Who Do I Think I Am?

And more importantly, why does my blathering even matter to you, the reader?

Well, I can only offer my long history in the book business as an adequate enough reason. It is up to you whether or not you will find anything you want to take away from my posts. I am merely offering my take on what I find to be a fascinating, ever-changing (and yet ever-steady) field.

I have been fully immersed in the business of selling, writing, editing, and developing books for nearly a decade. I have seen the industry from many angles: as a bookseller and merchandiser at one of the largest bookstores on the West Coast (six years); as a research assistant for a university disertation group (six months); as a manuscript reader for a literary agency (nine months); as a proofreader for corporate correspondence (one year); as a freelance copy and line editor for half a dozen writers (two years); and finally, as a project editor for a mid-sized book publishing company (one year and counting). *By the way, I realize this time adds up to more than a decade, but some of it overlaps.* And of course, I have the standard BA in English and a supplementary certificate from a year-long editing program. And if proximity matters at all (I'm not sure it's relevant to my abilities here), I have ties to a few of the bigwigs in New York as well as various agents, publicists, and bestselling authors.

I've got the goods on paper. But what's even better than that—I love this business just as much as (probably even more than, actually) the day I began. I am more than delighted to go on and on at length about it.

Would you like to know more?