Publishing Interview - Katherine Armstrong

[Michelle]

Next up in our publishing interviews is Katherine Armstrong, Editor at Faber and Faber.

 

Q. Hi Katherine – can you start by telling us your official job title, and a little about what it entails?

 

A. My official job title is Editor (Crime) and I do two main roles. The first is that I commission crime and thrillers. I receive manuscripts from agents and decide on whether or not I think they’re right for the Faber crime list and, if they are, I make an offer for them. I then work with the author on the manuscript until we’re both satisfied that it’s ready.

 

I am also a project editor, which means that once a manuscript is in its final draft the editor will hand it over to me (or I will hand it over to myself if it’s one of my books!) and I will see it through to publication – this involves briefing a copy editor and a proof reader, although I will usually typeset the book myself in house. It can also entail briefing a cartographer and sourcing images for a plate section. I also liaise with the authors over any queries that may come up during this process.

 

We have an in house Crime & Thriller team at Faber who meet every week to discuss the list. We have people from all departments – sales, design, marketing and publicity – and it’s a great way to make sure the list is coming together and everything is going to plan. I am also involved in the paperback side of the crime list and work with the paperbacks manager on putting together copy and getting together all material for the paperback edition.

 

Q. How did you achieve your current role, what sort of career path did you follow?

 

A. I did the usual English degree (at Queen’s University, Belfast) and then went on to do an MPhil in Publishing Studies at the University of Stirling. I also did some temp work at a couple of publishing companies, including a three week stint at the Edinburgh branch (now defunct) of the Curtis Brown Literary Agency when it was run by the late, great literary agent Giles Gordon. I then worked for Waterstones at Ocean Terminal, Edinburgh. Whilst at Waterstones I was in charge of the Fiction, Crime Fiction, History and Military History sections, as well as the Romance titles (although these were pretty much self-explanatory from the covers so I never seemed to be asked about them!). Waterstones gave me a great training in the market – what was selling, why it was selling etc – but I knew that I wanted to become an editor. I managed to get a three month contract in the Pre-press and Design department at Faber and moved to London. I got my lucky break (and publishing is all about these) when one of the poetry editors went on sabbatical. I applied and was lucky enough to get the job of editorial assistant for poetry (I maintain that it was my killer exit line that swung it for me: ‘Thank you for interviewing me, I’m now off to have drinks with Paul McCartney’ – I should explain though that Paul McCartney was actually in Faber that day as we’d just published a children’s book with him). Although it was initially only a temporary six month post I managed somehow to be made permanent (perhaps it was chaining myself to the desk and refusing to leave?) and I ended up working for two Publishing Directors and three senior editors across the poetry, fiction and non-fiction lists. Crime fiction though has always been one of my favourite genres. I wrote about the influence of female crime fiction writers on the publishing industry for my Masters dissertation, so I was lucky (again) to be around at Faber when they decided to expand their crime list in 2008. After working on that list as a project editor (while also working on other lists as well) I was made a commissioning editor for crime fiction last February and am about to have the first book I bought published!

 

Q. Is it something you always thought about – or were there other careers which ended up discarded?

 

A. It’s definitely something that I seriously considered when doing my first degree. It’s that scary moment in your third year when the lecturers call you into the largest lecture hall to give you ‘the talk’ (no, not that one) and you suddenly realise that ‘eek!’ you’re going to have to leave the safe cocoon of academia and venture into the big bad world and you’re not really sure what you want to do. A career, really, me – are you sure?

 

I had thought about journalism but having done a couple of days work experience at a local radio station and at a local paper in Belfast I decided that it probably wasn’t for me. I love to read and thought it’d be great if someone actually paid me to do it, so publishing seemed the logical step!

 

Q. If you could now have any job in the world what would you be doing?

 

A. Not to make myself appear like a scary crime person but I would have loved (if I had the brains) to be either a forensic scientist or a criminal barrister. I’m not particularly squeamish and find their work fascinating and I would love to be able to quote obscure bits of legalese and wear those robes (not so fussed on the wigs though).

 

Q. Back to reality, what is the best part of your job?

 

A. The best part of my job is meeting new authors whose work I love and being given the opportunity (and the privilege) of taking their work to readers. It’s the thrill of working with an author to make their manuscript the best it can be and then see it beautifully packaged and heading out into the world, and finally it’s the thrill you get when someone reads those books and tells you how much it meant to them. Oh, and the parties aren’t bad either…

 

Q. And the worse?

 

A. The hangovers! No, seriously, the worst part is losing a book you felt passionate about to another publishing company and watching them either not do it justice or do it too well!

 

Q. How important do you feel it is to choose a traditional publishing route, or do you think there’s room for self published authors as well?

 

A. I think that as we move into a more digital world the success of self-publishing, as evidenced by E. L. James and Amanda Hocking most recently for example, can’t be overlooked, but in both these cases it’s interesting to note that they were offered book deals with publishers after their novels had taken off in e-book form and that people are still interested and excited enough to buy their works in the more traditional form as well.

 

E-books and online media make it easier for authors to self-publish [it can be difficult for physical self-published works to get into bookshops] and as long as they’re providing a good narrative and people are happy to pay to buy their e-books there is room for both routes. My only worry about self-publishing would be about the editing and standards in the typesetting etc. If someone is prepared to pay good money (and we are in the middle of a recession) for a work then it’s got to look good as well as be good. A lot of people think that they can write and some can but, unfortunately, some can’t and what publishers offer is their expertise (from being readers and sometimes also writers) to take a manuscript and work with the author to help it fulfil its potential; and authors do need another reader for if you’ve been working on a manuscript for a long time then you’re obviously very close to it and it’s hard to then self-edit. The traditional publishing route ensures that a work is read by a lot of people: the author, the agent, the editor, the copy editor, the proof reader, the typesetter, other people in the company – sales, publicity, marketing, rights, production, design etc. It’s these other readers that help spot mistakes and, yes, sometimes mistakes still slip through (we’re only human) but there are enough safeguards in place that means that the chances of making obvious errors should be limited. This isn’t always the case in self-published works and it can put readers off.

 

Q. Do you think readers will prefer e-books to physical books in the future?

 

A. I think that people will always want to buy physical books. I love my Kindle and it’s great for reading manuscripts on so I don’t have to carry hundreds of pages around with me and it’s also great to read e-books on when I’m travelling and don’t have the space for books, but I love physical books too (so much that I may have to move soon as there’s not enough room in my flat…). There’s something valedictory for authors in being able to hold a physical object that they’ve spent months, or even years, writing. It’s that ‘finally’ moment that makes everything they’ve been through worthwhile and I’m not sure e-books have the same impact, or to use the American expression, bring the same closure. Yet e-books also offer publishers the chance to do something different with the text. Enhanced e-books can offer music, narration from the author, images – just extra content that a traditional book can’t. While we aren’t as far along the digital books route as the Americans are, we are further on than some European countries and from a publishing point of view it will be exciting to see where the technology takes us.

 

Q. Do you get to attend festivals, conferences etc as a part of your job? What was the best one?

 

A. I am lucky working within the crime genre that there are a number of exciting and interesting festivals to go to – and they’re all good! I have just come back from Crimefest in Bristol where I spent four days listening to authors discuss their work and talking to authors, readers, agents and other publishers (usually in the bar; the socialising aspect of these festivals is just as important as the panel discussions…). I also go to the Harrogate Crime Festival in July and this year I will be attending the first Bloody Scotland Crime Festival in Stirling (and am looking forward to revisiting some old haunts from my student days). These festivals are great fun – and informative – and give fans of the genre a chance to meet the authors they read and talk about crime fiction. It’s been said before but crime authors are the nicest people you’ll meet – they just happen to write about really gruesome stuff!

 

Q. As a reader, do you enjoy crime, or do you choose other genres when relaxing?

 

A. I do love reading crime fiction (it’s helpful for my job!) but I also enjoy general fiction and travel writing. I enjoy reading travel books about places I’ve been or places I’d like to go. I went on sabbatical at the end of 2010 and travelled a lot and I read Jenny Diski’s Strangers on a Train when I was travelling on the Amtrak from Chicago to Texas and Bill Bryson’s Down Under on the plane to Australia (which made me a bit wary about sticks that might be snakes and random jumping spiders that hide in bushes in the garden!).

 

Q. Finally, what else do you like doing to unwind?

 

A. I’m trying to play down any slightly scary tendencies I have but I have a black belt in karate and find it a very helpful sport to unwind to (there’s nothing like dodging a few punches and kicks to de-stress after a hard day in the office). Other than that I’m really normal – honest! – and not scary at all…

 

My thanks to Katherine for her time.

[Inver]

Great question and answer session there...thanks.

[chesilbeach]

Yes, very interesting, although I can't deny, I'm extremely jealous of anyone who gets to read for a living!

[Andie P]

Great interview again Michelle, thank you!

 

Andie P x