This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
Caroline Hogg has worked in publishing for almost ten years, at Little, Brown Book Group and more recently at Avon, HarperCollins. She's currently at Pan Macmillan as Senior Commissioning Editor for Commercial Women's Fiction. She knows her stuff!
Today's question comes from a Novelicious reader who asks:
What has been your most memorable experience as an editor?
Caroline says: One of the most memorable moments of my career so far came when I’d just started commissioning books: the second book I ever signed up was From Notting Hill with Love … Actually by Ali McNamara. I still remember the moment I got the submission email from Ali’s agent, Hannah Ferguson, and I thought, ‘Oh hello, I LOVE the sound of this!’ I was just about to go on holiday so sent a sort of begging email back saying, ‘Please don’t let anyone else sign this while I’m away’ and luckily Hannah didn’t.
That was the
first of many memorable moments, actually, when it comes to this book and this
author: the first time I spoke to Ali; having cupcakes in Notting Hill and
showing her the cover for the first time; making a (slightly shaky) speech at
her launch party; ringing her with news of how amazing her first week sales
were and then delivering even better news as the weeks went on.
Working with Ali and Hannah, and the excellent marketing and publicity teams at Sphere on Ali’s books always felt a little bit too much like fun to be true and I think that’s why I remember so many moments along the way. She’s a fantastic author and I still feel incredibly proud that I was there at the beginning, helping her books reach so many readers and making them very happy indeed.
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