Interview with Amanda Isabel Ramirez of Simon & Schuster

About Amanda:

Amanda Isabel Ramirez joined Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers in 2016, to much fanfare from her loud, Puerto Rican family. She’s had the honor of working with talented authors like Neal Shusterman, Katherine Rundell, Tim Federle, Andrew Smith, and countless others. Amanda is passionate about diverse, commercial literature from contemporary YA to fanciful middle grade adventures to subversive, tongue-in-cheek picture books.

Amanda is also a writer who holds an MFA in fiction from Fairleigh Dickinson University. A Brooklyn native living in suburban Long Island, if she’s not reading, writing, or binge-watching Marvel Netflix shows, she’s probably stuck on the GWB.

How to connect with Amanda:

Twitter: @AmandaIsA_Ram

Instagram: @heyhandymandy

Pinterest: @heyhandymandy

Website: amandaisaramirez.wordpress.com

How and why did you become an Editorial Assistant?

I’m gonna answer that in reverse!

First, the why: after spending almost all of college cycling between five different majors and holding various, eclectic jobs and internships (at least seven throughout my time at school), it finally dawned on me that I wanted to work in publishing. The idea just felt right. Who doesn’t want to get paid to read all day and bring fantastic books into the world?

How I became an editorial assistant was pure luck. One of my good friends from college got hired as a production assistant at Simon & Schuster, and when she found out there was an editorial position open in children’s, she sent my resume along. So, here I am (thanks, Berb!)

What does your job entail?

My job involves a lot of “sorry for the delayed response” and “thank you for your patience.” A lot of paperwork and chasing things down. Occasionally, I get a chance to actually read in the office, but that doesn’t happen too often (reading? In book publishing? Sounds fake.) A lot of my editorial work gets done at home on the weekends. Publishing is a full-time, 24/7 job and I often take my work home with me.

What’s a day like in the life of Editorial Assistant Amanda Isabel Ramirez?

Amanda Isabel Ramirez begins her day like most people: wanting to go back to bed. But it’s okay, because she has an hour and a half commute, through which she will nap. Once in the office, her usual morning anxiety sets in. What has Amanda already forgotten to do? But that’s okay, too, because she has her to-do lists, of which there are many (most of them are written on post-its scattered around her desks, along with her bullet journal.)

Amanda will attempt to complete these to-do lists, but her inbox will have other ideas, inundating her with HIGH IMPORTANCE!!! emails that must be tended to Right This Very Moment and Simply Cannot Wait. Every afternoon at 3pm is spent playing HQ Trivia with her coworkers, because they deserve it. Occasionally, they win.

Amanda leaves the office around the same time every day, laden with books and her Kindle and manuscripts, so she can beat the other cranky New York commuters onto the train. If getting a seat on a crowded train was an Olympic sport, she’d be a gold medalist. Inevitably, she will have forgotten to do something. This time, instead of panicking, she will take her second nap of the day and figure it out when she gets home an hour and a half later, though she’ll probably end up writing and making mac ‘n cheese for dinner, like she does every night.

What are some challenges you face?

The speed at which things change can be overwhelming. For example: I could be working on a book, everything coming in on time, living my life all carefree-like one moment and the next, the publication date for a book that I don’t have the manuscript for has been moved up six months.

Suddenly, my entire life is in utter disarray and I’ve forgotten to eat lunch three days in a row, but the adrenaline rush that comes with it is great.

You’ve said that becoming a professional in the publishing industry requires “more hoops than most people anticipate.” Would you elaborate. [I’m happy to rephrase the question in the final interview posting. If this question is too sensitive, feel free to omit it.]

In the context of the thread this quote came from (which detailed my grievances about the standard creative writing university education curriculum, of which I have six years of experience), what I meant was that writers can’t just finish something and say, “I shall now send you off into the world,” because that’s not how publishing works. It’s too often that I see writers not taking into account “the rules” of publishing – putting in the proper research, revising revising revising, writing query letters, etc. – either because they don’t know them, or because they think they’re exempt.

There are a lot of letters between A (write the thing) and Z (publish the thing), and you can’t expect to have a full alphabet without them.

What do you love about your job?

I’ve always been a fan of meeting new people, and my job has allowed me to meet dozens of them, all with their own perfect amount of oddness and eccentricities, all with similar passions to mine. That’s gotta be what I love most.

What are some of your goals within the publishing industry? Overall vision for yourself?

As an editor who is also a writer, I have too many personal goals to count. Some range from the realistic to the fantastical (I tend to scream about them on Twitter). But I think overall, I just want to be someone who advocates for new and fresh ideas. I hope to make my first acquisition this year, and I hope to finish a manuscript this year.

Who are the people you’re interacting with most frequently as an editorial assistant and what’s your interaction with them like?

I mostly interact with my coworkers in-house, unless I’m deep in the trenches of a manuscript, in which case I interact exclusively with my manager and the author through edits. But my team and I are one big, dysfunctional family, so we have a lot of fun among each other on the daily.

What’s your interaction with agents like?

It definitely depends on the agent but I’ve met nothing but incredibly kind and passionate people since I started working in publishing. Most of the time I only get to interact with agents over email, but every once in a while we get together for coffee or lunch. It’s like catching up with an old friend.

What would be your dream project?

A young adult novel about a quinceañera, which sounds oddly specific, but it’s such a pivotal time in a young Latinx’s life. Quince’s are like weddings – they take approximately forever to plan. And it’s an interesting question for a Latinx who grew up in the United States, where it’s more common for a young girl to celebrate a Sweet Sixteen. This would be a very personal project for me because I was given a choice between a quince or a sweet 16 (I chose neither, but that’s irrelevant).

I want a story about family and connecting with your heritage while also trying to reconcile who you are in the face of that and who you want to be or who people are expecting you to be. I’d want this to be an #OwnVoices manuscript, and if it could be repped by a diverse agent, that would be icing on the cake.

What sets a great manuscript apart from the rest of the crowd for you?

I need a consistent, engaging voice. I find that a lot of manuscripts with fascinating premises suffer when they don’t have a good grasp of character. Narrative voice, unfortunately, is the one thing I can’t teach a writer how to do.

What’s on your #MSWL?

I could talk about this all day. How about we just go with: https://amandaisaramirez.wordpress.com/mswl/

Everything you need to know is there. And I frequently tweet about my #MSWL. And, obviously, my dream project (above) is on my list as well.

Anything that’s definitely not on your #MSWL?

I am not a good match for:

  • Historical fiction
  • Sports fiction
  • Anything where the dog dies (or animal books in general)
  • Nonfiction middle grade or young adult
  • Poetry or novels in verse

This list is subject to change, but I’ve been pretty consistent on those fronts.

Slider Revolution

Do you receive many manuscripts from diverse authors?

Considering I only just got the green light to acquire in early February, I haven’t had too many submissions, but I will say that many of the agents I’ve heard from have definitely taken my want for diversity into account when pitching me, and I’ve been quite vocal on what I’d like to see.

I got a Latinx #OwnVoices pitch the other day that ended with the agent telling me they specifically wanted to find a Latinx editor to work on the manuscript! Fostering diversity like that is always important and such a great step toward normalizing it in the industry.

What diverse groups do you feel are especially underrepresented within the industry? As characters within novels?

I won’t presume to say that I know what the ratio of diversity looks like within the industry, especially when I consider the network of diverse professionals I’ve built around myself. All I can really say is that we could and should be doing better.

I have different feelings when it comes to manuscripts, as I think it’s easy to pinpoint where and how we can improve. As a Nuyorican (a Puerto Rican New Yorker), I feel a particular attachment to Puerto Rican protagonists and always want to see more of those. But on the whole, queer POC are widely underrepresented: we’ve seen more and more books with POC romance and queer romance; POC protagonists and queer protagonists; but I still feel like there’s a hole to be filled. Additionally, physically and mentally disabled POC are also lacking in our creative spheres.

I’ve seen a lot of instances of “well, this character is already ABC, so why do we need to make them XYZ? That seems excessive.” It’s important to remember that diversity isn’t a checklist. One person can be several things at once, and they’re all important to who they are and the way their story is told.

What do you perceive to be some of the greatest challenges to diversity faced within the industry?

Diversity is too often treated as a trend. We get pitched books based solely on the fact that it’s diverse, and the merit of the story and the writer themselves can get lost in the process. I fiercely believe that we need to work on pursuing diverse projects, but not at the expense of strong storytelling or enthusiasm – agents and editors should not laud something they’re not passionate about just because it comes with its own convenient diversity tagline.

How do you approach and encourage diversity? [Feel free to speak about how your own personal diverse background influences your approach, if you’d like]

Champion books that feature diverse characters. Books written by diverse authors. Books sold by diverse agents. Books edited by diverse publishing professionals. And even beyond that: movies and TV shows and music – all of these things deserve the same hype and attention you’d give to their counterparts.

I watch diverse shows and I don’t step on the toes of other diverse voices. I make sure to speak for my experiences only, and allow those different from me to take their turn uninterrupted. Encouraging diversity isn’t hard. All you have to do is listen when you’re called upon and realize that you don’t have to put your two cents into everything.

What are some ways you feel editors can increase diversity within the publishing industry?

Editors sometimes choose to work on books that they think are “okay,” just for the pleasure of working on them. And there’s nothing wrong with that. This “okay” book will get published and someone will pick it up and say “this is what I’ve been waiting for my whole life.” That’s the dream.

But the simple fact of the matter is that diverse writers aren’t given that kind of consideration. They need to work three times as hard as straight, white, cis writers just to get their foot in the door, and then they’re not allowed to simply be “okay.” They have to be exemplary. And that’s not fair to them, or to the readers who need their stories.

Are there any upcoming conferences or twitter events you’ll be participating in?

I don’t have anything planned at the moment, but I’m always lurking through #pitmad and #DVPit and #MSWL, so I’m easy to find.

Final advice for writers and/or illustrators? [Feel free to use this question to especially speak to those of diverse backgrounds if you’d like]

Just keep trucking along. This process takes time, more time than you’ll want to spend, but it’s worth it. Take comfort in the fact that there are a ton of publishing professionals out there who are waiting for you, and even more readers who are waiting for their stories to be told.

Wildcard Questions:

If you could be a superhero, what would your powers be and why?

This is tough. I think I would most want to have teleportation powers (or something similar to Doctor Strange). I do a lot of traveling back and forth to see friends and if I could never get stuck in traffic on the GWB again, that would be magnificent.

If you could have any career (outside of publishing), what would it be and why?

I want to be the person who picks the songs that play in the background of movies. I just like to think I’m super good at curating appropriate playlists.

Or a crime-fighting vigilante, but the legality of that is suspect at best and I’d rather stay out of prison.

Thanks for your time, Amanda!

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