Interview with editor Frances Sevilla from The Wild Rose Press

Please welcome Frances Sevilla, my wonderful editor at The Wild Rose Press. Fran, as I affectionately call her, is one of the many talented editors working within the Faery Rose line.

Hi, Catherine, I’m excited to be here visiting your blog. Everything looks so . . . sensual here. (WINK)

Fran, tell us a little about yourself and the arm of TWRP that you work for.

I’m delighted to say I’m a Faery Rose Editor for The Wild Rose Press. (I thought I’d get wings with the job, but they haven’t spouted yet.) This month marks my second anniversary with the company. In our department, we work on romance books about witches, ghosts, ESP, time-travel, Sci-fi, seraphs, nymphs, and oh, yes, fairies. If it’s not of our realm, and it’s not a demon, vampire or shape-shifter, it’s probably something we would handle. The variety of the material is what holds my interest.

What do you enjoy most about your job? What do you like the least?

Of course the best part of my job is discovering a talented new author and contracting her or him for the first time. You can’t beat the high of sharing that moment with someone.
Conversely, I HATE rejections in general, but specifically I don’t like rejecting a well-written, interesting story because it doesn’t meet TWRP guidelines. We publish romance, so the manuscript should be a romance with a happily ever after for the hero and heroine. New authors should check our guidelines and each department’s to see if their book is a good fit for us.
I recommend new authors read books published by the press they are submitting to. Publishers have a BRAND, something their readers come to know and trust. That’s why as an editor for our company it’s so important for me to know when I select a book to contract, the readers will get what they expect.

Another plus is I get to work with so many talented authors and editors.

What are you looking for in a new author?

I’m looking for what every reader wants, a story that hooks me from the first sentence, drags me into the plot, and makes me care about what happens to the characters right up to the happily ever after. That being said, typos, grammar, spelling and punctuation mistakes will inevitably distract from the story.

Where do you see e-publishing going in the next 3 to 5 years?

Oh, this is the big question isn’t it? E-publishing is the future. Apparently I’m not the only one who believes this, since most of the big traditional houses have jumped into the e-market recently. The technology fields are clamoring to catch up with the development of e-readers. Don’t get me wrong, I also believe there will always be the die-hard paper book reader. I can almost see a distant future where we handle the few remaining bound books with reverence.
If you could change one thing about the publishing world, what would it be? The amount of time it takes for a book to get to market. I’m an instant gratification kind of girl. As a reader and an editor, I can’t wait until the next book comes out by my favorite author. (I.E. More authors would get published)

What is your biggest pet-peeve about a manuscript?

Great story, lousy formatting. I want to give every manuscript a fair chance, but if I’ve got to wade through mistakes, page breaks, line breaks, no breaks and bad punctuation, I’m going to wonder why the author didn’t care enough about her own manuscript to take the time to do it right.

Thanks for inviting me today. I hope your readers enjoy Binding Vows as much as I did. I’m sure they’ll be looking forward to seeing the next book in the Highland Time Travel series Silent Vows on the bookshelves too.

I can't wait for that either, Fran. Thanks for taking the time to be here today. For those new writers out there who are interested in submitting their work to The Wild Rose Press click HERE for their guidelines. If you think your manuscript fits the Faery Rose line but aren't sure... by all means, pick up a copy of Binding Vows in Print or E-book today, give 'er a read, then sub your work to Fran. Hint... hint... LOL