Small Press Week: Secrets

This week we're participating in Small Press Week, headed by the wonderful people at Upper Rubber Boot Books. The first topic is "Secrets." See below for some excellent insights about our editors and their work.

Rhonda Parrish

“So like, you just fix all the typos and then you get to have your name on the cover?”
At first I was angry – No. No I don’t just fix all the typos and then I get my name on the cover. That’s not how this works – but eventually I got over it, because Jack wasn’t trying to minimize the amount of work I put into an anthology, he honestly just didn’t know.
Thinking about it afterward it became pretty clear to me that, actually, a lot of people don’t know. When they see a book that says ‘Edited by NAME’ on the cover, they don’t understand what that means. And why should they? I’ve been a writer for quite a long time and even I didn’t know what that meant until a couple years ago, so I want to talk, just briefly, about my process when I’m editing an anthology. What do I do? Why is my name on the cover?

Rhonda Parrish is an assistant editor for World Weaver Press, and the editor behind the Magical Menageries anthologies—that means FAE, CORVIDAE, SCARECROW, SIRENS, and the forthcoming EQUUS. At her blog, she talked in depth about what it means to be an editor for an anthology, and all the many steps that go into the publication process. Read the full blog post here: "What Do You Do Again?"

Kate Wolford

I am not an extremely picky editor. I don't immediately discount a submission based on a missing apostrophe or a misplaced comma. That's what editing is for--on my part. And posts with errors do end up on EC, including ones I've written, which is why I am not harsh on others in this regard. To write is to err.
But I am shocked by how many submissions I receive in which even rudimentary editing is missing. I suspect some people are lazy, some are bad at catching their own errors, and a great many others figure that EC is "just about fairy tales" and high standards aren't necessary.

Kate Wolford is the editor of Enchanted Conversation: A Fairy Tale Magazine, as well as the editor behind the anthologies KRAMPUSNACHT: TWELVE NIGHTS OF KRAMPUS, FROZEN FAIRY TALES, and HE SEES YOU WHEN HE'S CREEPIN': TALES OF KRAMPUS. She also annotated a book of lesser known fairy tales: BEYOND THE GLASS SLIPPER. On her blog, Kate talked about how to clean up your writing before you send it off to a publisher, and tricks for catching your own mistakes. Read the full blog post here: "Editing Your Submissions."

Bascomb James

John Campbell and many other editors have shown that editors too, can be agents of change in science fiction and society.  In my role as volume editor and Far Orbit anthologist, I was uniquely positioned to set the tone for the anthology.  Rather than writing about my preferences for more optimism, I decided to pay people for their optimistic SF stories. 

Bascomb James is a clinical virologist, author, and editor who lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Bascomb is the editor behind the science fiction adventure anthologies FAR ORBIT and FAR ORBIT APOGEE. At his blog, he talked about the role editors can play in shaping our expectations of the future and the science fiction genre. Read the full blog post here: "SF Authors and Editors as Agents of Change."

Laura Harvey

Writers are the gods of their own stories. We wield the power to say what we want, how we want. An editor or critic can recommend changes, but writers possess the awesomely seductive power to ignore them. This is one of the greatest dangers of being a writer: the ability to reject good advice. At the time, it’s tempting to think the critic just didn’t read something the right way, or to defend that clever turn of phrase we’re so proud of. Sometimes, we even fall back on the crutch of “this is my style” rather than honestly engage what an editor/critic is trying to tell us.

Laura Harvey is an assistant editor for World Weaver Press, and the editor behind the paranormal romance anthology DEMONS, IMPS, AND INCUBI. At her blog, she talked about the negotiations authors and editors often go through during the editorial process. Read the full blog post here: "Stet Wars."

Sarena Ulibarri

Since an anthology is a collection of short stories by various authors, it is usually centered around a theme. That theme may be broad—the theme of Speculative Story Bites is "speculative fiction under 4000 words"—or it may be narrow--for example, Rhonda Parrish's anthology Corvidae is focused on fantasy stories about crows, magpies, and other "corvid" birds, and Kate Wolford's anthology Frozen Fairy Tales is all about fairy tale retellings set in winter. At this point, the editor and publisher must also decide on guidelines for writers, including how long or short a story can be, what genres are acceptable, and how much writers will be paid.

Sarena Ulibarri is editor-in-chief of World Weaver Press (as of March 2016), and the editor behind the SPECULATIVE STORY BITES anthology. In shameless imitation of Rhonda Parrish's blog post, she also blogged about what goes on behind the scenes of editing an anthology, this time delving into more detail about the nitty-gritty of publishing such as formatting, cover design, and (*gasp*) marketing. Read the full blog post here: "What Does It Actually Mean to 'Edit' An Anthology?"

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Check back all week for more Small Press Week posts! And check the hashtag #SPWeek16 on Twitter to find other fantastic small presses.