Smart Bitches Trashy Books | All of the romance, none of the bullshit.

Check out this succinct diatribe against what is wrong with book publishing from Gawker, usually a site that focuses on other elements of media brou-haha.  My favorite part of the whole rant: “Books are important.” Hell, yeah. I raise my mug of “Haterade” in salute to that.

So while Gawker and I were pondering editors, each in our own corner of the internet, I had to stop and ponder something a Bitchery member said in a comment thread, and with my Swiss cheese memory I can’t remember when or who so please let me know if I need to attribute the following to your illustrious self. To wit: it’s not so much an author we should be glomming, but an editor’s work. The editor you follow as a fangirl should consistently deliver the kinds of stories you enjoy, because most likely, they are the kinds of stories h/she enjoys.

I was recently added to the Avon ARC list, and hello, there’s now a bag of books once a month on my porch. A satchel of romance, as it were. Most of the ARCs are introduced on the back cover with a letter from the editor, and I’ve noticed that of late, I’ve been enjoying the various books edited by Erika Tsang - many different authors, but one editor in common. (So of course, like the giant dork I am, I wrote her an email and told her so.)

Until Aaron Sorkin gets tired of behind-the-scenes dramedies of television shows and starts working on a behind-the-scenes story of a romance publishing house (with Fabio, if I get any vote in the casting!), I’m guessing the work of the editor will remain somewhat mysterious to the average reader. It never occurred to me until I got additional publication education courtesy of the Bitchery (thanks, Y’all) that editors, among the unsung heroes of romance, would need some deserving attention.

So - do you follow an editor as well as an author? Do you buy regularly the works that come from a specific editor’s office? And if you’re a writer, what editor would you “I’ll-send-her-a-muffin-basket” love love love to work with?

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