Nominations are now open for the 2010 Hugo Awards, recognizing excellence in the field of science fiction and fantasy.
Members of last year’s Worldcon in Montreal and members who register for this year’s Worldcon in Melbourne are eligible to nominate and vote. You can also make your recommendations to other voters (and get an idea of theirs) at the hugo_recommend livejournal community.
2010 is the first year that I am eligible for a nomination in the Best Editor, Long Form category. The simple fact of being eligible is a thrill.
Being eligible, though, isn’t the same as being worthy.
Lou Anders, Editorial Director at Pyr, said it best in the Editors’ Roundtable interview in which we both participated for Clarkesworld Magazine last summer. He said:
…discussing the “Best Editor—Long Form” Hugo[, one reader] stated, “Well, I don’t know how much the editing improved or hurt the original manuscript so I don’t know how to vote.” I don’t think that’s the part of an editor’s job that need concern the reader. Rather, it’s the mere fact that they are reading the book in question at all, versus any one of the hundreds of other manuscripts and pitches that crossed the editor’s desk in a specific year. I get pitched maybe two to three times a day now, and out of that, I select/publish under 30 books a year. So it isn’t so much about whether I caught a typo on page 256, or said, “Do you think you need to explain that obscure reference a little clearer?” —it’s the fact that you are reading the book at all that counts.
Winning a Hugo someday is a dream of mine, of course, but doing consistent Hugo-worthy work is my real goal. My work is not Hugo-worthy yet, but I’m on the right path, learning my way one step at a time.
In 2009, Dragon Moon Press published six books in which I was deeply involved. DMP published perhaps a similar number to which I contributed a single proofreading pass, but that I don’t consider “my” books in the same way, and that I don’t count as my credits on my own website or on sites like the SF Editorwatch wiki.
Of those six books, only one was chosen for publication by me. I keep saying that publishing is a slow business? Well, all those contracts were already signed and sealed before I took on my role as Editor-in-Charge.
The “best editor” Hugo isn’t about catching the most typos or bringing about the best transformation from manuscript to final draft. It’s about having the eye to pick out exceptional manuscripts and bring books and authors of consistent and reliable quality to print.
Before I set out as an editor, I worked as a pricing analyst for a large publishing house. It was my job to work on sales forecasts, using past history and like items to determine how many copies a book would sell, so that we would know how many copies to print. I was in the business because I love the books, first and foremost, so I read all the books I could get my hands on.
I read the books that sold well; I read the books that didn’t sell well. I read the books that were fads that quickly faded and the books that were consistent classics. And when I read the books with the sales numbers at my side and my “trend-spotting” reflexes sharply honed, I started to develop an eye for the qualities that make a book a classic — the characteristics that make it great, and enduring.
It was with that behind me that I went into professional editing, and it’s from that experience that I still draw. In 2009, I stepped out from behind the red pencil and into the slush pile. As a result, you’ll be seeing a lot more of “my” picks in 2010, and I’m excited about the books you’ll be seeing from us. We’ve got some excellent fantasy and science fiction lined up.
Starting in 2011, I’ll be able to say “I chose these books for you.” That’ll be another big step closer to that goal, and you can be sure that I’ll be working all year with determination, ambition and integrity to get there and keep going.
This year, it’s a big enough thrill just to be eligible, and to have the opportunity to discover great books and great authors. It’s been an honor and a joy to work with great writers, and to meet and learn from some of the most talented and insightful minds in the industry in 2009, and the future only looks brighter. “Begin as you mean to go on,” they say at each new year — here’s looking ahead to a brilliant 2010.
