Name: Elizabeth Mazer Title: Editorial Assistant, Steeple Hill/Silhouette
Role: Responsible for providing administrative and editorial support to the Senior Editor of Love Inspired/Love Inspired Suspense and the Executive Editor of Silhouette Books primarily through evaluating submissions, providing author support and guiding manuscripts through the stages of production.
Publishing Background: I began at Harlequin in my current position in April, 2007. Prior to that, I worked in the editorial department at what was then known as Bookspan (now Bertelsmann Direct North America) first with Crossings Book Club, and later with Book Development.
Submissions: We’re actively looking for new authors for Love Inspired, Love Inspired Suspense, and the Silhouette lines, and will consider both agented and unagented submissions.
As for formatting, I’d prefer to receive a full synopsis along with the first three chapters. Please list the specific line you’re targeting.
Pet Peeve: Insufficient research! Misspelling my name, or the name of the line in the cover letter can make it very hard for me to give the rest of the submission serious consideration.
The author has to sell me not just on the qualities of her book, but also on how well her story would fit into our line, and I become very hard to convince when I sense that the author hasn’t done her homework.
What I Want to See: Strong, sympathetic characterization. The harder I have to work to relate to the characters, the more likely I am to give up on the book altogether!
Thank you, Elizabeth. So there you have it--I couldn't add a thing. Which comment, coming from an editor, is a real compliment!
7 comments:
Elizabeth's keen eye and good comments are always great. But she neglected to mention that she also has an author of her own, and is coming close to acquiring another.
So she's kept busy--but I know she's on the lookout for more projects.
A much appreciated and motivating interview. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Just what I needed to know. Please keep these staff showcases coming.
Not to stray from the topic, but... Happy Easter, Isabel! Hope you're having a joyous day. :-) Susan W
Susan--Happy Easter to you and good to see you! I had to go visit your blog (Susan Wiggs on right navibar) as you were clearly going to be more seasonally appropriate than I. Of course I was right. Barkus (sp?) looks adorable, but not really embracing his inner bunny...
Cool Post! I got a very, very nice rejection letter from her. It's nice to hear her thoughts on stuff. Thanks Isabel!
Jessica: thank you for sharing that! Being able to handle criticism--and disappointments--and be able to come back and learn (yes, try, try again) is a key element to success in writing. Indeed, in life!
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