Friday, February 5, 2010

Interview with Lori Graham, Senior Editor at The Wild Rose Press


Hi Lori, please tell us a little about what you do at the Wild Rose Press.  
I am the senior editor of the Crimson Rose line of The Wild Rose Press.  This publishing company started 3 ½ years ago and I joined the staff just shortly after they opened their doors.  Our goal at TWRP is to work with authors to help them perfect their craft.  Yes, we like to publish books, of course, but we want to give authors the information they need.  For example, every manuscript gets a response and none of them is a form letter.  For me personally, I am blessed to work with a great bunch of authors as I edit their work.  In addition, I also get the joy of managing an incredible editing staff.  This group of women makes my life a lot of fun. 

What makes a query grab you and what are you actively looking to acquire right now? 
The thing that grabs me most is an author who I can work with.  Someone who takes the time to research their plot and develop their craft.  They create characters with depth and reality.  This is what grabs me.  As far as acquisitions, we have a special submission call going on right now called Jewels of the Night.  You can visit our website at www.thewildrosepress.com and go to the crimson submission page or the behind the garden gate blog to get the details.  If you have any questions, of course, you can email me directly at lori (at) thewildrosepress.com.

What really makes a suspense novel work for you? 
Again, this comes back to a plot that is real.  Given that we are dealing with suspense, it is important that certain rules be followed.   For example, if the hero is an FBI agent, the way the character develops and acts needs to be somewhat consistent with how a real FBI agent might act.  Granted there is some license that fiction can take, but it can’t go too far.  So again, the research portion is very important and really polishes the book.  The other aspect I look for is the development of those characters.  The hero and heroine need to be as three dimensional as the author can get them.  The reader wants to be able to know what they are thinking, feeling, seeing, touching, smelling, tasting – the emotions are important.

Who are your all time favorite romantic suspense authors/books?  
There are simply too many to count.  It all started with Nancy Drew, moved to Phyllis Whitney, and has come up to Cindy Gerard.  There are more and I enjoy them all.

Is there a romantic suspense novel at Wild Rose that you're particularly excited about.  Can you tell us a little about it?   
Again, too many to go into.  We have some great authors in our catalogue with works from JL Wilson to Judith Rochelle to Cindy Green to Jenni Holbrook to Alicia Dean to Cierra James to name just a few.  Lydia Storm is also quite good.  J

Thank you to Lori Graham and don’t forget to post a comment to be entered to win this months Valentine’s free book give away!





14 comments:

  1. Hi Lori. Very interesting and informative post. I'm a big fan of TWRP!

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  2. Hi Lori,

    I enjoyed reading your interview! Lydia asked some great questions. I used to read Nancy Drew, too--loved those books. I agree about the reality--it needs to be realistic, or the story just falls flat.

    Cheryl

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  3. Absolutely, Cheryl. Even if I am reading science fiction, if I can't see some reality for it happening, the author loses me.

    Thanks, Beth.

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  4. Hi Lori,

    I write mystery. I loved the interview. Great info

    Melinda

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  5. Nice Interview. I always appreciate knowing what an editor is looking for.

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  6. we have a chat for authors every Tuesday night where authors and editors all come together. Topics run all over the place but they are great fun. We'd love to have you join us. You can find it on our website www.thewildrosepress.com and then in the lower right of that home page, you will find the chat link. Stop by.

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  7. Hi Lori, Nice to hear about you. Thanks for the positive information!

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  8. Hi Lydia! Hi Lori! I personally am really enjoying the recent crop of paranormal romantic suspense (I like mixing up genres), especially Jayne Ann Krentz's Arcane Society books. I was addicted to Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, too.

    Nice interview!

    Penny Watson
    Sweet Inspiration, TWRP, 12-02-09
    http://www.pennywatsonbooks.com/

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  9. Thanks for the Interesting interview. And it makes me laugh that so many of us started down this path with Nancy Drew!
    suz_glo(at)yahoo(dot)com

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  10. Well, Lori is just the best editor ever....

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  11. HI Lori! Great interview and I'm so glad you like my books.

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  12. Excellent Interview. I love this Blog

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  13. Hi Lori,
    I love the information in your blog and your commitment to WRP. So glad you are enjoying what you do. Thank you for mentioning my name.
    Cierra James

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  14. Great interview and so happy to see your blog up and runnin. Congrats!

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