Editorial Anonymous

The water she flows over rocks and stone I found the jewel’d moss a day Hard in my hand I wandered far Green in my hand I wandered far Wind ...

There once was a goose who lived in a coop. A coop is a building Or enclosure where Fowl are kept And must be cleaned regularly. And the goo...

Okay, here's what I'd like to know. About what percentage of the slush pile is made up of stuff that's this outrageous? IOW, if ...

A short story with a moral. Once upon a time there was a hopeful author, and everywhere she went she wore a little red cape and asked total ...

EA, can you explain what a hook is? We all hear about hooks, but is it in the concept (what you can use to sell the book to the sales force,...

I'm curious to know what some of your favorite picture books are... and why? Jeez, where to start? Tell you what. I’ll begin if you guys...

My question concerns convention and conference etiquette. As I visit the publisher booths at this weekend’s ALA to collect catalogs, I also ...

Your manuscript includes footnotes a) Explaining each punctuation mark to the reader. b) Explaining how difficult each sentence was to write...

And another reason you need to read The Horn Book cover-to-cover. Here he talks about the American Girl catalog as "toy porn": htt...

"... the story just didn't come together in a way I had hoped it would.” This could sure be more specific. It could mean that your ...

further twists on the magic decoder ring: "Thank you for sending, not quite right for us." But a hand written note that said, ...

I am constantly amazed at how archaic the submission process is for the book publishing industry. I do understand that publishers need a way...

"slight" This is code for "where's the hook?" On a young PB: "I worry that literal-minded kids will find the d...

The magic decoder ring of editor speak begins! I used to write: 'I'm afraid it's not quite right for our current list.' What...

It's official. The geese have replaced the squirrels in the slush pile. Some pandas this week, some sheep (one that thinks it's a go...

Why doesn't Blogger do m-dashes? I often want to use one. After the semicolon, it's my favorite piece of puncuation.

I got a rejection letter that said something like, "I like your manuscript, but you deserve someone who's more enthusiastic about i...

What's your take on middle grade fiction these days? Some editors are saying it's underpublished right now. Does that mean it migh...

This week has had a theme. But this is the last how-long-do-I-wait-what's-going-on question I answer for a while, and Mr. Cuervo here ag...

http://www.observer.com/2007/my-book-deal-ruined-my-life Good god, did you read this article? It's phenomenal what authors put themselve...