Author: Loree Burns

The scariest part of signing my first book contract was not that I was now obligated (and under deadline) to write a middle grade nonfiction book. It was that I was now obligated (and under deadline!) to find photographs to illustrate said middle grade nonfiction book.
Looking back, I wonder how I had the nerve to sign the contract.

But sign I did. Here are some things I have learned since then:

• Photographic research is fun. Really. In the six months after I signed the contract, I learned how to scour digital image archives, negotiate rights to available images, secure permissions for public domain images, buy images from stock houses and professional photographers, track down amateur photographers—in my case beachcombers—who were willing and able to contribute images to TRACKING TRASH.

• Successful photo research aside, all “Scientists in the Field” books will eventually need fresh images of scientists … in the field.

• If you are going to undertake something very big—like, say, an entirely new career that will require you to fly two thousand miles from your babies to interview and photograph high profile scientists that you have never met—taking a friend is not a bad idea.

• If you want to collect stunning images, learn about photography, and get an introduction to professional photo-journalism while on location, taking Betty Jenewin is a downright fabulous idea.

Betty is a photo journalist for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette and, lucky for me, a good friend. She joined me on two research trips to the west coast and chronicled our adventures with her camera. When I look back on the year I researched and wrote TRACKING TRASH, I can not separate my accomplishment from the support and professional guidance of Betty. Fourteen of her images appear in the book, and I give much of the credit for the comments below, taken from major reviews, to her:

“…the vivid and lively photographs and well-labeled charts and diagrams help to create interest and build understanding.” School Library Journal, Starred review

“Maps and varied color photos support the text …” Kirkus Reviews, Starred review

“Photographs and detailed discussions of related subjects … contribute much background information.” The Horn Book

“…exceptionally fine color photos and handsome maps give this book an inviting look …” Booklist

“ … excellent supporting graphics.” VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocates)

Thank you, Betty, for everything. Here’s to a new book featuring your images and my text … and both our names on the spine!

 

To read Stories Behind the Story: Part 1, click here.

To read Stories Behind the Story: Part 2, click here.

Otherwise, read on …

I mailed my TRACKING TRASH book proposal to Houghton Mifflin on June 25, 2004. About five weeks later, on August 5, I got an email with a snappy return address and my book title in the RE: line. For reasons I still can’t explain, I assumed the email was from a disgruntled colleague who was writing a book also called TRACKING TRASH. Imagine my surprise when I opened the message, prepared to fight to the death for my beloved title, and found this:

Hi Loree,

My name is Erica Zappy and I work in the children’s division at Houghton Mifflin. We came across your manuscript entitled Tracking Trash: Oceanography and the Science of Floating Ojects, which was addressed to Amy Flynn. Amy no longer works here at Houghton, but I read through the ms myself and I really liked it …

OH.

MY.

GOD.

In the two years since that email, I have gotten to know Erica better. She is a good editor– generous, funny, and smart. Together we’ve worked through the little dramas of birthing a book—including the loss of some important photographs, a schedule change that found me in Europe the week final proofs were due, and communicating via email from her office in Boston and my seat atop one of London’s Big Red Buses. I have grown to appreciate her positive outlook and gentle bedside manner (by which I mean her editing never hurts).

In honor of Publication Week, I asked Erica to join me here on my blog for an interview. So, please welcome Ms. Erica Zappy, Associate Editor at Houghton Mifflin Books for Children.

This is fun for me, Erica, because I don’t get to chat with you much. I’ve often wondered, but haven’t had a chance to ask, about your background and how you came to be a children’s book editor. Do tell!

I attended Simmons College and was pretty much an English major from the start. I knew when I was in high school that I wanted to be an editor. I just didn’t know what kind or what my options were at the time. At the beginning of my sophomore year, I took a children’s literature survey course. We were told by the instructor that there was no need to purchase any or all of the books on the syllabus (because there were a lot!) as they’d all be available at the library on reserve. Well, I was so smitten by the first class and by the syllabus that I bought about 30 books that evening at the local Barnes and Noble. It just felt right, and I pretty much knew then and there that I’d stick with children’s books. I later attended the Columbia Publishing Course (formerly the Radcliffe Publishing Course) in 2001 and went to Candlewick as a sales rep. before I came to Houghton as an editorial assistant. I worked on a lot of books that had been orphaned by staff changes. TRACKING TRASH and a picture book called DEAR MISS PERFECT both came out in Spring 2007 and were the first books that I acquired and worked on solo.

So, besides stopping by my blog for an interview, what is on your “To Do” list today?

Well, we had an editorial meeting first thing this morning — we discuss editorial procedures/housekeeping as well as any manuscripts or artists we are looking to get feedback on. I brought TRACKING TRASH to an ed meeting years ago and it was very well-received — and you know what happens next! Then I have been sorting through my inbox (both virtual and actual), making sure I have responded to folks who are waiting to hear back from me. I will spend most of the rest of the day working on any of the following: a large stack of manuscripts that need to be declined (sadly); revision letter for a novel I am working on; and reading the last draft for a new Scientists in the Field book that is due to pub in Spring of 2008.

I read in the March/April New England SCBWI newsletter that you enjoy fiction with well developed, three-dimensional characters and picture books with spare, lyrical text. And I know from experience that you have edited several Scientists in the Field books (my own included). Do you find it difficult to move between such different projects? And do you have a favorite genre?

I don’t find it difficult yet — but perhaps it’s because I haven’t been doing this for all that long! I’m still game for anything, really. Nonfiction projects tend to be more overwhelming, because there are a lot of cooks in the kitchen, I guess. Photos from various sources, maps, graphs, FACTS to keep STRAIGHT, names to spell correctly (like Alguhas? Or is it Agulhas? [Note from Loree: this is a TRACKING TRASH term … ten points if you can tell me what it refers to!]) and things like that. Novels are a bit more personal. It’s not often that you read a novel 3, 4, 5, 6 times — but that’s pretty much a guarantee when editing a novel. And picture books are more difficult at the beginning, when you are trying to find the right artist for a project — and striking a balance between text and art is not easy. I don’t think I have a favorite genre — but since I’ve become an editor, I’ve really found myself rethinking my attitude towards nonfiction and appreciating it for the amazing things it can do for a young reader.

Do you want to mention some of the books you have edited recently?

The last few books I have worked on: another Scientists in the Field coming out in the fall called EMI AND THE RHINO SCIENTIST, by Mary Kay Carson and Tom Uhlman. It is the story of Emi, the first Sumatran rhinoceros to give birth in captivity in nearly 100 years, and all of the folks who helped her acheive this. It’s a great story of the amazing work zoos can do, conservation, teamwork, perserverance. And rhinos are SO CUTE. I also just finished editing a picture book/poem book called THE MOON IS LA LUNA: SILLY RHYMES IN ENGLISH AND SPANISH, by Jay Harris, with pictures by Matthew Cordell. It’s a combination of English and Spanish that might help young kids learn some basic Spanish words early on. Here is my favorite:

A light is called una luz.
(Luz is said like, “loose.”)
If la luz is loose
You may say with a smirk,
“Unless it is tighter,
La luz will not work!”

I’m also just finishing up editing a book called THE FROG SCIENTIST by Pamela S. Turner and with photos by Andy Comins. It is part of the Scientists in the Field series and is about a scientist from Berkeley who studies the affects of pesticides on frogs and how that might affect humans at some point. It is sort of controversial, has a great hero, and frogs are also darn adorable.

I took a gander at the Slush Pile at HMCo during one of my visits to your office, and it was far less intimidating than I expected. How is the Pile these days? If you could pick one adjective to describe how you approach that puppy, what would it be?

The slush seems much better handled these days. We have some more readers in-house, which helps us get through it faster. One adjective…hmmm…inspiring? It used to be scary — now I only hope to find good things in there — like TRACKING TRASH!

And now I have to ask: how much of what you publish do you find there?

Not a ton, but it’s certainly not “nothing,” either. Probably 2-3 things a year on average are from the slush, or at least are from someone we found in the slush and with whom we started a relationship.

One of my favorite books about this business is DEAR GENIUS, THE LETTERS OF URSULA NORDSTROM (edited by Leonard S. Marcus), and I know you are a fan of it as well. How would you say the job of a children’s book editor has changed since Ms. Nordstrom’s time?

Unfortunately there is far less witty correspondence — everything happens quickly, by email and phone, even revision letters and suggestions are often relayed via email. I’m sure it was in Ursula’s time, but nowadays with buyouts and conglomorates, publishing is definitely a business. There is a bottom line. And there are definite trends that dictate what we do or do not publish.

Now that I have brought up Nordstrom’s letters, I simply must share my favorite. It was written to Hilary Knight, whose ELOISE IN BAWTH was being published by Harper but had experienced a series of delays. All parties were at wits end when this letter was sent to the author:

Dear Hilary,
I hesitate to worry you, but I thought I should tell you that some enemy of yours is writing me very angry letters, and signing your name to them.
Have a good week. Love, Ursula

No one wants confrontation, of course, but if it arose, wouldn’t you just love to use that line?

(flagging the page for future reference…)

Before you leave, we have to talk about blogs. I mean, does the editorial world have an official stance on them? They clearly add a fluidity factor to the more traditional, static author website, and this may help site visibility and traffic. But does all of this cyber-hoopla translate into book sales? And is it even remotely possible that editors find the time to visit potential author blogs?

I love blogs. I am a full-on blog addict. I read a ton of them. I’m not sure yet if we’ve figured out how to really WORK a blog to get more sales, but the more I see authors and illustrators with their own blogs, the more I’m convinced that it helps and does not hurt. I’ve checked out every blog or website that any author or illustrator I’ve been interested in might have — especially illustrators. To me, there is no reason why in this day and age, as an illustrator, you shouldn’t have a place online to showcase your work. Blogs are certainly making their mark — I know the marketing team is really trying to figure out how to best utilize them.

One last question, Erica. Okay, technically, three, but they are related. Do you manage to find time for pleasure reading? If so, what do you read? And what, pray tell, is your most recent favorite?

I wish I could read more! It is the worst part of this job, for me. I read on vacation pretty much, or on long car trips. I generally read sort of literary novels. I’m not much for chick lit (at all) or “beach” reads, though the last book I read was THE RUINS by Scott Smith a few weeks ago, and that was not really serious literature, and was totally gross and disgusting — but I could not put it down, so there you go. Over my honeymoon I read THE MEMORY KEEPER’S DAUGHTER, but I did not like it at all. I felt manipulated and did not like the characters. I tried to read THE DANTE CLUB on the honeymoon but that was almost too stodgy for the beach. I buy a lot of nonfiction, for adults, but generally don’t read them all the way through. I dabble and find stuff I like to read within the book — I read a lot on animal rights, behavior, shelters, etc. That’s sort of my genre for nonfiction. In my bag now is THE TIPPING POINT by Malcolm Gladwell. I will probably read THE ROAD soon, the new Cormac McCarthy in paperback. Now it is an Oprah pick — interesting to see this as a choice for her. I am also addicted to cookbooks. I think I am going to Border’s right now to buy the new Giada DeLaurentis, EVERYDAY PASTA. And there you have it.

Thank you for stopping by, Erica. And thank you for helping me to bring TRACKING TRASH into the world!