Interview with an Editor: Toni Kirkpatrick

Melinda Palacio

Toni Kirkpatrick

You may have met Toni Margarita Plummer at the National Latino Writers Conference in New Mexico and wondered what happened to that nice New York editor? Her last name may be different and she may have a different title, but she is still ready to assist you with your books. Since moving on from a position as an acquisitions editor at St. Martin's Press, Toni Kirkpatrick is still focused on helping writers with their book projects, but in a slightly different form. She has gone into business for herself as a freelance editor. Toni took time out of her busy schedule to answer five questions for La Bloga.

1. How is your new editing role different from what you were doing at St. Martin's Press?

I worked at Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press for over ten years, considering submissions, acquiring fiction and nonfiction, and editing my authors' manuscripts line by line to prepare them for publication. My job involved much more than just editing though. Now I am working for the writer and am focused solely on helping him or her to make their manuscript as strong as it can be. I am not an editor checking for commas and the like. My background is in reading for characters, plot, style, and setting. I still read and edit with the mind of an acquiring editor; I ask if this is something an editor would want to acquire, and something a reader would want to read. And if I see any issues there, I think about how those can be resolved.

2. Who are your clients?

They are writers of many different genres. Some are looking for agents and publishers, some plan to self-publish. Some are referred to me by agents who are interested in their work but don't have the time to help them revise. All my clients have written something they feel strongly about and want to put their best work out into the world by having a professional editor critique and edit it.

3. Who is your ideal client?

My ideal client is a talented writer who has worked very hard on a manuscript and is committed to making it better. They are open to my comments and expertise, and I in turn enjoy what they've written and am engaged by it. Hopefully something I say or question sparks their imagination and gives them a new way of looking at a character or a scene. I would love to get more Latino clients--I've a special interest in these stories and I want to see more Latino authors publish their work and find large audiences for it. 

4. In addition to being an editor you are also an author. How does one role affect the other? 

As an author I understand a writers' attachment to their work and their hopes and dreams for it. On the other hand being an editor has definitely helped me to see my own writing more objectively and I am very grateful for that.

5. What is your take on the current publishing landscape for Latino writers?

Getting published (and staying published) is a challenge for anyone. But what’s being discussed a lot now is the lack of Latinos working in publishing and how this affects the number of books by Latinos that are being bought and effectively promoted. I'm part of a fairly new group called Latinos in Publishing, which meets in Manhattan every month and whose goal, among others, is to increase the number of Latinos working in the industry. It's a group of extremely talented and passionate folks--keep an eye out for more from them soon. Sisters in Crime also just put out their Publishing Report about diversity in crime fiction which you can read here: http://www.sistersincrime.org/page/ReportforChange.

So there is increasing awareness about this and lots of authors and publishing professionals working to get more books by Latinos published. Keep writing. Do your homework. There are so many venues and opportunities to publish, even now, and I am very excited to be working with writers at this earlier stage in the process.

More about Toni: Toni Kirkpatrick was an Editor at Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press for over ten years. She acquired mostly crime, historical, multicultural, and women's fiction. Some of her authors included Michael Jaime-Becerra, Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa, M. Padilla, Irete Lazo, A.E. Roman, and Caridad Ferrer. A native Californian, she published The Bolero of Andi Rowe, a story collection set in the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles, under her maiden name Toni Margarita Plummer. She graduated from the Master of Professional Writing Program at USC and is a member of Macondo, the group of socially-engaged writers founded by Sandra Cisneros. Toni lives in the Hudson Valley with her husband and son. Check out her website www.ToniKirkpatrick.com for more information on her background and editorial services.

Some white editors say Latino submissions are “sub-par?” What?!

guest post by Mayra Lazara Dole

Many of the thousands of Latino writers submitting to big publishers and getting rejected are intellectuals or academics who write perfect English and Spanish, thus I was shocked to read about editors “throwing their doors wide to submissions by PoC” and saying “the work they're receiving seems to be sub-par, not polished, or in need of more work than they have time for in this highly competitive business.”

Most editors don’t accept unsolicited manuscripts. Writers must first go through agents. I don’t know a single agent in these times who’d present the work of a “sub-par” Latino writer to an editor.

Who are the editors stating these comments?

In my view, the remarks seem racist and hurtful to Latino writers. Shame on you!

Marcela Landres, ex-executive editor for Simon & Schuster says:

“If you are a Latino writer… all you can reasonably expect from your publisher is for them to simply print and distribute your book. Do not expect your publisher to invest more than the minimum of time and money in promoting your book…. Don’t assume your publisher or agent will actually tell you this. Most people are unwilling or unable to convey bad news; they’d rather point fingers when things go wrong. It’s just human nature.”

In order for Latino books to sell, not only do publishers need to promote Latino books in the same way they do white authors, they must have a huge Latino list of literary journals, newspapers, blogs, magazines, etc. Sending Latino books for review to your Caucasian list is important, but we need Latino reviewers too. (I have created my own list.)

If editors put the same effort in advertising and marketing Latino books, instead of discarding, rejecting and abandoning Latino writers and authors, I’m confident we can also become best-sellers.

Two Questions to editors who made these remarks:

• Do you think most Hispanics and POC are illiterate or semi-illiterate?--I'm always surprised when people aren't aware that a large percentage of Latinos and POC are highly literate.

• If you are receiving manuscripts from Latinos that aren’t up to par, why don’t you recommend professional book doctors to them as you do with your Caucasian writers whose novels need work?

The publishing business boils down to two factors:

• MONEY
• What white editors know will sell.

Many large publishers have made a mint with white vampire, zombie and werewolf novels. Now, most editors are searching for Horror, Dystopian, Paranormal and Steampunk. Obviously, in this economy unless Latinos wish to self-publish, it’s no longer about art, literary merit, or the love for the written word.

It’s all about TRENDS that rake in the mula. It’s understandable. If editors don’t publish books or authors that sell, they could be terminated.

Film director, Alejandro Agresti (Valentin and The Lake House—the latter’s stars are Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves) wrote me seven moving Emails (he’s a brilliant, poetic writer and I will save them forever) expressing interest in turning Down to the Bone into a feature film. Agresti has handed my novel over to Selma Hayek, his business partner, and I’m hoping for the best.

In other words, if you give underdog Latinos an opportunity we might shine.

Everyone knows I wrote Down to the Bone over TEN YEARS ago when no one knew what LGBTQ, or tranniboy meant (just a few of us used the term back then, when blogs and tweets didn’t exist) and it got published in 2008. I sent my manuscript to every publisher possible until Harper Collins snatched it.

I’m lucky, though.

My excruciatingly painful perseverance and hard work, at a time when I was dying of chemical injury—what my dad died of—and all I could do was move my fingers to revise, paid off.

None of my talented Latina/o writer friends submitting at the same time got published.

Now that I have my foot caught in the door, I have ventured out to write for larger audiences and in different styles. Down to the Bone was written for a “niche” audience: young LGBTQ, reluctant Latino readers without a single book that spoke to them.

Editors, why not place a call for submissions for authentic Latino writers and authors? It’s not enough for white authors to add Latino characters they know nothing about or for you to secretly advise white authors to invent Spanish noms de plumes. I’m confident we can find a solution for bringing in el dinero while at the same time staying true to ourselves. In case you haven’t heard about us, there are thousands of Latino-Americanos writing contemporary books with literary merit.

It’s time for equality in the publishing business, thus the following is my plea:

EDITORS: Por favor, give authentic Latinos a chance to shine in your ultra exclusive and neon white publishing world. Let agents know you’re searching for diversity and authenticity. Authentic Latinos in literature means the following:

PUBLISHERS: Por favor, hire Latino editors. We need equality and diversity in publishing.

READERS: Please buy Latino books. Most of us write contemporary Latino-American stories set in the U.S.

LATINO WRITERS: I understand the painful struggle. Many of us don’t have the money to pay editors, but do your best and give your work to at least ten avid readers for critiques. Revise 3,000 times if you must! Never give up! Talk about the issue of inequality in publishing on your blogs. Tweet about our challenges. Make change happen.

AGENTS: please open your doors to Latino authors.

The U.S. is comprised of different cultures. Shouldn’t kids, teens and adults read diversity in books?

Regardless of the state of our economy, and even though mula comes first, there must be some publishers, editors and agents interested in diversity. If you are one of them, please RAISE your HAND!

Diversity rules!

[This post originally appeared here on GoodReads.]

Mayra Lazara Dole, was born in Havana Cuba and raised in Miami's Cuban community. Her interests: writing, languages, cultures, architecture, landscape design, Green-living, literature, international cuisine (she LOVES to eat), critical thinking, theatre/arts... Dole's debut novel, Down to the Bone, was nominated for ALA Best Books for YA 2009. Mayra is the author of two bilingual strong girl picture books: Drum, Chavi, Drum! and Birthday in the Barrio. The latter is being transformed into an animated children's film. Her Cuban dialect poems and LGBTQ short stories have been published by Cipher Journal: A Journal of Literary Translation, Palabra: A magazine of Latino literary Art, Velvet Magazine, Sinister Wisdom and other paper magazines. Dole has worked odd jobs (dancer, drummer, library assistant, hairstylist, landscape designer and chef) while writing. She's taught ESL to Central American teens and designs writing activities for aspiring authors.

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