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Amanda Maciel is the executive editor at Scholastic, specializing in commercial fiction. Her projects include the New York Times best-selling Wings of Fire series, the acclaimed graphic novel The Witch Boy , and the Enchanted Pony Academy chapter book series. She is also the author of two YA novels, Tease and Lucky Girl . When considering a manuscript, what makes you stop reading? What makes you want to keep reading?  A manuscript that is too general, too market researched will stop her from reading. She wants someone who knows where the market is, but is bringing his/her own voice to it. Amanda wants an authorial voice that translates through a narrator. Anything you're seeing too much of? Or something you can't get enough of? There has been a lot geared toward STEM and high concepts for girls, but not done in organic way, instead it feels like it's trying to teach and not provide good story. Where do you see the greatest areas of weakness? A story that isn...

Elizabeth Law Elizabeth Law is an editor at Holiday House who specializes in mining their backlist and acquiring middle grade fiction. She has worked in children’s and young adult publishing for thirty years, including most recently as publisher of Egmont USA and as a freelance book doctor and editor at ElawReads. Elizabeth was previously associate publisher at Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers and Viking Children’s Books. She has edited and published every genre from picture book through nonfiction and YA and new adult. Some of the many authors and artists Elizabeth has worked with include Dan Gutman, Andrew Clements, Michael Grant, Tony diTerlizzi, G. Brian Karas, Holly Black, and the estates of Ludwig Bemelmans and Don Freeman. Check out Elizabeth’s blog at Elawreads.com and follow her on Twitter @Elawreads. Highlights of what Elizabeth shared: When reading a submitted manuscript, to consider it for acquisitions: "I have to bond with that character... It's the...

Caitlyn Dlouhy is the VP/Editorial Director of Caitlyn Dlouhy Books at Atheneum/Simon and Schuster. Some of the books she’s edited or acquired include: ASHES , THIS BEAUTIFUL DAY, OLIVIA THE SPY , BULLDOZER HELPSOUT, PABLO AND BIRDY , LONG WAY DOWN . Forthcoming titles include THE PLACEBETWEEN BREATHS , CLICK CLACK MOO I LOVE YOU , I AM LOVED , CHECKED , and SUNNY . She’s been at S and S long enough (15 years) that they know when she’s going to implode if she doesn’t get a YES on a project right away. The other side of the coin is getting every department in on the ground floor of the project from Day One, so everyone has seen it prior to the acquisition meeting. Sometimes this can mean 10 to 15 comments that evolve into a variety of talks (maybe arguments!) about the manuscript. Caitlyn never thinks of it as acquiring by committee, but more as lots of great discussion meant to make a project better and more unique. That said, if the comments aren’t positive, Caitlyn won’t let go of ...

Jill Santopolo is the editorial director of Philomel Books, where she has published such titles as A Tangle of Knots  by Lisa Graff, The Secret Sky  by Aria Abawi, and It’s Your World: Get Informed, Get Inspired & Get Going by Chelsea Clinton. She loves to help writers share their stories and open young readers’ minds to possibilities “they might not know are out there.”  She spoke on a panel called “How I Get to Yes,” explaining what inspires an agent to acquire a book for publication.  The Philomel acquisition process doesn’t go by committee. If an editor is interested in a project, they send it to Jill. If reads is and thinks it belongs on their list, she brings it with the acquiring editor to the publisher, Michael Green. Then they do a projected profit-and-loss statement based on production costs, return rates, and other factors. They figure out financials, take it to their head of finance and the head of the children’s division. If everyone signs off, it re...