During the Open Secrets Mag live event held in New York City in May, they had a last-minute addition of an editors’ panel. And thank goodness they did. As Rachel Kramer Bussel, the founder and organizer of the event explained, her friend suggested this and she gathered some good friends and colleagues who work in online as well as traditional publishing.

The panelists were: Charlie Connell from Another Jane Pratt Thing, Emily McCombs from Huffington Post, Denne Michele Norris from Electric Literature, Rakesh Satyal from HarperOne Group/HarperCollins, Jesse Sposato from Narratively, Inc., and Jamia Wilson from Random House 

Here are some of their advice and my takeaways: 

For online issues, they do like to have evergreen material but there are exceptions. If your essay deals with something more time sensitive and timely, make sure that the essay focuses on how that topic personally impacted you. 

For instance, in a previous panel, Debbie Millman shared how after hearing about the overturning of Roe v Wade, she wrote about remembering when it was first passed in 1973, and she was a 12-year-old. She shared in this essay for The Philadelphia Inquirer that she was being sexually abused by her stepfather, so when it became federally legal for safe abortions, she felt she had options should she get pregnant. So reflecting her personal story and how the timely news of a law impacted her and reminded her memories, it was published, and she said that it had garnered the most engagement out of anything else that she had written. 

“We look for a moment that changed you, something that can be made into a movie.” – Jamia Wilson

That is the key, the visualization, the uniqueness of your perspective on whatever the topic is. 

It is also important, especially for online essays, to give as much of the whole visual as you can. They need more content that grabs attention so they need a great headline, image, etc. If you as the writer have done most of that work for them, it helps a great deal. It doesn’t mean it wont change but it gets them to really see the final piece clearer. 

Flash Essays, focusing on one thought or topic in 1500 words or less are of interest, particularly for Electric Lit. Denne also shared that he is also happy when people take an experimental route in their craft but remember, make it as complete a picture as you can when submitting. 

When it came to the book publishers, they shared that they look for writers who really take initiative and immerse themselves into the craft. Having an established audience doesn’t hurt. If you have a following online, it only helps but do not loose hope. The editors take more notice when they see that the writer has been involved in writing groups, courses, in a community, that shows the commitment and seriousness of your work and the craft. 

Jamia said that the working relationship between a writer and editor is so important and is at least a year and a half of your lives so she focuses on temperament and chemistry. How is the writer on the best of days and worst of days? That matters to her too because ultimately, it is going to be a pretty close relationship. You want to be able to handle and enjoy working together for the most part. 

A continuous theme in any type of writing that came up was humor. Charlie shared that a good writer needs to cover all your bases. So even if you are writing a dramatic piece, you have to put in something humorous as well. Rachel agreed because editors are ultimately readers and they have to read a lot of things. Don’t forget that what you write, especially when it is nonfiction, how did it personally impact you but also, make it funny, at least at a few times. 

“They say, if you cry, you buy. I also say, if you LOL, you also buy.” – Rakesh 

This panel was really insightful, to hear from those who can make a writers dreams come true. Their experience and advice and examples have stayed with me, a journalist and amateur writer the last few months. I hope this does the same to you dear reader and other writer out there too! 

You can read my piece on another one of their panels here.