Hey, folks, it’s time to ask the editor!
I’ve compiled a list of questions and the lovely Abigail Fenton, Editorial Director at HarperCollins, HQ Digital, has answered them. Read on to find out more about the work of, and some top tips from, one of the best editors in the business!
We’re getting personal this month and I’m giving you a sneak peak into the life of an editor, as this month’s question is… What’s your typical working day like?
Abi says:
The first thing I do is check the charts, and see how our books are performing. If something’s doing well I might check in with Marketing to a) celebrate! and b) find out if there’s anything more we could be doing to push the book. Then I will probably have meetings, as we have editorial, sales, marketing, publicity, production and cover art meetings each week. In between that I squeeze in any calls with authors about their latest manuscripts and reply to emails, or if I have a longer meeting-free period I might hide away and edit for a while. The train home is for reading submissions!
Thanks Abi! Though I’m guessing with Covid the train home doesn’t give reading time anymore!
Thank you so much to Abi for taking the time to answer my questions. Her workload (as you can imagine!) is CRAY-ZEE! So I’m so grateful to her for humouring me and my blog!
Abi is Editorial Director, HQ at HarperCollins and before that was Commissioning Editor at Bookouture.