My career so far….
Prior to a career in publishing, I worked for colleges and in office administration. My administrative work there often involved auditing or standardizing instructions for quality. As a teaching assistant, I incorporated existing curriculum into the context of my own classroom.
My career in publishing has been defined by many different, disparate roles that create a person comfortable in a whole host of situations. I’ve interned, worked part-time, and completed freelance projects.
Note: A few of the projects I have laid the groundwork for so far had to be scaled back due to internal factors. Just as often, I work with material that might take years to become photo-ready and may change considerably from how it looked like when I saw it. Such is the life of a literary agency intern and independent literary consultant.
Independent Clients
My work with independent clients has spanned all sorts of roles, from line editing to literary consulting roles to copywriting. I’ve worked on everything from romance novellas to graphic memoir to nonfiction picture books. I’ve adapted prose into comic book script and assessed film scripts as a beta reader.
The National Library of Patient Rights and Advocacy
At this organization, I assist writers and artists as they produce children’s books about medicine. I wrote one of these books and edited another. Several other projects are in the works.
McIntosh & Otis Literary Agency
As a remote reader here, I read manuscripts and wrote comprehensive reports on said manuscripts about the overall story and market positioning. These include middle grade historical fiction and several different subgenres of fantasy. They spanned demographics like middle grade, YA, and new adult. I got a chance to look at innovative genre combinations, such as a paranormal romance/historical fiction hybrid.
Olswanger Literary Agency
My role at Olswanger Literary was constantly evolving as new things emerged for me to learn. Some more common duties, however, included market research into opportunities to further utilize client illustrations through merchandise. Other times, I would take a look at clients she was considering or find professional contacts for her. I would edit projects already attached to the agency on occasion. I would more often proofread them and check submission dummy illustrations for continuity or resolution problems.
I brushed paths with work from Rich Lo, Kanal Kundu, Dana Sullivan, Melita Kraus, and more.
Learn more about what Anna is up to here on her website and here on her Instagram.
Straight Shot Studios and Straight Shot Post
These are sister companies. For Straight Shot Studios, I provided editorial support and worked on a now-scrapped prose adaptation of Sidewalkson Webtoon, a slice-of-life romance/coming-of-age story. I was especially involved in writing the Luke’s Recommended Webcomic of the Week section. I learned how to introduce and promote a webcomic in one swoop.
Straight Shot Studios is media brand about anime in America in addition to their Webtoon. I wrote content about anime for YouTube shorts. I copyedited YouTube captions.
Owned by the same leadership, Straight Shot Post produces native advertising for both themselves and for various clients. I constructed market research for client strategic plans as well as drafted Instagram posts. Clients sold everything from pet apparel to safes to children’s vitamins.
Overcup Press and Clyde Custom Publishing
Twice now, I worked a bespoke position for two companies with the overlapping higher ups simultaneously. This time, the sister companies were a press focused on local identity and gift books coupled with an independent publishing service.
As the organization’s first printing liaison intern, I learned about the printing process with my supervisor and produced materials to help the next round of printing liaison interns get up to speed. I turned existing, informal knowledge into policy that can be shared and edited. This includes how Overcup Press creates their e-pub documents and how it navigates services such as IPG for print-on-demand. I learned to read a print quote and about navigating print jobs overseas. I developed line items for and demonstrated use of book profit-and-loss statements.
I was an editorial intern for them as well. I evaluated 15 query letters and manuscript samples in the light of current submission guidelines on top workshopping log lines.
Notable Projects Out in the Open
As a freelancer and throughout my work with literary agencies, I quite often have the privilege to look at stories that are just beginning to take a more professional form. I have worked on many projects at the very beginning of their development, many of which may take years to emerge and naturally develop additional collaborators along the road to publication. I’ve worked on projects that have evolved significantly over their development, were scrapped by the biggest stakeholders, or were passed over for further consideration.
At Olswanger Literary, I brushed paths with work by Rich Lo, Dana Sullivan, Melita Kraus, Abby Kim, and more. At McIntosh & Otis, I wrote reports on works-in-progress from Shelley Fraiser Mickle and Annie Sullivan— among others.
Here’s a smattering of what is out and about already:
In the Webtoon Sidewalks, a weeb film major with his head in the clouds is roped into caring for his (ex?)girlfriend’s siblings. He has Scrubs-style daydreams about anime and it’s a fun time. I provided editorial support and wrote copy for the series.
Pebble and the Biggest Number asserts just how groundbreaking ‘0’ is as a concept and just how much of a difference one zero can make. I wrote marginal copy and checked a second printing for errors.
In A Trip the ER, an everyday injury leads to a family learning all about how this peculiar setting functions. I am the author of the book and supported various aspects of its production. Working with Lilyana Ruiz on the art and design of the book was eye-opening.
Speaking of authorship, I wrote a short story about a ghostwriter of a Nancy Drew-esque property. It will be neighbors with short comics and short stories in We Suck at Comics! Vol. 3: Errant Adventures.
In Bless You, Maya!, children learn the strangely important role sneezing plays in human health. I edited this picture book from ideation all the way through publishing. Collaborating with a healthcare journalist with degrees in neuroscience and biomedicine was a great experience.
Emily Song and the Queen of the Night proves music truly is magic as well as serves as a love letter to family life and NYC (Even when they are messy!). Not to ruffle the feathers of Uncle Rick (and his fans who scare me), but it is to music what Percy Jackson is to Greek and Roman mythology. Beta-reading this story was a joy.
In Death By Corvette, a police procedural set in Wisconsin, Alphonse “Dave” Davecki looks into an accident where a Corvette that fell from a bridge. Dave opens up a can of worms involving a powerful, dysfunctional local family and has an on-again off-again thing with a sassy CSI. Working on a genre outside my typical reading wheelhouse as well as jumping into a series already 8 books strong was a growing experience. I line edited this one.
