Red Sofa Literary is happy to announce a new addition to our site, known as The Red Sofa Chats. In this busy publishing industry, we all easily become focused on the books themselves, in additon to the sales #s. Yet, it’s easy to overlook the time and energy that the people behind the scenes have invested into these books. Thanks to Twitter and all-things-called-Social-Media, readers and writers are finally getting those figurative “peeks” into the lives of these folks. So come sit down on the virtual sofa, and join us!
Meet Victoria Sandbrook:
Victoria Sandbrook is an associate editor at Adams Media. She has an M.A. in Publishing and Writing from Emerson College and a B.A. in English Literature from Florida Southern College. Her background includes editorial and production roles in digital publishing, including work at Bedford/St.Martin’s and Forbes. In her free time, she advises a local AOII sorority chapter, knits, runs agility courses with her corgi, and hikes the White Mountains of New Hampshire to support the Elizabeth Stone House. You can read about her experiences in and opinions of publishing at her blog, www.irfiction.com and on Twitter.
Why did you choose to become an editor? I chose to become an editor because I wanted to be completely immersed in the publishing world. Not only do I love the written word and feel like editing is more of a passion than a job, but I’m excited to be at the dawn of a new digital era. There’s so much possibility and hope brewing in the industry, and I couldn’t imagine a more rewarding career.
What project(s) do you wish you could have edited? I would have loved to have my hands on Peter Matthiessen’s Shadow Country when he was combining the three previous Watson books into that great, honored tome that won the 2008 National Book Award. What a great challenge for an author-editor team!
What book(s) are you reading for fun? Currently, I’m expanding my memoir reading experiences, so I grabbed a few books that didn’t “look like me” at all. Oddly enough, I’m hooked! Right now I’m reading Truck: A Love Story by Michael Perry, and I’m pleased to learn first-hand how a good memoir can reach right across demographics and “intended audiences.”
How do you utilize Twitter? How do you believe it has changed the way we go about publishing books? I use Twitter to talk to other editors and publishing professionals about the future of publishing, to listen in on conversations about what people are reading and why, and to get the news out about authors and books. It’s a multifaceted tool, but I think one of the biggest changes its made in publishing is how it has connected people inside the industry. We can build professional respect for each other, regardless of our competing houses and vastly different niches. And we’ve built a rich idea exchange that allows everyone to become engaged with the newest breaking story and the most cutting-edge roundtable discussions. To some Twitter is just a place to chat, but for publishers it’s becoming something even more important.
If you had a crystal ball, where do you think (or hope) publishing will be in 5 yrs? I hope that in five years publishing will be releasing a hearty combination of print and digital books. I hope that publishing houses will become more and more efficient, and that publishing employees will be more and more open to and comfortable using cutting-edge technology, because lower costs for publishers means a more profitable business for everyone.
Thank you so much Victoria! This was fantastic! 🙂
