Bio

I’m one of the few people in publishing that has worked in all aspects of the business, as editor, author, and agent: in book production, taking manuscript pages to bound book and cover; in acquisitions, coordinating the efforts of author, sales force, and marketing to create a well-published book; I’ve written comics and prose; and as agent, negotiate prose and graphic novel contracts.

I have a very clear memory of sitting in the big brown club chair in the living room of my parent’s house, reading an anthology of short stories by Isaac Asimov. At that time of my life — around eleven or twelve years old — I could usually be found in the club chair, reading. Each piece had an introduction by Asimov, about how the story came to be written. In one he described his relationship with his editor, and I said, that’s the job for me! Not the writer, but the editor.

The idea stuck, and followed me through high school. So of course when I went off to Boston University I studied economics, with English on the side. I had every intention of working in publishing, but it was suggested by The Powers That Be I should hedge my bets with a degree in something “substantial.” The turning point came when I signed on for an internship at a huge commercial bank, in the currency-trading department. The trader, a man, would disappear into his office to do whatever mysterious things he did to justify his huge expense account, accompanied by his three assistants — all beautiful young women. I stood outside at a counter, stapling trade receipts together, day after day, listening to their giggles. That’s when I decided banking wasn’t for me.

I fled economics and banking, fully embraced a major in English, and lined up a summer job as a medical textbook indexer. That wasn’t the most fascinating job in the world, but it did teach me a lot about book production, while giving me the income I needed to accept an internship at an art magazine. There I worked with the editor, who taught me copy editing and proofreading skills. I put them to good use, as after a few weeks the production editor quit unexpectedly, there was a magazine to ship, and I was proofing galleys and pasting up copy, real time. That’s the way it happens so often in publishing, being in the right place when someone else quits, leaving a deadline to hit. Then it’s all hands on deck, even if it’s the college intern!

When that internship ended, I took another with Northeastern University Press. I worked with the editors, and learned how to evaluate manuscripts for publication. Not only did the book have to be well written, but it had to fit in with the publishing program of the press. I had never considered that before. I could find the best book in the world, but we couldn’t publish it unless it fit our needs. This was a very valuable lesson, and one that serves me well today.

Next was an internship with a well-known editor in Houghton Mifflin’s trade division — the Big Time. I was allowed to sit in on editorial meetings, marketing and sales discussions, author’s lunches. I got to be a fly on the wall, reading manuscripts that later hit the New York Times list, and know all the decisions, from editing to marketing to sales, that went into that journey.

I graduated college, and joined the throngs who move to New York, to look for a job in publishing. I always had a love of SF and fantasy, and so when I was offered a job as the production assistant to the managing editor of Ace SF (part of The Berkely Publishing Group), I jumped at the chance. Within the year, my boss quit to travel the world. Another example of being in the right place when there’s work to be done: I got her job, as managing editor of three lines of books, including Ace. Two years after that an editorial acquisitions position opened at Ace SF. I made the sideways jump.

It was a dream job! Although the production work was very rewarding, what had been missing was the chance to work directly on text with the author, and have the thrill of discovering new talent. I began to acquire my own manuscripts, and work with my own authors to develop their projects into the best books possible. I had the opportunity to travel across the country and to Europe, attending conferences, SF & fantasy conventions, and teaching at writer’s workshops. When Berkley wanted to explore the graphic novel market, I stepped up and took on those projects. It was a very rewarding time.

Time past, and although I loved my job, I began to feel constrained by it. I could only work on projects that fit Berkley’s publishing program, and there were opportunities I wanted to pursue that were outside of those parameters. I left, and became an independent consultant. I earned a graduate degree in medieval history, specializing in The History of the Book. I co-wrote a novel with my husband, Chris Claremont. I’ve worked on comics, prose, and graphic novel projects, writing, editing — and agenting, both in the US and in Europe.

Clear Sailing Creatives represents the culmination of my publishing journey. I have the opportunity to put all my past experience to good use. I can discover new talent, and work with young writers to develop their projects in the best way possible. I can work with established authors, on exciting new projects,  to explore new directions while building on strengths. I can place my authors at whatever publisher best suits them, growing careers in a way tailor-made to each author’s talent. I’m not limited to one publishing house’s program, or one type of book, but can work on a variety of projects, whether prose or graphic novels, non-fiction or fiction.

The mode of publishing has changed over the millennia, but the creative substance remains the same. Today’s books aren’t produced in any way similar to a scribe copying text onto papyrus, or the first codex written on parchment, or Guttenberg’s invention of hand-placed moveable type. We’re rushing into a new age, of iPads and Kindles and Nooks, of ebooks and comics read on smart phones, of text delivered through WiFi airwaves, to whatever new adaptation comes next. Remember: no matter what object or system delivers the book to the reader, the book always starts with the author. My job is to understand these changes, and help my authors adapt in this quickly changing world. The course is set, and it’s Clear Sailing ahead!