Meet James Houghton, Commissioning Editor at Olympia Publishers, our parent company. We had the pleasure of asking James a few questions about his role as a Commissioning Editor, read on to see the full interview.
- Hello James, you essentially choose what gets published by Olympia. What was appealing about the editorial side of publishing?
Authors. It’s really great to liaise with new writers every day, stumble across a new idea I haven’t seen before or be blown away by some amazing artwork for a children’s book.
- What does a general day entail for you?
Not as glamorous as you may think. Lots of reviewing, discussing contracts and emailing potential and current authors.
- Did you have a love for books before working for Olympia?
Yes, I’ve always been a keen reader. I have a degree in English Literature and Journalism so reading has always been a huge part of my education. I suppose it is only natural that I would move into some form of publishing role.
- What is it like working at Olympia compared to other jobs you have had in the past?
I pretty much went into being an editorial assistant straight from university. My previous jobs were mainly part-time (working in warehouses, removals, fast-food) just to keep me going during education so I am not sure it would be fair to compare it to those experiences.
- Do you find any parts of the job challenging?
As wonderful as some authors are there are a lot of egos and misconceptions about publishing too, so those correspondences can be trying at times.
- How is the team at Olympia?
Everyone is really great and I cannot overestimate how hard the whole team work here for our authors. I think we get some really good results considering we are quite a small publishing house.
- Let us know what you’re working on right now!
I am working through sending out some new publishing contracts at this moment. Some really exciting children’s books for our new children’s imprint Bumblebee Books.
