1) Hi, Rachael! Welcome to Cherry Tree Notes. It’s been pretty quiet around here, but we love to have people stop by. Please tell us a bit about yourself and your blog.
Hi all! As Kristi said, my name is Rachael, and I’ve been blogging at The Book Muncher for over four years. When I’m not reading YA, I go to school at Barnard College of Columbia University, where I’m majoring in Comparative Literature, and work at a small literary agency called Fox Literary.
2) What genres of young adult literature do you enjoy most? And which recently published (or soon to be) titles are you excited about?
I have rather eclectic taste when it comes to books, so I read a little bit of everything from contemporary and historical fiction to paranormal and high fantasy—it really just depends on my mood! I do find, though, that I’m generally a little more particular to certain themes or concepts within genres; for example, I’ve been really into stories with time travel and parallel universes of late, so I’ve been drooling over a fair amount of sci-fi: False Memory by Dan Krokos, All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill (which doesn’t come out until Fall 2013), and Eve and Adam by Michael Grant and Katherine Applegate.
In other genres, I’m greatly looking forward to Diviners by Libba Bray, Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes, Speechless by Hannah Harrington, and Burn for Burn by Jenn Han and Siobhan Vivian.
3) I know you are currently based in a big city and gaining work experience as a publishing intern. What is it that you do and how do you hope your role within the industry will evolve within the next few years?
As an assistant at a literary agency, I do a little bit of everything. Mostly, I do a lot of reading—in sorting through queries, of manuscripts in the “slush pile,” and of my boss’s clients’ projects. I’m also starting to do a fair amount of writing as well, by drafting rejection and revision letters. Since I aspire to be a young adult book editor, it is my hope that I’ll be hired as an editorial assistant at a publishing house soon after I graduate from college next year! When (not if!) that happens, I’ll likely be doing a lot of the stuff that I get to do now at the literary agency—but all the time!
4) Any advice for those who want to work in publishing, write, or something in between?
The best advice that I can give is very general but I’d like to think it’s very relevant to all aspects of the publishing industry, whether from the writer’s side or the publisher’s side: Don’t give up. Publishing is extremely competitive, because everybody wants to write a book and all those English majors out there want to get paid. Perseverance and patience can really make a huge difference; no matter how disheartening the present state of the publishing industry looks at any given time, your ability to stick things through while someone else couldn’t makes you that much closer to your end goal, whatever it may be!
Thanks so much for having me on the blog!
You can find out more about The Book Muncher and her reviews on her blog: http://thebookmuncher.blogspot.com/ or on Twitter: @thebookmuncher.
*SIDE NOTE* : I will be attending the American Library Association's annual conference Friday through Sunday (or Monday, not sure yet) and will post a recap with photos next week! :)
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