Jenna Johnson - GalleyCat

Editors Buzz Forums: Battle of the Blurbs

Jason Boog — Tue, 24 May 2011 13:23:30 +0000

In a BEA tradition yesterday, six editors described their favorite book of the season in the annual Editors Buzz Forum. For ten minutes apiece, these editors advocated for a particular book in a room filled with booksellers.

The annual event can teach you a lot about writing blurbs, particularly how to write one or two glittering sentences about a book. We’ve included a few choice examples below–how would you describe your favorite book in a single, perfect sentence?

“It’s huge but familiar at the same time.” Little, Brown and Company publisher Michael Pietsch on The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach

“It gave me goosebumps. On my face.” Dutton senior editor Denise Roy on The Underside of Joy by Sere Prince Halverson
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13 North American Editors & Agents Receive Jerusalem International Book Fair Fellowships

Maryann Yin — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 15:23:56 +0000

Nine editors and four agents from the U.S. and Canada have won fellowships to attend this year’s Jerusalem International Book Fair. Running from February 20th to 25th, this year marks the 25th anniversary of the book fair.

Here’s more from the press release: “Altogether, 33 editors and 12 agents from 17 different countries were granted these special visiting fellowships for an international exchange of ideas with colleagues, including many alumni fellows, and Fair exhibitors, and to become more familiar with the Israeli publishing scene.”

The editorial fellows inclued: Reagan Arthur (Little, Brown), Kristin Cochrane (Doubleday Canada), Jonathan Jao (Random House), Jenna Johnson (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), Altie Karper (Schocken Books), Benjamin Schafer (Da Capo Press), Johnny Temple (Akashic Books), Iris Tupholme (HarperCollins Canada), and Emily Wichland (Longhill Partners).

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How to Change Your Writing Style But Keep Your Agent

Jason Boog — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 09:23:23 +0000

Earlier this year, novelist Tony D’Souza finished a novel that completely broke out of the style of his first two novels, Whiteman and The Konkans.

When he turned the manuscript in to his agent, Liz Darhansoff, they seriously discussed publishing the novel under a pseudonym to avoid confusing his readership base. What would you do?

In the short essay that follows, D’Souza (pictured) explained what happened over the course of the submission process, as he was forced to ask himself a hard question: “What does one do if one and one’s agent disagree?’”

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