Tor Books turns 30 today.
I can hardly believe that, with 16 years on the payroll and counting, I’m a half-lifer. Whenever someone asks me what the best part of the job is, I always have the same answer: it’s the people I get to work with—writers, artists, and staffers.
Our offices are in one of New York’s architectural treasures, the Flatiron Building, at the foot of Madison Square Park. The space is a bit…well, cozy. (It turns out a triangle isn’t the most efficient use of office space.) But I have to say, I kinda love our box-filled hallways, oddly trapezoidal rooms, and curved corner windows.
With the aid of a beat-up Canon point-and-shoot, I’ll introduce you to a few of the people that turn a stack of manuscript pages into some of the (hopefully, beloved) books on your shelves. This is by no means comprehensive. There are many others not pictured here that are integral to the process. We get to talk about writers and artists a lot on Tor.com. Here’s our chance for a quick “hello,” and a “thank you” to all the other people with similar jobs in other publishing houses—working hard to bring us the stories we love.
Editorial: where the manuscripts come in and get (even) better.
Claire Eddy
Eric Raab
Paul Stevens
Moshe Feder (in my doorway)
Liz Gorinsky and Steven Padnick.
Patrick Nielsen Hayden
Beth Meacham , in her Arizona outpost
Harriet McDougal, in her southern outpost
David G. Hartwell, looking at drawings
Melissa Singer
Juliet Pederson and Susan Chang
Whitney Ross
Melissa Frain, Lauren Brantley, and Kristin Sevick
The infamous slush pile. Hopes and dreams, waiting their turn to be read.
Hard Cover Art Department: where the books put some clothes on.
Peter Lutjen
Jamie Stafford-Hill wuz here
Yours truly, Irene Gallo
Mass Market Art Department: where the books get smaller and the type gets bigger.
Vanessa Paolantonio
The art nook
Production: Corralling the ephemeral ideas of writers, artists, and editors and turning them into pages and jackets.
Joe Meir and Nathan Weaver
Jim Kapp, Jane Liddle, Karl Gold
Kevin Sweeney representing an army of copy editors and proofreaders.
Stacks of typeset pages to be proofread and envelopes of cover mechanicals to be checked.
“Heather Saunders,” interior designer
Sales: Helping stores near you carry the books you want read.
Stuart Miller, Andy Etzkorn, Christine Jaeger, Jeff Capshew, Ken Holland, Brian Heller
(And many others stationed across the US visiting local bookshops.)
Marketing: What’s selling, where, and how many….And how can we increase all of the above.
Brian Vaughan
Laura Fitzgerald
Jennifer Kaufler: Stacks of marketing materials taller than marketing managers.
Aubrey Lynch
Advertising and Promotion: Getting the word out.
Phyllis Azar
Audrey Steuerwald
Elizabeth Mathews
Theresa Delucci
Publicity: Getting others to talk for the books
Cassandra Ammerman, Dot Lin, Sam Cutler, Patty Garcia, Justin Golenbock, Amber Hopkins, Alexis Saarela
The always changing, but ever present, stacks of books on their way out to the media.
Edwin Rivera, office manager
Constance Cochran
Keeper of the schedule and one of Tom’s two right hands.
Dana Giusio, Manager of Administration
Last, because all the bucks stop here, our leader and publisher Mr. Tom Doherty, who decided to publish Andre Norton’s Forerunner 30 years ago. Thank you, Tom, countless people have traveled to fantastic and impossible places through your guidance.
The view from Tom’s office: Broadway and Fifth Avenue, the Empire State and Madison Square Park.
