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ANNA MICHELSEditorial Director, Sourcebooks & Poisoned Pen Press
WHAT I'M LOOKING FOR
FICTION... Mystery (particularly cozy and crossover literary—think Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger), thriller, and suspense; book club fiction with a commercial hook and characters that come to life; historical fiction that will appeal to a female audience. NONFICTION... Memoir by writers who connect the events of their lives to readers through incredible storytelling; smart practical nonfiction with a unique hook and prescriptive elements; narrative nonfiction for a broad commercial audience. RIGHT NOW DON'T SEND ME... Romance, YA, children’s books, or poetry |
HOW I GOT INTO BOOKS... After a part-time job at my local library in high school, I majored in English in college and attended the Denver Publishing Institute before joining Sourcebooks.
JUST A FEW OF THE BOOKS AND AUTHORS I'VE ACQUIRED AND EDITED IN THE PAST FIVE YEARS... The parenting classic 1-2-3 Magic by Thomas W. Phelan, PhD; Randall Silvis’s Two Days Gone and Walking the Bones; Dead in the Water by Denise Swanson; Craig Carlson’s New York Times bestseller Pancakes in Paris.
JUST A FEW OF THE BOOKS AND AUTHORS I'VE ACQUIRED AND EDITED IN THE PAST FIVE YEARS... The parenting classic 1-2-3 Magic by Thomas W. Phelan, PhD; Randall Silvis’s Two Days Gone and Walking the Bones; Dead in the Water by Denise Swanson; Craig Carlson’s New York Times bestseller Pancakes in Paris.
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SOME FAVORITE BOOKS AND AUTHORS I DIDN'T PUBLISH... Tana French’s Dublin Murder Squad books, all of Nevada Barr’s Anna Pigeon mysteries, Julie Hyzy’s White House Chef mysteries, The Woman in Cabin 10, A Man Called Ove, The Boys in the Boat, In Cold Blood. I am a passionate recommender of The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery—go read it right now!
ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS AN EDITOR DOES FOR AN AUTHOR IS... Be a sounding board and an advocate. Developing relationships with authors is one of my favorite parts of being an editor and I would love to someday be one of those veteran editors who has been working with the same brilliant author for 30+ years.
I LOVE MY JOB BECAUSE... There are very few things that make me as happy as a good book—and I get to work with them every day!
I KEEP MY READING PILE... On one very organized shelf on a color-coded bookcase. Once the book is read, it moves to a different shelf. You could maybe say I’m a little obsessive about my books…
BOOKSTORES YOU SHOULD VISIT BEFORE YOU DIE... I love the Tattered Cover in Denver and La Feltrinelli in Rome, where I spent many hours searching out English-language books during my exchange student days. Locally, I visit Anderson’s Bookshop in Naperville and Townhouse Books in St. Charles, IL.
WHEN I'M NOT READING, I'LL BE... Biking, playing bass guitar (badly), or planning my next road trip.
I FOLLOW READING, WRITING AND PUBLISHING NEWS AT... Shelf Awareness and Publishers Weekly
ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS AN EDITOR DOES FOR AN AUTHOR IS... Be a sounding board and an advocate. Developing relationships with authors is one of my favorite parts of being an editor and I would love to someday be one of those veteran editors who has been working with the same brilliant author for 30+ years.
I LOVE MY JOB BECAUSE... There are very few things that make me as happy as a good book—and I get to work with them every day!
I KEEP MY READING PILE... On one very organized shelf on a color-coded bookcase. Once the book is read, it moves to a different shelf. You could maybe say I’m a little obsessive about my books…
BOOKSTORES YOU SHOULD VISIT BEFORE YOU DIE... I love the Tattered Cover in Denver and La Feltrinelli in Rome, where I spent many hours searching out English-language books during my exchange student days. Locally, I visit Anderson’s Bookshop in Naperville and Townhouse Books in St. Charles, IL.
WHEN I'M NOT READING, I'LL BE... Biking, playing bass guitar (badly), or planning my next road trip.
I FOLLOW READING, WRITING AND PUBLISHING NEWS AT... Shelf Awareness and Publishers Weekly
AGENTS CAN CONTACT ME AT anna.michels@sourcebooks.com