A Day in the Life . . . Anna Boatman, Senior Editor
Today is the last Day in the Life web post! We love our jobs and all the little details that make it up. But the best part? The big, general idea of bringing our readers the best genre romance out there!
To finish us off, we’re opening the book to Anna Boatman’s page. What does the day hold for her?
Thursday:
9.28: I’m running along Blackfriars Bridge – nothing to do with being late, obviously, I just find it refreshing to begin my day with a high-heeled sprint.
9.30am: Made it! I control my breathing and glide elegantly into the office, an Eloisa James book clutched in my hand and my flushed face perhaps making the ‘smooth’ entrance less than convincing.
10.30: Having gone through the duller emails, I open up one that I’ve been looking forward to – it’s the initial concept for The Dragon Kings, a series I’ve recently bought. We’d asked for sexy, gritty and ever-so-slightly-Game-of-Thrones and they are absolutely bang on. I’m so delighted that I email them straight round the team – I can’t wait to show the author! Stay tuned and we’ll post the covers once they’re ready . . .
12.00: I head to a meeting with marketing and publicity to discuss our campaign for an upcoming book – Kate, our fab Marketing rep, has just got married, so we spend a good 15 minutes discussing the wedding – I love working with women! Don’t worry, we then do actually talk about the book and I end the meeting feeling very excited about it coming out . . . (check out The Heavens Rise on October 15th!)
13.00: Lunchtime! I grab some soup from the canteen downstairs (here is a Little, Brown secret for you: there are two soups every lunchtime – one is delicious and homemade and one is suspiciously chemically so it’s important to move fast – ah, the glamour!) and have a quick gossip with a colleague, before reopening Eloisa James and getting lost in Regency world for a lovely half hour.
14.30: An agent sends in a manuscript I’ve been waiting for – I know it’s one she is very excited about, so I’ll need to move fast if I want to get it (rather like the soup!). I drop everything else, pick up a Kindle and vanish into the library . . .
16.30: Another agent calls me with some great news – we’ve won out and now have another new author! As Senior Editor it’s my job to buy the bulk of the Fiction list, so I usually have three or four offers going on at any one time – negotiating contracts is luckily something I really love and hearing that you are going to have the chance to publish an author your passionate about is one of the very best bits of my job!
18.00: The manuscript finished and buzzing around in my head, I leave the office, Eloisa James back in my hand. I’m going for drinks with a friend in publishing, which means both wine and book chat, two of my favourite things! Although, checking my phone, it looks like I might be running a little late. I begin a gentle sprint . . .
