Behind the Department: Editorial at Chronicle Books
by Emily Daluga, Editor at Chronicle Books
I feel like even though editorial is often one of the more visible roles in publishing, oftentimes people don’t realize the wide range of tasks that fall under the editorial umbrella. While reading and editing are a big part of our job, our role doesn’t stop there. I like to say that we’re often the book’s biggest cheerleader and in-house expert. We follow the book through the entire make process and beyond—including acquiring the book, working closely with the creators on edits to make the book shine as brightly as it can, discussing copyedits and proofreads with managing editorial, brainstorming the look of the book and specs with design and production, and then being the point person for questions if folks from marketing & publicity or sales have questions about the book. So we get to work with many different people across the lifespan of the book, and by the end of the process, we really know the book inside and out since we’ve spent so much time with it.
And I think this is especially true for graphic novels, since they’re such complex books and can take such a long time. Here at Chronicle, I’m the lead editor on both novels and graphic novels, so I get to work on a really wide array of titles, from early reader graphic novels all the way up through YA graphic novels. Each book is its own unique thing, so I get to adapt depending on the project and creator to figure out what will work best for everyone.
I’ve found that one of the biggest differences in working on graphic novels versus novels is that you have to think so much about how the art and the text are going to work together. You have to think about what you can show instead of tell (like what a character looks like or elements of the setting), and you’re also making sure that the balance of text and art is correct. You don’t want pages that are too dense and packed with lots of panels and too much text, so the art doesn’t have room to breathe. And you also want to make sure that you have some moments where the art can really breathe, with nice big splash pages during key moments. Sometimes, too, once you see sketches, you might rework some dialogue or a scene a bit, to better accommodate the art and make sure everything is really working as seamlessly as possible!
Additionally, because of the scope of these projects, often editorial works really closely with the make team to adjust and figure out schedules. So if an artist needs a bit more time to complete the final art, we want to move things around to give creators the time they need to work their magic. It often feels like kind of a puzzle that we’re all working on together to come up with a solution! And I feel like that communication, collaboration, and creativity are often the bedrock of a good graphic novel team. And it’s always so rewarding when that pays off, and after years of hard work, we finally have a beautiful, finished book to hold in our hands!
Check out more Graphic Novel Committee News.
