Editors' Panel: Amanda Maciel
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...