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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

A&A Official Star Wars Publishing Q&A thread

Discussion in 'Literature' started by GrandAdmiralJello , Oct 13, 2017.

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  1. Outsourced

    Outsourced Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 10, 2017
    For example: A young writer has some work on his belt and wants to write for Star Wars. What process does he go through for him to both start writing licensed content, as well as reach the same type of brand trust as someone like Pablo Hidalgo has? Is it based more on reception, or the amount of time he's been working, or how many things he's published as a part of Del Rey or LucasFilm Press?
     
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  2. DarthInternous

    DarthInternous Editor - Del Rey Star Wars star 3 VIP

    Registered:
    Feb 7, 2017

    So there are two parts to your question. If a writer wants to write Star Wars a few things have to happen. A) They need to show interest to us in some way. Usually through an agent, meeting us somewhere, social media, etc. Generally, we want people who like Star Wars to write Star Wars. B) They have to have some body of work that we can review - to assess their abilities and see what kinds of projects they may be a good fit for. Some published work of some kind is required. Could be novels, or comics, or writing for videogames/film/tv, etc. C) We find a project that matches their skillset and off to the races we go. There are steps in-between there, but that's generally how it works.

    As to your second question: how does someone build a high level of brand trust, it's about doing good work, doing good work consistently, and doing good work consistently for a long time. Good work covers a variety of things. Obviously, executing on the writing of whatever projects they are hired for. But it also means - hitting deadlines, being a good collaborative partner, being accepting of feedback/critique, etc. And, people need to like working with you. Do all of that over time and consistently and that leads to building the kind of brand trust or cache that you asked about. It's a bit nebulous there isn't a set list of criteria you check off. It's not 5 novels or 3 comic series runs, or 10 guide books. It happens over time based on the collective body of work.
     
  3. comradepitrovsky

    comradepitrovsky Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 5, 2017
    As someone with a certain amount of interest in the publishing side of things as a profession, how did you get to where you are today?
     
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  4. DarthInternous

    DarthInternous Editor - Del Rey Star Wars star 3 VIP

    Registered:
    Feb 7, 2017

    Oh dear is that ever a very long answer. I will condense it to the best of my ability leaving out a lot of agony and some good funny anecdotes.

    I went to college, studied accounting and taxes - earned two degrees in those subjects, and went to work in public accounting doing taxes for financial companies/hedge funds. I quit that job after a year of misery, went back to school, earned another degree in writing/editing. During that point I worked as Del Rey's only real summer intern ever. After graduation I was unemployed for roughly 2 years while I tried to break into publishing as an editor, which is notoriously difficult as the supply of jobs is outweighed by the demand by a vast margin. Then after a brief temp stint at Scholastic, I got hired by Del Rey as an editorial assistant in Sept 2014 (same day A NEW DAWN published).

    Along the way I worked as a college newspaper editor, wrote for various blogs/websites, did college radio. Worked as a freelance editor for graduate/phD students. I freelance edited one novel and several academic papers. I worked as a teacher in high school/middle school level.

    There's way more to that story, but if you are interested in publishing as a career keep in mind a few things.
    A) Definitely a profession with a focus more on work/life balance rather than making money. If I wanted to make a ton of money I'd still be an accountant. But, I have comfortable hours, wear casual clothes to work, and get paid to do what I love - read. I take reading home every night and many weekends (by choice).
    B) Everyone wants to be an editor and there are not a ton of editorial jobs - particularly if you a very specific goal like sci/fi fantasy, or licensed work. Takes a lot of persistence, but if you work to put yourself in the right place...then when the right time comes, you'll be ready.
    C) There are other jobs than being an editor. Try and learn what those are. From production, to marketing/publicity, sales, managing editorial, art/design, etc. Tons of ways into the business.

    Always happy to answer more questions or provide more specifics. Inbox is open if anyone has specific career questions, wants me to review a resume. And if you are in NYC I'll gladly buy you lunch to chat. Maybe tell you some of the funny anecdotes I left out.
     
  5. jamminjedi23

    jamminjedi23 Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Feb 19, 2015
    Didn't realize Del Rey was in NYC. Do you guys and Marvel keep in close contact then since they are in New York also (keeping up with what each side is doing, has done, and will be doing in the future)? Since Del Rey and Marvel are really the main two platforms for Star Wars literature I'd imagine it would be pretty handy to be located close to eachother.

    Just something I would like to see hopefully sometime in the future. I would love to see the Aphra character find her way into a Del Rey novel if the opportunity arises at some point. Hear there is a short story about her in ' A Certain Point of View' (havn't gotten to that book yet) but I would also like to see her as a character in a full novel as well.
     
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  6. DarthInternous

    DarthInternous Editor - Del Rey Star Wars star 3 VIP

    Registered:
    Feb 7, 2017
    Marvel and Del Rey's offices are separated by only 4 blocks. We keep pretty good tabs on each other and are regularly up to date on what each is working on. Some of us hang out outside of work and have become quite friendly. Cool people working over there.
     
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  7. Force Smuggler

    Force Smuggler Force Ghost star 7

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
    Are there any talks of doing a SW/Marvel Superhero crossover event?
     
  8. DarthInternous

    DarthInternous Editor - Del Rey Star Wars star 3 VIP

    Registered:
    Feb 7, 2017
    I don't work for Marvel so I cannot adequetely answer that question. Though even if I did, that prob wouldn't be a question I could answer anyway.
     
  9. lordpixie

    lordpixie Jedi Master star 2

    Registered:
    Aug 30, 2015
    Has any author turned down working on star wars and do star wars books for adults have limit on content as in horror,violence or sex ? me myself cant speak for everyone but i like them where anyone can read them kid or adults.
     
  10. Jedha John

    Jedha John Jedi Knight star 2

    Registered:
    Jan 19, 2017
    I second this....would LOVE to see a Doctor Aphra adult novel getting into some serious archaeology of Jedi/Sith artifacts. That would be a fun adventure that would build upon the history of Jedi & Sith.
     
  11. DarthInternous

    DarthInternous Editor - Del Rey Star Wars star 3 VIP

    Registered:
    Feb 7, 2017

    Yes. Some writers don't care about Star Wars, and some aren't interested in writing in a shared universe.

    We try to have the content reflect the Star Wars films and shows. There are definitely differences in say reading a combat scene vs seeing one on tv, and there have been some more mature moments in novels over the years, but we're always keen to make our books as accessible as possible to the widest possible audience. Plus, gratuitous content doesn't necessary make for great stories.
     
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  12. GrandAdmiralJello

    GrandAdmiralJello Comms Admin ❉ Moderator Communitatis Litterarumque star 10 Staff Member Administrator

    Registered:
    Nov 28, 2000
    1. Since this comes up in Lit sometimes: what goes into creating cover art? Is that a function of the marketing team, a graphics and book design person, etc? Does the author or editorial have any role in coming up with what goes on the cover?


    2. Relatedly, who comes up with titles? Is it a group effort? Are there any titles that were almost used but then changed that you can share with us?




    Missa ab iPhona mea est.
     
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  13. DarthInternous

    DarthInternous Editor - Del Rey Star Wars star 3 VIP

    Registered:
    Feb 7, 2017

    1. It's a collaborative process between us and Lucasfilm, and runs through our amazing art director Scott. We work with them to decide on an artist and a tone/theme for the cover, then run through various iterations until we hit on exactly we want. The author doesn't really have a say in the cover, but the editorial team is closely involved. We actually did a big Q&A last year that went in-depth into the process and even showed a few in-progress / rejected covers. Definitely worth a read.

    2.Also a collaborative effort, though it usually flows from the editorial team. Some books are really easy to title (like THRAWN), others are REALLY hard. Catalyst went through a number of potential titles. At an early phase, we considered "Blood and Chrome" as a subtitle for PHASMA, but it was dropped pretty early. PHASMA is title enough, and the subtitle was just taking up space on the cover. Some other would be titles get recycled and used as internal code-names or considered for other books.
     
  14. JABoomer

    JABoomer Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Oct 23, 2009
    Has there been much turnover in the Del Rey offices in recent years? Or do the majority of the people currently working on Star Wars fiction have a history with Legends materials as well?
     
  15. DarthInternous

    DarthInternous Editor - Del Rey Star Wars star 3 VIP

    Registered:
    Feb 7, 2017

    Not really. Aside from a few additions (me included) the team is basically the same as it was during the Legends era (and the newbies among were Legends readers).
     
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  16. Jedha John

    Jedha John Jedi Knight star 2

    Registered:
    Jan 19, 2017
    What happened to the SWAT program and why did Def Rey never send out any of the "awards" that folks had earned? I thought it was a cool program, but it was killed off very unceremoniously with many people having earned points and having redeemed awards that were never delivered.
     
  17. DarthInternous

    DarthInternous Editor - Del Rey Star Wars star 3 VIP

    Registered:
    Feb 7, 2017

    The SWAT program was a cool idea once upon a time that never really worked out the way it was intended. It was a relic of a time before social media had become more ubiquitous and we were engaging with readers directly every day through Twitter conversations and Facebook. Having the "objectives" was about trying to promote our books and the reading community in an organic way, but really once social media became more central in everyday life (and not just that thing college kids and tech-types did on the Internet) it sort of became obsolete VERY quickly.

    We did actually send out all fulfilled awards (to the extent that they could be) when the program ended and the site was shutdown. I know because I fulfilled all of those and spent days packing boxes and envelopes. What happened was, the site didn't shutdown when it was supposed to, and some awards were submitted after the date we terminated the program...which shouldn't have been possible. And for some, we know there were errors in shipping and delivery, with some awards not actually arriving. I've spent a good portion of the last year trying to reconcile all of that user by user, which is hard since I don't have access to the data anymore.

    If you had a SWAT account with outstanding rewards, drop me an inbox msg and I'll do what I can to resolve it. I can't promise those exact awards, but I'll figure someone out for you.
     
  18. Noash_Retrac

    Noash_Retrac Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 14, 2006
    Would Del Rey consider writing short anthologies again in the future? Such as for ESB, ROTJ, TPM, AOTC, ROTS, TFA, TLJ, Rogue One, Solo, Clone Wars and Rebels. Be interesting to see if some gaps can be filled?

    Also, do you have access to an internal timeline to get the dates to place the stories in between movies? If so, what exactly are the Aftermath trilogy's dates?
     
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  19. DarthInternous

    DarthInternous Editor - Del Rey Star Wars star 3 VIP

    Registered:
    Feb 7, 2017

    As we've always said, if FACPOV does well, we'd gladly consider other anthologies. Whether you'll get ALL of those, I couldn't say.

    Your second question is not really what this A&A is for.
     
  20. LAJ_FETT

    LAJ_FETT Tech Admin (2007-2023) - She Held Us Together star 10 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    May 25, 2002
    Over in the FACPOV thread you mentioned using word count instead of page count when deciding if you had enough content for a book. What would be enough content? I've done (and won) National Novel Writing Month in the past where the goal is to hit 50K in a month. (I'm not saying it was a good 50k - you could run a 747 through some of the plot holes. But at least I proved to myself that I could do it and more than once). So what kind of word count would you be looking for in general? (Doesn't have to be for a SW book). Thanks..
     
  21. DarthInternous

    DarthInternous Editor - Del Rey Star Wars star 3 VIP

    Registered:
    Feb 7, 2017

    If we're talking a full novel in hardcover - 85k to 90k. Anything below that and I'd start to get worried about whether the length justified the format and price point. By the way that's not like a law of publishing or anything, that's just generally the floor for the types of books that I work on. You'll find differences and exceptions across publishing.
     
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  22. LAJ_FETT

    LAJ_FETT Tech Admin (2007-2023) - She Held Us Together star 10 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    May 25, 2002
    Thanks - that's a bit lower than I thought. I was envisioning over 100K.
     
  23. DarthInternous

    DarthInternous Editor - Del Rey Star Wars star 3 VIP

    Registered:
    Feb 7, 2017
    Many (most) end up being 100k and above. But if we're really talking the bare minimum, and what I'd hope to see in a first draft at least, 85-90k is the minimum.
     
  24. LAJ_FETT

    LAJ_FETT Tech Admin (2007-2023) - She Held Us Together star 10 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    May 25, 2002
    Thanks - at least I have an idea of the 'floor' now.
     
  25. BookExogorth

    BookExogorth Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    May 4, 2017
    Is it just the bookstores to which I've gone, or are there no new paperback SW books? Why do I not see them?
    I ask because paperback is the format I prefer.
    Thanks.
     
  26. Iron_lord

    Iron_lord Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
    Newest book in paperback format is the Leia: Princess of Alderaan book - came out in the UK in paperback a few weeks ago - before that, it was in hardback, and I think it may have been US-only. Aftermath: Empire's End also went from hardback to paperback fairly recently.
     
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