1. What is your official title and role at Razorbill?
LH: Editor.

I am here to acquire and edit new authors, to generate in-house book and series proposals, work on our publishing strategies and help to define the imprint.

2. Please tell us a little about your background and what brought you to children's publishing. 
LH: I was an English major at Vassar and was into poetry, which I knew was under-represented, so I started out thinking I wanted to be a literary agent.  I moved to New York jobless, furniture-less, even phone-less!  I managed to land a paid internship at an agency in the first week, thanks to the payphone down the street.  I also worked at a store, selling things like “The Kitty Penthouse” which sounds worse than it is: a glorified outdoor cage for your cat.  Luckily I wound up getting hired full-time at HarperCollins, where I worked for four years on mainly young adult fiction.  At first I thought it was just a foot in the door, until I quickly fell in love with teen books and the repressed teenager still inside me, yearning for more!  I was offered an Editor position at Razorbill in May of this year.

3. What are some of your favorite books? 
LH: I hate “favorites” questions! 

OK, I read poetry, I like Chekhov a lot, and I am a sucker for tearjerkers like Jacob Have I Loved.  I also love anything that is riotously funny. 

4. What book(s) are you proudest of having worked on? Why? 
LH: I don’t know if I want to name names, but I tend to feel proudest when I get an author with a lot of raw talent—beautiful, evocative, unique, funny prose—but who has a weak point (plotting, emotional scenes, whatever).  Then I can really roll up my sleeves and put a lot of work and new ideas into the book, and trust that the end product will be amazing.  That is the most satisfying process, and I feel very close to the book then.

5. How would you describe the publishing program at Razorbill? What kind of books do you publish and how many new books do you acquire each year? 
LH: Razorbill publishes the gamut of teen genres, a smattering of ‘tween and the occasional middle-grade books and non-fiction.  Our focus is definitely teen novels, though, and we are most eager to acquire three basic types of books:   1. fun, fresh projects that are author-driven and have a big story to tell, 2. strong, well-written concept-driven books with series potential, and 3. some books that are just beautifully literary and smart and stand out on their own.

Within those categories you’ll see a little bit of fantasy, some strong commercial fare that has paranormal elements, and a lot of realistic fiction and chick-lit.  But we hope there’s always going to be a surprising goofball project that we publish for its own merit and can learn something from as a publisher.

We publish around 30 to 45 books a year, and since we’re a relatively young imprint, a good portion of those are new acquisitions.  But it’s also a small enough list that we can hold out for the best, most interesting projects that make sense for us to publish. 

It’s a really great team of creative, intelligent editors.

6. What, for you, is the role of the "ideal editor?"  “Ideal author?”
LH: Good questions!  Wow.  Okay I’ll start with the ideal editor.  I guess the ideal editor helps an author realize his or her “vision” of the story and helps steer that vision toward something readers will buy and love.  The editor’s role is also to make sure the publishing house positions the author’s book just right so that the general perception of the book is both true to the work of the author and appealing to the intended audience. 

Hopefully a good editor can both challenge an author and make that author feel taken care of and happy, in order to get the best material and develop a positive working relationship.  Within that, every editor has their particular talents and twitches which make their process unique.

As for the ideal author? Be a genius at something (or two), whether it’s the prose quality, the special voice, the hilarious sense of humor, the machine-like ability to generate plots and subplots…  Then be willing to change everything about the book that’s NOT genius, and make it better! I love writers who are passionate enough to understand how much work it takes to make a book special and great, and have the energy for it! 

I also really respect writers who are hard workers, responsive, get the job done on time, et cetera.  It’s such a better, healthier relationship that way.  But there are always authors an editor enjoys coddling, too, and we understand that all you writers are delicate, sensitive creatures at heart!!

7. What do you perceive as the role of the books you publish or write in the lives of contemporary young people? 
LH: I think teens mostly read for entertainment and identification.  They are very savvy but usually have limited time and income for books, so I want to grab them right away by making books that appeal to them directly; books that are engaging, surprising and original; books that have a very satisfying structure and speak to popular interests. 

I hope very much that within that, there is also infinite opportunity to reach the reader on a deeper emotional and intellectual level.  Exposing them to the joy of reading should be the main purpose, and creating stories that will stay with them, so they’ll keep coming back for more.

8. Are you aware of any trends in YA publishing? How do you feel about them? 
LH: It’s my job to try to understand trends in YA—like if Vampires are still hot or waning again, or which paperback trim sizes seem to be more successful for different genres at the moment.

It’s always difficult to figure out when to follow a trend versus when to break the mold.  Usually you have to try and do both at the same time in order to stay competitive with what’s out there but not seem totally derivative. 

9. What say does the sales/marketing department have in the look or type of the book you produce? 
LH: It depends on the publishing house and how it’s set up, but these departments frequently weigh in, sometimes heavily, sometimes just with a nod of approval.  We want Marketing and Sales to be able to get behind a book and support it, which requires understanding the content, format and cover.  We don’t want to be a slave to the chain stores, especially editorially, but on the other hand, it sure is good to know if someone in Sales thinks the B&N buyer will hate our cover! 

10. Are you accepting unsolicited manuscripts? 
LH: Nope.

Thank you, Lexa, and see you at Royaumont!