by playing Eight Truths and One Lie. Ready?

  1. She has watched 500+ hours of BBC America.
  2. After binge-​watching Project Runway, she spent a TON of time draping and fitting a half-​size mannequin.
  3. She has the innate ability to stack books as high as she is tall.
  4. She’s an avid runner.
  5. She likes to collect rocks.
  6. She’s a big Seattle sports fan.
  7. She’s a bonafide piano plunker.
  8. She once shared a blueberry bagel with Beyoncé.
  9. Books she’s authored have been sold off Target endcaps.

Can’t tell which is the lie? The answer will be revealed in the interview…somewhere. And since you likely really want to know that answer, let’s get right to the interview.

RVC: When did you first discover your love for books?

TL: I was about 8 and realized if I slapped down my family’s library card, the librarians had to let me borrow the books. I would clear off a shelf of books at a time, and then read them in about a day, my long legs slung over the arm of our wingback chair. And then I would pester my parents to drive me to the library to get more.

I began to get a reputation at that library …

RVC: How did school foster or get in the way of your future career in the book industry?

TL: I struggled in school, only because I was often daydreaming, but I was alternating between two schools for most of my grade school years. It was my parents’ dream for me to attend a Christian grade school, but they didn’t have the money every year, so I struggled to write a complete sentence in third-​grade PUBLIC school, only because in second-​grade PRIVATE school, our studies hadn’t gotten there yet. These were not the best years of my life. It created a lot of self-​doubt, but I knew I was going to be a writer. And I so in spite of all of this, I reveled in my love for books.

RVC: After college, you spent some time in the writing/​content-​creation side of the medical world. What lessons from those jobs do you use most in your work now as a literary agent?

TL: That no matter how much education you have, it doesn’t mean you can write a story that can keep someone engaged. I edited for a lot of doctors and just like so many have awful handwriting, a lot of them struggled with writing. They were great partners, however, because the best conversations I remember are discussing complex sentences as well as phlebotomy.

RVC: What convinced you to make the move to joining the Erin Murphy Literary Agency (EMLA)?

TL: I’ve LONG been an admirer of Erin Murphy and the kind of agency she has created. She actually turned me down the first time, but I came back a few months later, and voila! Sorta like querying sometimes. One “no” isn’t often the last word.

RVC: I love hearing success stories based in perseverance. Now, what’s the most important things authors should know or understand about effectively using social media to support their careers?

TL: That social media DOES NOT MATTER without the writing. It supports the book, but it doesn’t supersede the book. You only need a massive social media platform if you’re writing nonfiction for the mainstream adult trade market, say, if you’ve got a new approach to phlebotomy or something (ha!), but the story matters the most in children’s literature and teen literature. It’s ALL that matters.

That said, pick the social media tools you enjoy and leave off the rest. If you don’t like Twitter, it will be obvious. If you LOVE TikTok, go with god and have fun.

RVC: Let’s talk about you as an agent. What’s the first picture book you sold?

TL: It was There Was an Old Dragon Who Swallowed a Knight, a magnificent rhymer by the amazing Penny Parker Klostermann. I remember sitting out on the lawn checking my email and then staring up at the trees in our backyard in awe of the power of picture books. I had fallen so hard for Penny’s text and I had sent it to an editor who also loved it. It’s the magic beans of this business. If the author has passion for their work, it will spread and it’s a beautiful thing.

RVC: What are some other books that just grabbed you at the language level like that?

TL: There are so many! From Annie Bailey’s Mud! (2022) to Jill Esbaum’s How to Grow a Dinosaur (2018)–I would need to go on and on and on!

RVC: In terms of your identity as an agent, how would you describe yourself?

TL: Devoted, passionate advocate, and curious.

RVC: Describe your ideal client. 

TL: Self-​aware, honest, and hardworking

RVC: What’s a project or accomplishment that you consider to be the most significant in your career at EMLA?

TL: I think each time I read a manuscript from a client and think “I love this” and then I convince an editor to also love it is the most significant. I know I’m hedging and also being repetitive, but this…this is the magic.

RVC: I know what you mean. What is the most common misconception about a literary agent?

TL: That once you’ve got the agent, you’ve arrived (and for some that may be true). I believe every time we write something, even if it doesn’t garner agent attention or doesn’t win, we’ve arrived. It’s a big balancing act and each writer will arrive to it in their own way, i.e. has their own goals that make them feel they’ve arrived. Hopefully as an agent, I can help them fine-​tune those dreams and reach even farther.

RVC: How do you feel about Art Notes?

TL: I’m feeling pretty good about them. Sometimes they’re just necessary and yet can feel like their own set of rules.

A reminder: if you rely on the art notes to create your story rather than to enlarge and enhance your story, go back through them again and seek out how you might rework anything.

RVC: You seem fairly active with live and virtual events/​communities. What do you get out of participating with #DVpit or attending an SCBWI conference as faculty?

TL: A TON. It’s a place for like-​minded folks to gather. And now, with opportunities opening for more and more stories, I’m hoping we see even more change and openness. Just because I don’t know, doesn’t mean it’s not important. I think gathering together helps us to understand and to learn. Plus, it’s just nice to hang out with folks who are as addicted to stories as I am!

RVC: You also do a lot of work beyond being an agent. Care to talk about some of your own book writing?

TL: I wrote some books back in the late 1990s that were among the first to get picked up by Target. At the time, Target was not doing a lot of book sales, so I got to be the experiment.

RVC: Lucky you!

TL: I remember buying copies for friends and family and my sister announced to the person checking us out that I was the author. The checkout guy made me open each book and point to my name. It was surreal, but really fun. I love that my own clients get to have that experience now. It’s seriously thrilling. I’ve gotten back to my writing during COVID and I’ve learned so much from my clients as to how to be a writer. Courage, refusal to give up, and more courage!

RVC: I see that you’re doing a lot of painting these days and you’ve said that you regret not taking it more seriously earlier.

TL: I started an experiment making art (watercolor and Procreate on the iPad) just to see if I could. I’m not as diligent as I should be, but I still make art every day. I find that it soothes me and opens up a different part of my brain. I give advice to writers all the time about allowing the creativity to flow through other tactile activities: gardening, making art, knitting. I thought it was time to take my own advice and it has become a lovely hobby.

RVC: How has your work as an artist informed your work as a literary agent?

TL: In so many ways. Having a growth mindset means you work at it. So I go from feeling confident and wheeling and dealing for my clients to trying to make art, where I feel inadequate and like a failure. The tension there is so interesting. It’s a daily journey through that tension, but so worth it. From that tension comes amazing growth, centeredness, and courage!

RVC: Brag time. What upcoming projects are you most excited about? 

TL: I’m obsessed with Alice Faye Duncan and Chris Raschka’s Yellow Dog Blues (Eerdmans, 2022) coming in September. Chris took Alice Faye’s text and created a masterpiece of art. He painted on and embroidered burlap for each page.

RVC: WOW!

TL: And Kim Rogers’ debut Just Like Grandma (Heartdrum, January 2023) illustrated by Julie Flett. Absolutely beautiful work. I cannot wait. I also cannot wait for Jill Esbaum’s upcoming Stinkbird Has a Superpower (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2023) illustrated by Bob Shea. So excited!

RVC: Tricia, it’s time for the SPEED ROUND. Lightning-​fast questions and even faster answers, please. Are…YOU…READY?

TL: 100 percent!

RVC: What’s something that will always be in fashion, regardless of how much time passes?

TL: Books.

RVC: What movie quote do you use on a regular basis?

TL: “Run mad as often as you choose, but do not faint.”—wrongly used in the 1999 movie they made of Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park, because the original quote is from Austen’s novel, Love and Friendship.

RVC: You’re hosting a literary ice cream social. What three writers—living or dead, real or imagined—would you invite?

TL: Octavia Butler, Mary Magdalene, Carl Sagan.

RVC: What books are on your nightstand?

TL: Oh god. Hundreds of books (but the nightstand doesn’t support them any longer, so they are on a currently reading bookshelf). HAHAHAHAHA.

I have so many. Right now I have 16 novels from the library (mostly murder/​thriller reads, but I’ve been going through this list of debut novels and love being blown away by them all!

RVC: What was the first picture book that gave you a WOW moment?

TL: I Want My Hat Back. I’m a dark soul. This book is brilliant.

RVC: Favorite line from a picture book you repped?

TL:

“Nestled on a garden path

and strewn along the shore.

Scattered on a city block

and on the forest floor …

 

Tucked in sidewalk crevices

and stuck in mucky ground.

Stretching high and scraping sky,

rocks are all around.”

This is from Lisa Varchol Perron and Taylor Perron’s unannounced co-​authored picture book coming in 2024 from Penguin Random House.

RVC: Thanks so much, Tricia! Oh, and by the way, care to reveal which of the biographical nuggets in the introduction is a big stinking whopper of a falsehood?

TL: While I have seen Beyoncé in concert and sang along with everything like the obsessed fan that I am, I unfortunately have never shared a bagel with her. Bey, you want bagels? Call me!