Notes coming soon!

Rekka: 00:00:07 Welcome to the hybrid author, a podcast where we gather the raw material to Frankenstein into a writing career you can bring to life. I’m Rekka, writing science fiction is RJ Theodore. Each week, I’ll share information on the different aspects of writing, editing, publishing, and marketing to inspire you to finally pull that lever. This is the hybrid author podcast.

Rekka: 00:00:30 Hey, everybody Rekka’s back here. I’ve got a good one today.

Rekka: 00:00:34 This interview is with Kailyn Considine of Parvus Press. Yes, I am recycling my connections at Parvus Press again. But this is really exciting because Kaelyn is the acquiring editor at Parvus, which means that when somebody sends a submission in, Kaelyn is the first person that it comes into contact with. So query letters, manuscripts, um, inquiries, stuff like that. So I reached out–and some of you already know this because you responded–and collected some questions from the crowd, as it were, to ask Kaelyn while we spoke today. And I got so many great questions and unfortunately we did not get to all of them. So we focused a lot on query letters today. I don’t think that’s a bad thing. I know a lot of folks who still don’t know exactly what needs to go into the query letter or how to make the perfect query letter and um, how critical is the query letter.

Rekka: 00:01:34 So Kaelyn and I get into that quite a bit and then we also talk about, um, more of the, uh, day to day or her practice as she goes through the submissions. And um, there really was so much at the end that we did have to just kind of cut it off because she had to go into the Parvus business meeting right after we recorded. So that’s also kind of exciting too. Um, yes, I am going to continue to bring Parvus People on because I really enjoy, uh, working with Parvus, and all their people are so easy and fun to talk to. So, um, one thing I will point out Kaelyn regretted after the fact that she didn’t get to mention that, um, if you go to the Parvus website and you look at the About Us page and the information about everything, they really are interested in putting the authors first.

Rekka: 00:02:26 So you’re going to see through this interview or you’re going to hear rather that Kaelyn is very passionate about making sure that the artist is treated like a human being as part of this process. And that at no point do Parvus, anyone at Parvus, forget that there was somebody put a lot of work into this book. So, um, that also means that this is not exactly going to be the process that you would find anywhere else. So that’s the caveat that Kaelyn wishes, um, that we put at the beginning of the episode because, uh, we do mention it partway through, but it’s already pretty deep into that conversation. And she said she wished she’d just said it at the top. That this is not going to be the answer that you’d get from the acquiring editor at Tor or a Simon and Schuster, um, the big five, or even some of the other small presses out there.

Kaelyn: 00:03:20 Um, one thing that Parvus did, Collin told me when we spoke early in the process of getting plots and published and negotiating that contract in our introductory phone calls was that Parvus is so small that they wanted to be able to say, um, “Yes, that’s the way that publishing has always done it and no, we’re not going to do it that way.” So in some respects, the process that Kaelyn describes is not always going to be the same as you find anywhere else. But Kaelyn is really good about being careful with her advice and not setting up too many expectations. And I feel like she did a great job saying, “but this isn’t true for everybody.” So just as a favor to Kaelyn, I just wanted to drop that in the intro. So please enjoy, as much as I did, this interview with Kaelyn Considine from Parvus Press. An acquiring editor, the gatekeeper as if you will, um, between your book and publication (maybe). So, and then also please do follow @parvuspress on Twitter and subscribe to their newsletter, uh, so you know when their next open call for submissions is, because I think when you hear this interview, you’re going to want to keep an ear to the ground for that one. All right. Enjoy this interview. I will talk to you all next week and I’m going to be recapping my attempt at #MarNoWriMo and it’s a doozy. So I will talk to you all next week. Enjoy this interview and have a great week of writing, everybody. Take care.

Rekka: 00:04:56 All right. Today I have a treat for you, lovely listeners, because I know that I talked to a lot of writers and I have talked to a few folks who are providing services and, and putting you in touch with other professionals. But um, here we are like we’re at, this is the horizon your eyes are locked on. This is why you’re here. Um, getting your book published. Uh, one way or another. Of course, we’ve got some folks–this is the Hybrid Author Podcast.–some folks aren’t, aren’t going to be so worried about this, but I think you’re still going to be really curious, um, to the content of this interview.

Rekka: 00:05:34 So Kaelyn, hello. I’ve already introduced you before we came into the interview portion, but, um, why don’t you introduce yourself to our listeners and let them know who you are and, um, and how you got my number.

Kaelyn: 00:05:50 Hello, lovely listeners. My name is Kaitlin Considine and I am the acquisitions editor for Parvus Press. As for how I got Rekka’s number, um, well we published one of her books and we’ve got at least a couple more to go. So, uh, finding her phone number really wasn’t that hard actually. She, she found mine as it were.

Kaelyn: 00:06:11 That’s true. Yeah. Okay. So for this one, you know, I, I don’t know what people don’t know. So I reached out to, uh, to listeners on Twitter. I reached out to them through Facebook and, um, asked around for a couple more and I wanted to just sort of do a Q and A with you using other people’s questions because I think it’s a good way to guide the conversation, but it also makes sure we touch on the things that people are really curious about.

Kaelyn: 00:06:42 Yeah, sure.

Rekka: 00:06:43 So, um, the first question I got was, what does an acquisitions editor do?

Kaelyn: 00:06:48 Oh boy. I don’t know if they can figure it out and let me know, please. Oh, no, I’m kidding. Um, so that’s, that’s a little bit of a multilayered question. I mean, on the, just from the name alone, obviously we acquire things, books and otherwise. Um, at Parvus, you know, we’re independent, we’re relatively small, so myself as the acquisitions editor, I, uh, whenever we have an open submissions period or whenever we receive, um, agented submissions, I take a look at them and decide if it’s something that we think we want to buy and uh, publish. Um, I am the first person to get ahold of something and read it. Um, we’re a small but very close knit group of Parvus. So you know, if I will a float, you know, things that I like, things that I found interesting and enjoyed and think would, um, other readers would enjoy, before the other groups and uh, you know, kind of put something in front of them.

Kaelyn: 00:07:53 I talk a little about the book, talk about what I like about it, its strengths, um, anything that I think we’d have to do some work on and then it goes from there. Um, now at Parvus, um, I also edit books. So I might acquire your book and then also be your editor. Uh, depending on, you know, where all of this comes in comes through and what time I have available. Um, at larger publishing houses, an acquisitions editor is mostly responsible for just acquiring and developing content. They’ll do the same thing I do, which is go before the group and say, I have this book. I really like it. I think we can sell it. I think readers will like it, but they will also say, here’s how I think we can sell this. They’re going to evaluate, um, what the, the best market is, how to market the book and they’re also going to then spend a lot of time negotiating the contract.

Rekka: 00:09:07 so at the very least, you, you are the gatekeeper that everyone keeps griping about.

Kaelyn: 00:09:15 At the very least. I am the person who is going to be the first one to read what you send.

Rekka: 00:09:19 And do you have, um, the bonus at Parvus of also being somebody who gets to see a book all the way through to the end?

Kaelyn: 00:09:28 Yes. Um, especially if I am your editor, um, you know, well, you know, for instance, like you’re, um, you’ve been with Parvus for going on a couple of years now. I think you’ve been working with us and you and I have not ever really worked on a book together. Right. So, or done any work on your book. So it really depends. Um, again, I get the, I’m lucky enough to be able to do the acquisition stuff and then also get to edit books.

Rekka: 00:09:53 Yes. So do you, um, now this is not one of the Twitter questions. This is just going off from that question because it made me wonder, are there books where you say, “I want to be the editor on this one,” or is it more a matter of scheduling?

Kaelyn: 00:10:08 Some of it is scheduling and some of it is “I want this.”

Rekka: 00:10:13 Yeah, that’s good. Yeah. We want the editor to want our book and not just like want to sell the book, but also like, want to be part of it.