Welcome to New York
It’s been waiting for you
I am freshly back from a hybrid business/holiday trip to NYC, and while jet lag is still making my life a low-key misery,1 I thought I’d share a little look behind the scenes at what happens when a traditionally published author goes to New York.
First of all, a little vocab lesson. Being traditionally published means that I have a publisher who I sell my books to and rely on for editorial, publicity, marketing, sales, and distribution support.2 Actually, I have two publishers: Gallery Books which does my historical novels like The Last Garden in England and Minotaur Books which publishes the Evelyne Redfern series. (This distinction will become important later!)
It’s also important to say that I lived in New York for about nine years before moving to London. I usually use these trips as an opportunity to have a few days of business bracketed by a few days of holiday during which I see friends and enjoy some things about the city that I miss. This trip was no different, and so I kicked it off with a mixture of business and pleasure.
Signing and Posting
The older I get, the harder I find jet lag to predict. Sometimes it really affects me and sometimes I’m fine. This trip left me somewhere in the middle with a 5 a.m. wake-up on my first day. Thankfully NYC is the kind of place where coffee can be found at this early hour, and I happily had a lazy morning of recovery, Substack writing, and answering work emails before heading to the Upper West Side to meet up with my friend Laura.
Laura has been a part of some of the biggest moments of my career. She was the first out of my family to congratulate me on my first book deal because we had a writing date scheduled that evening—and also the first person to laugh hysterically in sympathy when I told her my deadlines. She screamed on West 4th Street when, a couple years later, that I landed the deal that would be The Light Over London. And this past October, she was one of my friends who watched me marry The Gentleman.3
Because of all of these things and more, I love spending time with Laura so we went for lunch on my first day in New York. And then, like any good friend, I made her go to the Post Office with me. (Laura, I am still sorry about that one.) She helped me pack and ship books to US-based giveaway winners I’d brought along with me and, when a pen exploded all over my hands, found a Crunch gym to nip into and do a quick clean-up job with some hand sanitizer.
Ah the glamor of being an author…
I’ve already written a bit about how Laura helped me track down books to sign at the Upper West Side Barnes & Noble and also helped me understand a bit more about what’s going on on the Romance side of publishing. I’m always keen to understand the direction the Romance genre is going in, especially when it comes to marketing, cover design, etc., because the authors are often so agile and responsive to the market.
After all of this, I was pretty much done so it was back to my hotel to prepare for the next two days.
Lunch but Make It Business
Remember how I mentioned earlier that I have two publishers, Gallery Books and Minotaur Books? On this trip, I met with both publishing teams on back to back days.
First up was Gallery Books, which has been my long-time home for historical fiction since–well, since the very beginning days of my traditional publishing career. Gallery is an imprint of Simon & Schuster, and my first book deal was with another imprint called Pocket Star way back in 2015. That feels like both a very long time ago and no time at all, and I have done twelve books and counting with the wonderful women of Gallery Books.
My agent, Emily, and I were fortunate enough to be taken out to lunch in Midtown by the team. Publisher lunches are, I think it’s safe to say, the actual glamorous part of publishing. I always love these conversations because it’s a chance to get to hear what editorial, publicity, and marketing is seeing in the market and what people are predicting will be big shifts in the genre in the coming years.
But Gallery wasn’t my only publishing lunch! The next day I headed downtown for lunch with Minotaur Books. Minotaur Books is the publisher of the Evelyne Redfern series, so I switched from talking about the historical fiction world to mysteries. I talked to the team about book #3 in the Evelyne Redfern series, which I had just pitched for approval before my trip, as well as what type of marketing they are seeing work for authors at the moment. I feel as though I am very much still learning about the mystery genre, so this was a particularly interesting afternoon!
Strategy Sessions
Once all of those meetings were done, Emily and I decamped to a restaurant for dessert, wine, and some strategy talk. These conversations are usually wide-ranging and, while we do talk about the meetings we just had, we also usually take a broader view of how things are going both in publishing and with my career specifically. Having someone who understands the business and can act as a sense check is incredibly invaluable.
And with that, the business part of the business trip was over, and I switched into some much-appreciated holiday time. I’ve come back from New York well-fed, somewhat rested (except for that jet lag), and excited to start working on new projects as the spring approaches!
I love the End Notes on Kathleen Schmidt’s Publishing Confidential Substack. As a nod to her, I thought I’d start a little wrap up of what outside of work has been occupying my time recently.
What I’ve been reading: Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. I am woefully late to reading this book that has been absolutely everywhere for the last year or so, but I’m powering through jet lag to read it which has to be a good sign.
What I’ve been watching: The Lincoln Lawyer on Netflix. This was my plane watching on my trip back from New York.
What I’ve been listening to: Midnights by Taylor Swift. Expect to see a lot of Taylor Swift over the next few months as my date to watch the Eras Tour here in the UK approaches.
What I’ve been knitting: I just finished my Olive Cardigan by Knitting for Olive! (You can find more details on my knitting over on The Writer’s Knitting Basket.)
Fair warning, sleep deprivation makes me dramatic.
This differs from independent or self-published authors who go it alone, performing all of those tasks themselves or hiring people to help do this for them.
Not career-related, but I think we can agree that it’s a big deal.
Making memories with Julia!!!! I think there was a fair bit of karmic justice going on at the post office that day, seeing as how I was so intimidated by the post office when I lived in London and had friends who held my hand and helped me ask the nice workers my questions. Mailing something from the UK to Hawai’i was kind of a production. So it was time I repaid the universe by helping you!