Comments on: An Unedited Exploration of Editing

By: Donna Seaman

Donna Seaman — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 00:00:00 +0000

It takes a certain turn of mind, a certain knack, to be able to critique a book in a mere 175 words. Not only must a reviewer write tight, he or she must also read both passionately and discerningly, knowing that there’s so much to say, yet how little you can actually cover in a short review. It is especially difficult to decide what to leave out when reviewing fiction. You need to provide enough description to give an idea of the scope and voice of the novel (short stories provide their own challenges), without getting bogged down in plot summarization. And you need to save a line or two (we do count every word) for evaluation. It’s always a gamble working with new reviewers, and it’s true, you can tell right away if a reviewer can perform this distillation. Then the editor has the intuitive task of ascertaining taste. Does this reviewer have a good eye and ear for comedic writing? A high tolerance for serious, even disturbing themes? I ask reviewers about their interests (animals, sailboats, exploration), take into consideration where they live and what they do, if they have children or not, how acute their social conscience is. Any clues. And the longer an editor works with a reviewer, the more often an editor ends up selecting books that she or she loves to read and think about. Eventually you feel like one those dowser guys who find water in the desert with a divining rod: you hold your hand over a truck of books, it quivers a bit and you think, ah, this is a Carol Haggas book, or a Deborah Donovan book. Assigning books is an art, perhaps, more than a science.

By: Sue-Ellen Beauregard

Sue-Ellen Beauregard — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 00:00:00 +0000

As media editor, I have the task of getting the right media into the right hands. Sounds easy, but in addition to subject matter and interest, we are talking format as well. One reviewer can only take cassettes because that’s all he has in his car, another wants only CDs (more common than those who want cassettes), another has trouble with their DVD player and can’t take anymore DVDs until a new player is purchased. Someone else loves mysteries on audiobook but please don’t send any narrated by so and so. Another reviewer is great at evaluating the plot of a novel, but because we are reviewing an audiobook and not the book, I don’t want a critique of the writing. I find it very rare that a first time reviewer hits the ground running and turns in a perfectly tuned review. But if a reviewer is willing to learn, answers my questions in a timely fashion, and is a good judge of quality, I will work with that person to hone their craft.

By: Ilene Cooper

Ilene Cooper — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 00:00:00 +0000

One might think reviewing a children’s book is easy - after all some picture books have fewer words than a review. But, actually reviewers have to respond both as an adult reader, able to critque both words and often art, and the child for whom the book is intended. When our reviews say “kids will like. . .” we have to be confident in our expertise and personal experiences with children to be able to make that statement. Fortunately, our reviewers have a strong mix of both.
As the editor who distributes books to our freelance reviewers I try very hard to match the right book with the right person. There’s no point in giving Harry Potter to a fantasy hater. (Though in point of fact everyone’s pretty wild about Harry.)

By: Stephanie Zvirin

Stephanie Zvirin — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Procedures used in the Youth Section vary slightly from those used by the Adult Editors. Each member of the Youth in-house staff is responsible for editing the reviews of an assigned group of contributors, but book distribution to those outside contributors is delegated to one editor. As Section Editor, I preselect books, choosing the ones that(in a perfect world with unlimited page space!)we’ll review in the magazine, identifying high-priority titles, and flagging books for spotlight-issue consideration. From these, in-house staff and contract reviewers choose what they would like to review (about 60% of our reviews are written by in-house and contract staff). Then, selecting from the remainder, our Children’s Editor (Ilene Cooper) assigns books to outside contributors, a wonderful group of people who come to us from a variety of of backgrounds and geographic locations. Among them are librairans working in school and public libraries and childrens/YA literature consultants. We keep our outside contributing staff small to increase name recognition among subscribers, something that’s very important to us. Some of our contributors specialize: Jesse Karp, Tina Coleman, and Kat Kan take only graphic novels. Stella Clark concentrates on Spanish/English books. A few reviewers take only picture books; others only want YA titles. Ilene tries very hard to give each reviewer the sort of book he or she feels most comfortable with. which adds to the challenge of matching the right book to the right reviewer.

By: Keir

Keir — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Thanks for weighing in, everyone! It’s especially helpful to have the youth and media perspectives.