The reality of being an editor
Jeremy Davies, an experienced editor, shares the intriguing journey from a small school in Vermont to the unique realm of literary editing.
Jeremy Davies, an editor and author, has served in roles as Executive Editor and Senior Editor at esteemed publishing houses like McNally Editions and the Dalkey Archive Press.
Since joining Coffee House Press in June 2023, Davies — who confronts the uncertainties of book success and contemplates what makes an exceptional editor — offers a nuanced perspective that captures the dynamic shifts within the landscape of literary curation.
“I flunked all of their proofreading tests and all of the various gatekeeping apparatuses that they had to try to keep out the rabble, but I knew their list. So in the end, those were the things that were counted.”
-Jeremy Davies, editor
Q: How did you get from high school to your current position?
A: I started at a small, progressive school in Vermont. It was a full-time program at the time. I didn’t get a degree that was of any use, though. It was just a general liberal arts degree with a focus in English. After that, I got an MFA at Washington University in St. Louis for fiction. I got into editing because I was a writer that wanted to be a writer, and because I’m also a reader.
At the time, I had absolutely no experience and knew nothing about publishing, but I certainly knew books. The first press I started working for was called Dalkey Archive Press which was, at that point, in Illinois. It was one of my favorite presses and I knew their list backwards and forwards. They hired me with zero experience. I flunked all of their proofreading tests and all of the various gatekeeping apparatuses that they had to try to keep out the rabble, but I knew their list. So in the end, those were the things that were counted.
Since then, I’ve been back with smaller presses, which has been the bulk of my experience. This mainly includes publishing literature, translations, fiction, and nonfiction that tends to be fairly off the beaten track. In other words, experimental, innovative, or subversive (although not exclusively that).
Coffee House [Press] does precisely the same sort of thing that I’ve always done. I’ve always known their list, and I loved them, which is why I’m there now. So it’s really been enthusiasm and love for the product that has kept me moving from press to press.
Q: What is the greatest barrier to entry for editors?
A: Editors are extremely expendable. Production managers have to actually know something, and proofreaders and copy editors have to have particular skills. Not to say that [head] editors don’t, their skills are just considerably more plastic and less provable. You can acquire a book that ends up making a ton of money by accident. More often it is a case of hard work and plotting, but, good taste is worth almost nothing in any kind of marketplace–especially right now. The books that I’ve loved the most haven’t done particularly well. And the joke at Dalkey Archive [Press] would be that the books that I complain the most about sold the best. Which is to say the books I hated working on the most, that were agony to deal with, were the ones that had the highest commercial potential.
Q: What are some “expectations vs. reality” moments you have experienced?
A: Like I said, a book that you love isn’t necessarily going to find readers. Even if the entire publisher is behind you and willing to spend the money to publicize it. Even then, it might not catch on. A book that was wildly successful 10 years ago, or even five years ago, if it was published now for the first time, it wouldn’t necessarily find an audience. It’s a constantly moving target. And that track record kind of follows you around wherever you go.
Luckily I’ve never really thought what being an editor was like. I learned as I went. So, in that sense, no, but in terms of within the job, yes. Every day.
Q: How do you turn off your editing brain at the end of the day?
A: That’s tough. It’s been long enough now that I’ve found a sort of balance. I mean, because I just read what I [normally] do. Normally I love searching out hidden and forgotten things, and so that hasn’t been affected.
[At one point] I had to sequester myself and read nothing but [Samuel] Beckett, which was my solution. I read nothing but that other than work stuff. I sort of recalibrated myself eventually. For better or worse. It is hard. I mean, you’re staring at text all the time, it’s very hard to go back to a sort of innocent appreciation of of writing, and I don’t have any tricks. I think I just eventually settled a bit.
To a degree, it is the same mind. I mean, even when I’m wearing my editor’s hat, I’m a lot more critical, (that is if I feel responsible for a text) but at a certain point you have to decide that other things are other people’s problems. Try to get what you can from them.
Q: How do you keep a balance between work and home life?
A: At the moment I lose ground every day, because I don’t have a proper office to go to anymore. I missed that. When I had an office, even then, it was tough. But if you’re removed and you’re in a place that is purely for publishing, then it’s very easy to take things as they are and do the work.
Whether you want to show that you’re present to a boss, or you’re just valuable in that sense certainly was in my mind in the early years and occasionally even now. These things just don’t wait. I guess you get used to it. I have been watching cartoons with my daughter and still answering questions on my phone simultaneously. I mean, it’s a really a 24-hour job.
Q: Do you recommend any books for people looking to be an editor?
A: I don’t want to be super boring, but I honestly think The Chicago Manual of Style. That’s it.
If someone’s starting as an editor or doing an editorial internship, I would say buy, borrow, or steal a copy of the last edition (if you can’t get the current edition) and just read the thing. Not like a novel, but [read] the sections that explain what the parts of a book are and what the publication process is. About developmental editing, line editing, etc. All that stuff is gold. If you really are a geek about publishing, which I am, it explains everything.
“I think the editors that I admire, combine a canny understanding of the market without sacrificing actual taste and interest.” -Jeremy Davies, editor
Q: What are the upsides of working for a publisher like Coffee House Press rather than one of the Big Five?
A: Coffee House [Press] is a nonprofit, as was the first press that I worked at Dalkey [Archive Press]. The very nice thing about a nonprofit is that it’s mission-based. And so, you want to sell lots of books. But that isn’t actually why you show up every day. There’s a common understanding that, the world is the world is hostile largely to art, and we’re here to help it survive, through whatever means are necessary. And so, we do books because we love them. Sure there’s a commercial calculation there, but we do books largely because they excite us (and because we love the love of them). And because we feel they have something to contribute to whatever conversation is going on in the culture at the moment. Whatever’s in the air, whether that be to subvert it or to contribute to it in a positive way.
I mean, those sorts of questions are paramount. Like, “Is this great? Let’s do it.” As opposed to, “This is great, but there’s just no way we can ever sell enough copies to justify it.” Or “This is brilliant, but we’re the wrong press for it.” Some of that still happens, of course, but that isn’t the first question. The first questions are: “Is it great?” and “Do we love it?” There is something so terrific about this; that it’s more important that it finds readers than that we get their money.
Q: What makes a good editor?
A: There’s just not one good kind of editor. The problem is it’s really hard to say what qualities make a good editor. I think the editors that I admire, combine a canny understanding of the market without sacrificing actual taste and interest. They know how to get people excited. They know (with a larger press) how to use the resources to make a book successful or at least give it the best possible shot. So there’s a little bit of the hustler about them. That’s what makes a great editor but it’s it’s tough. I’ve been doing this for 20 years, and I feel like I’m still learning.
Jeremy Davies shares an authentic recollection of his journey in the literary world. His insights illuminate the challenges editors grapple with as well as the advantages of working for a nonprofit press.
“There’s a common understanding that, the world is hostile largely to art, and we’re here to help it survive, through whatever means are necessary,” he said.
