The Business of Books: Fresh Endeavours
Jane Cable talks to former publishing director of Endeavour Press, Amy Durant, at the start of her freelance career
1) What is your book related job or business?
Until earlier this month I was Publishing Director of Endeavour Press, but I have just left to move into freelance work, specifically in editorial and consultancy. I have worked in digital publishing for four years, and manage everything from commissioning new titles to overseeing marketing campaigns.
2) What is the most rewarding part of it?
The most rewarding part of my job is finding and falling in love with a book, and then getting to meet the author and sharing my enthusiasm. Seeing a book grow from a submission to a published book; and working with the author on everything from edits to cover ideas to a new title is so much fun! We also worked with a lot of estates at Endeavour Press, and it was great
when you get in contact with the family of an author whose books have gone out of print, and you get them selling again – it is really rewarding to keep an author’s legacy going strong.
3) What do you consider to be your major successes?
I recently got shortlisted for the Kim Scott Walwyn Award for exceptional women in publishing, which was a great honour and personal success, and I feel privileged to have been on the same shortlist as so many inspirational women (including the wonderful publisher and editor Alice Curry of Lantana who won!). My major successes at work have been mainly around tracking down obscure literary estates (I have spent many an afternoon stalking unsuspecting relatives of authors on the internet!); signing them up; and injecting new life into the books – transforming them from hard-to-find second-hand copies, to shiny new ebooks, which are reaching a whole new generation of readers.
4) Have you always loved books and what are you reading at the moment?
My father is a writer and he worked in children’s publishing when I was growing up, so I was lucky enough to always have a house full of books! I have a few books on the go at the moment: I have just finished working my way through nearly 100 submissions for the HWA Endeavour Ink Best Historical Novel Award, and at the moment I am reading (and thoroughly enjoying!) The Girl in the Glass Tower by Elizabeth Fremantle; I am also reading The Queen’s Mary by Sarah Gristwood, which will be published as an Endeavour Ink book this summer; and The Power by Naomi Alderman, of which I have heard great things!
BIO
Amy Durant is a freelance editor and digital publishing consultant. She is also working part-time on a PhD on the works of Aphra Behn.
Contact Amy on Twitter @SavingBooks