Authors: Hans-Ake Lilja
(1) To find exciting authors and scripts (directly, from literary agents, from scouts), have a vision for how to position and publish the book in both hardcover and paperback, take it through the acquisition meeting (pitching to colleagues in Sales, Marketing, Publicity, Rights), to acquire the rights and to champion that book to publication and beyond.
In a publishing house the editor is the central cog in the wheel (comprised of Sales, Rights, Publicity, Contracts, Royalties, Marketing, Art, Production). Editors work with these departments each step of the book’s journey.
(2) To nurture the author, to think about the long-term strategy and to edit the book in question, seeing it through all stages of the editing process to finished book.
The editing process can be broken down into two basic stages—structural editing (i.e. notes to the author about pace, character, motivation, story line) and copy-editing/line-editing (often done by a freelancer, to catch any outstanding inconsistencies, to cross t’s and dot i’s, to prepare the script for press).
As Stephen King’s British editor, I run a monthly meeting with Hodder’s Managing Director where we discuss what is coming up, sales and subscriptions, when we are going to schedule his new titles in hardcover and mass market, we explore initiatives for the backlist titles, discuss how to publish and garner early support (e.g. building on the word of mouth through galleys, samplers) for books and audio, find out about film news, etc.
I am always looking at developing campaigns with the team at Hodder to grow Stephen King in the U.K. and international territories—we look to target new audiences for his titles, to satisfy the fans, but also to appeal to new readers. We also look at how we can work with retailers to achieve this.
Last year Stephen King came to the U.K. to promote
Lisey’s Story
in hardcover. We are building on the increased media attention and public awareness to benefit the mass market edition of the book this year—tailoring promotions to find even more readers, break records and go for Number One.
Just to give you a flavour, I’ll take today as a day in my life as Stephen King’s British editor. Here is what I am doing, in addition to this interview:
Today’s work includes sending a finished copy of
The Bachman Books
to the author and his agents, checking the revised page proofs for the paperback edition of the updated
’Salem’s Lot
(with two excellent stories related to the events of Jerusalem’s Lot published in mass market paperback for the first time) which comes out in October, looking at rough artwork of some of the reissued A-formats I briefed earlier in the year, checking final adverts for
Blaze
by Richard Bachman from Marketing which are going to be up at railway stations in London and Leeds, and I’m pulling out pages from Steve’s new book
Duma Key
to give to Art so they can consider illustrating them, working on very early draft blurb for
Duma Key
(see below), and preparing an agenda for a monthly Stephen King meeting (where a small group of key members from each department gather to look at every aspect of our King publishing past, present and future opportunities).
Lilja:
How long have you been Stephen King’s editor and which of his books have you edited?
Philippa Pride:
I started at Hodder in 1986, became editorial assistant to Stephen King’s editor in 1987 (excellent apprenticeship), progressed to junior editor and then editor—for some twenty years now.
Obviously, as you will see from the description of the job above, there is more to being a publisher’s editor than going through the script with a pencil, though that is often vital. In the case of an author published by different publishing houses all over the world, he obviously won’t want editors from every country wielding a pencil! Steve has a fantastic editor in the U.S. who does most of the primary work with him, but I am lucky enough to have the kind of relationship with him whereby I can add my early comments to the mix. Thereafter my role is that of organiser and champion.
I have looked after the British editions of his titles coming in as assistant for hardcover editions of
The Dark Half
, the uncut edition of
The Stand
,
The Tommyknockers
, assisting on
Four Past Midnight
,
Needful Things
,
Gerald’s Game
and becoming editor for both hardcover and mass market editions of the new titles
Dolores Claiborne
,
Nightmares and Dreamscapes
,
Insomnia
,
Rose Madder
,
Desperation
,
Bag of Bones
,
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
,
Hearts in Atlantis
,
The Dark Tower V-VII
(and new editions of paperbacks I-VII),
Cell
and
Lisey’s Story
. Alongside these, I have been editor for the mass market editions of the entire backlist.
For the mass market paperbacks, we effectively treat the title as a brand new book, producing new jackets, new jacket copy, new prelims and end matter (including adverts and also extracts of new books, for example)—the team working to appeal to an even wider readership, position the books in the marketplace where they can best be seen in appropriate promotions and reinvigorated press coverage.
It is a joy publishing Stephen King because I am passionate and excited about each and every one of his books.
Last year was a bumper year with
Cell
reaching Number One in hardcover, and
Lisey’s Story
becoming his best-selling title ever in hardcover.
Cell
was a phenomenal success in mass market, and
Lisey’s Story
is lined up to be the summer’s sensation.
Last year we also embarked on a Classic reissue programme, producing six of his titles—
The Shining
,
The Stand
,
Bag of Bones
,
Misery
,
Christine
and
Carrie
—in beautiful B-format livery.
This year we are producing the titles above and the entire backlist in A-format in the same livery as
Cell
, with a graphic icon and brand new author lettering. We have stunning new jackets, refreshed copy, prelims and setting for some books, and a programme which will mean that all titles (except the
Dark Tower
) will be available in this new look by February 2008. We are working with retailers at home and abroad on new opportunities for these ever-popular books.
We also have an exciting new website, www.stephenking.co.uk, which I have been discussing with my colleague in Marketing—which we shall continue to update throughout this year. I recommend all your fans take a look at what’s coming up—books, audio, King clips, reviews, etc.
Lilja:
Is there a big difference between editing Stephen King, one of the biggest names in the business, and someone unknown?
Philippa Pride:
It’s a privilege to champion a writer whose brand is recognised throughout the world and who happens to be my favourite author ever. He is also the most professional and lovely man in our industry. He is an author whose writing is welcomed by both critics and public alike—ready to lap up the next book.
With a new author, you have the excitement of watching him or her discover themselves and the business. Yet I always feel there are new boundaries to explore with Steve as well—and his writing proves that point time and again!
Another distinction is that Stephen King has a huge backlist which continues to sell year in and year out, proving that he is a Classic in our time. We publish some forty titles, many of which we are relaunching this year, as mentioned. This wealth of titles and wide appeal also set him apart from a new writer. Start with any book—and you’re hooked.
Lilja:
How long before the book is published does the editing process start?
Philippa Pride:
On a standard track, manuscripts will arrive with the publishing house twelve months before publication. The publisher needs time to edit and prepare the text, design a jacket, devise a marketing strategy and present the results to the retailers, who need to start making their own buying decisions at least six months before publication. However, there are exceptions, and for a book as important as a new Stephen King, it’s possible to publish on a faster timescale.
Lilja:
Can you take me through the process of what happens from the time you get the word that Stephen has a new book that needs editing to having a finished book?
Philippa Pride:
I’m answering this by describing some of the steps on the book’s journey—some are simultaneous rather than sequential.
(1) When the book comes in I read it—and oh boy—I just get sooooooo excited when a new Stephen King script comes in. It is one of the most wonderful moments of my career. Then I just read the first page and I know I am going to be transported into another world, and I can just stop everything else I am doing and read the book right through from start to finish.
(2) Why not let the author know what you feel about the book—it’s a joy to do this when you love it, as I have with each of Stephen King’s new novels. You will be one of the first people to read it and you are reading something so precious. Give the author general feedback on the book. And talk to him/her about their wishes, what’s important to them, their vision for the book. And, in turn, I inform the author and his agents every step of the way about publishing strategy.
(3) Report to the team—my report will include detailed publishing/business information for planning purposes, as well as what the book is about.
(4) The book needs to be scheduled—carefully. In the case of Stephen King, considerations are (a) ideally scheduling alongside the U.S. edition in all our markets so that readers in each territory have the chance to read the book at the same time (b) consider what other big titles are coming out from Hodder and other publishers in the U.K.
(5) The editor is also responsible for giving each book a “birth certificate,” of sorts, i.e. registering it with an international standard book number (a unique ID chip, of sorts).
(6) Brief the jackets—this means coming up with ideas to the Art department for images and typeface, and giving them relevant pages of the manuscript to illustrate, at least ten months before publication.
(7) Write an early title information sheet which will include a short synopsis of the book, key selling points, the unique feature/sales point of the book, previous excellent reviews, an up-to-date biography, format, price, extent.
(8) Write draft catalogue copy and jacket copy and present it to the author for his input. Occasionally, an author will write copy for the editor to use or fine tune—Stephen King wrote outstanding copy for
Blaze
by Richard Bachman, which forms the main part of the hardcover blurb. I usually take a new line for the paperbacks—the space is shorter, the casual bookshop browser needs to be grabbed quickly.
(9) Hardcover. In the case of Stephen King, I get in touch with Stephen King’s American publishers and find out their due dates for revised script, copy-edited script, copy-edited script approved by author, galleys/page proofs, collated galleys/revises, final revises. My colleague in production will then produce a schedule for our edition of the book.
(9a) I will send the U.S. copy-edited, King-approved script, or typeset galleys, to our British freelance editor to prepare for press, marking up to our own Hodder style. Any queries he raises, I will pass to Scribner who will collate them with their own and forward to the author where appropriate. I will then pass the marked script with prelims for the Hodder edition to our Production department.
(9b) Our Production department will send out to a typesetter to produce page proofs. I will send these proofs to a freelance proofreader, and to the author, to check for typographical errors and any final inconsistencies. We will then check the final revised page proofs before they go off for printing and binding.
(10) Stock will come into our warehouse one month before publication, and will be sent out to retailers to fill pre-orders, and to put on sale on publication date.
(11) I liaise with Marketing on everything they are thinking about to promote the book to the public and in partnership with retailers (this includes all material and copy from in-store [dumpbins] to radio ads and posters). I also liaise with Steve’s excellent publicist—both in bouncing ideas forward and back for publicity opportunities (including highlights for the recent tour) and also making sure that I equip myself with the latest reviews, etc. for putting on future books and marketing material.)