Next up in my “day in the life of an editor” posts– here’s what I do all day!
8:00-8:30: I read the Skimm for the day and this Rolling Stone interview with Janelle Monáe as she talks about Prince, her new album, her family, and coming out. I made coffee and set up my desk for the day on my kitchen bar, which I sometimes use as a standing desk.
8:30-9:00: I organize my to-do list for the day. I like to start with big projects first when my concentration power is at its best and before decision fatigue hits, but today it’s a lot of little things that need done. I use Wunderlist to keep track of it all.
9:00-10:00: I edited two queries that I occasionally do as freelance projects. (If you ever want me to take a look at yours, you can send me an email at katebrauning[at]gmail[dot]com. I charge $25 per edit)
10:00-11:00: Handled all my “ASAP” email, read Publisher’s Lunch and PW Daily, sent feedback on an exciting graphic design project a designer is creating for me! #secretwriting project
11:00-12:00: Drafting a deal announcement for Publisher’s Marketplace (Yes! That means a new acquisition! Can’t wait til this one’s public.)
12:00-1:00 Read the first 40 pages of a client’s new book while eating lunch. And I took all my plants out to the deck because it’s finally sunny and warm enough!
1:00-3:00: Staff meeting for Entangled.
3:00-4:00: Requesting pitches in #DVPit. I requested too many and my slush will not thank me for it but I do not care! Such great pitches in this event.
4:00-5:00: I had a haircut appointment. Very exciting, professional editor business. (It’s actually really nice to be able to split my workday up some like this, since I work at home.)
5:00-6:30: Dinner and a walk by the river at the park with Jesse. The sun is still up and we saw some very nice ducks so it was still worth it.
6:30-7:30: Very Exciting Subrights Emails. A lot of authors make a significant percentage of their money from subsidiary rights. Plus it usually leads to a wider audience and it’s more money made from the same work for the author, so it’s great all around. Plus more #DVPit requests.
7:30 until… I quit for bed or start reading for a critique partner: Finally getting to my main project of the day– pulling together acquisitions paperwork for TWO new series I’m going to be pitching to the acquisitions board. So that means finding comparison titles, writing elevator pitches, identifying hooks and tropes, drafting some amazing marketing ideas, pulling up sales numbers, and a whole bunch of other tasks. You can read more about what it involves in this post here! I am so excited about both of these books I can hardly breathe, so STAY TUNED.
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Kate Brauning 