You’ve made it to editor meetings: what to expect, how to wow 'em, and what happens when they're done

If editors are interested in your book, they're going to want to meet you--and they might or might not still be interested afterward. (BUT NO PRESSURE, JANINE.) Here's how to prep.

The special thing about submitting a book is that it’s kind of like Wipeout (2008-2021), the comedic TV obstacle course on which contestants once gambled their dignity to win $50,000.

OK, it’s not quite that humiliating. When you and your agent go out to editors, rest assured that there’ll (probably) not be any B-list comedians heckling you from the sidelines. And there’s not that much that you have to do personally—I mean, other than wait.

Nevertheless: the process is like an obstacle course in that there are several dozen steps between hitting “send” and (Jeebus willing) a book deal. Also, you could go splat on any one of them, never getting a deal at all. Whee!

I’ve mapped this whole gauntlet in a prior post. Today, however, I thought I’d go deep on perhaps the most anxiety-provoking obstacle of them all, the one thing you do have to do yourself: editor meetings.

What are editor meetings?

If an editor likes a submission, they’ll share it with colleagues for what we call “reads”—internal feedback from peers, marketers, publicists, salespeople, and bosses. They do this to gauge in-house enthusiasm, collect approval from imprint brass, and gather numbers for their P&L.

If reads go well—sometimes before they’re even in, if they’re feeling bold—an editor will proceed to the next step: a meet and greet with the author. After that meeting, the editor might or might not proceed to making an offer.

If editors don’t make an offer after a meeting, it’s for one of two reasons:

• they scheduled the meeting prematurely, and their reads came back worse than they were expecting; or

• the meeting wasn’t good.

What on Earth could possibly be nerve-wracking about this? LOLOLOL.

Fear not, though: with some easy, minimal prep, these meetings go quite well most of the time—especially since most of them now take place online, where it’s possible to hide shaky hands and pooling flop sweat outside webcam range.

If you’re an author staring down a round of editor meetings for the first time in your career, I’ve got you. Below is a version of the meetings-prep lecture I’ve given dozens and dozens of clients over the years.

Honestly, though: you’re probably going to do fine even if you don’t read a word of this. Editor meetings are not evaluative, like, I don’t know, job interviews at an investment bank. No one’s going to ask you to calculate the number of manhole covers in Manhattan or anything like that.

Still, though, I suspect you’ll be a lot less nervous if you go in knowing what to expect.

I invite you to visualize the meeting as a play in three acts.

CAST OF CHARACTERS

The following people attend every meeting like this:

The author, here to get a sense of the editor’s vision and vibe as well as the house’s overall enthusiasm;

The editor, here to sell themselves and their employer while running a vibes check on the author. Can she sell herself well in media? Will she act like a lunatic when I try to edit her? Creatively, do we see eye to eye?; and

The author’s literary agent, here to listen and observe the chemistry, chiming in only to keep energy levels up and help the author shine.

Depending on the circumstances, supporting players might join:

Publicists and marketers, to offer preliminary ideas on media and advertising;

Imprint chiefs (editors in chief, publishers), to underscore the depth of the imprint’s interest;

Editorial assistants, to take notes, ask a question or two, and learn how to conduct these meetings when it’s time to build lists of their own; and

Co-authors and collaborators, sometimes, if the author is celebrity or expert and a ghostwriter will be doing a lot of the creative work.

SETTING

Before the pandemic, meetings generally took place in New York. Since then, they’ve almost invariably taken place on Zoom, Teams, or Google Meet.

And now, to the action.

PROLOGUE

Of everything to keep in mind as you prepare for meeting(s), only one thing truly matters: