• The ECC Questionnaire

Amy Carlisle, Managing Editor, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers & Clarion Books | May 20, 2015

Tell us a little about yourself and what you do.
Over a decade ago now, a dear friend of mine who was working for Candlewick Press at the time got me a job there. It was initially a freelance gig, but about two weeks in, I knew that I wanted to stay! My wish came true and I became the managing editor for their fiction titles (middle grade and young adult). About five years later, I got my current job at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. I spent two years in Boston and have been working in our New York office since. As managing editor, I draw up schedules for our children’s books—picture books through young adult—and shepherd them through each stage of the process from raw manuscript to clean, designed pages ready to be printed and bound. I maintain the metadata for my titles in our database, and I field a lot of questions from folks in many departments on a daily basis. And much, much more!

What is your favorite type of book to work on and why?
I don’t have one favorite type of book to work on. I love that over the course of any given day I get to work on sweet, colorful, adorable picture books; complex and challenging yet incredibly well-written and enlightening works of nonfiction; and middle grade and young adult stories that range from goofy space adventures and heartbreaking coming-of-age tales to period romantic dramas and stories that draw me into wondrous new worlds.

What do you consider to be the best aspect of your job? How about the most challenging aspect?
The best aspect: Getting to work with such a large and varied group of amazingly talented and creative people—colleagues, freelancers, authors, illustrators, and the like.
The most challenging aspect: Working with such a large and varied group of amazingly talented and creative people!

Tell us about something we might be surprised to learn is a part of a managing editor’s day.
Well, this might not sound terribly exciting, and I’ve already touched upon it above, but I field a tremendous number of questions from folks all over the company—and not just in Trade—and I find it really interesting! I work with so many people in so many different departments, and I like understanding the interconnectedness of it all and putting the knowledge to good use!

What advice would you give to a young professional in the industry?
Just get your foot in the door, even if you aren’t initially doing what you dream of doing. And consider managing editorial! We are at the heart of things, and while we work closest with editorial, design, and production, we do work with many other departments. It’s a good spot from which to view the big picture, so to speak.

Just for fun, what was your favorite book when you were ten years old? When you were twenty-five years old? That you’ve read in the last year?
I come from a family of avid readers and was reading a really mixed selection of books at a young age. I gave a book report on Anna Karenina in the sixth grade. I’m not sure I’m proud of that! I think I must have been around ten when I read The Bridge to Terabithia for the first time, and it left a lasting impression on me. I read Caleb Carr’s The Alienist in my early twenties and it’s a favorite to this day. More recently, I fell in love with Mary Webb’s Precious Bane, which one of my sisters originally lent me. In truth, I have many favorite books and I find great joy and comfort in re-reading them.