Voices on Writing: Jenna Johnson

by Barbara DeMarco-Barrett

Jenna Johnson is a senior editor at Harcourt, Inc., where she has published Maggie O'Farrell's The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, Susan Richards' best-selling Chosen by a Horse, Scarlett Thomas' The End of Mr. Y, and works by Richard Wilbur, Faïza Guene, Young-ha Kim, Ryan Gattis, Kelly Kerney, Mario Cuomo, Harold Holzer, Tony Vigorito, Kip Stratton and many others. Her previous experience took her from advertising to a literary agency to public relations to academia to tending bar to Linux and back again -- but all of it, she says, "has been in the service of really good stories."

BDB: First of all, I must say I'm a huge Harcourt fan. Harcourt published Pen on Fire and I can't imagine having a better publishing experience. I'm not sure what to attribute this to: Harcourt's small size? The publisher's philosophy? Luck? What do you think?

JJ: I don't know that there's a way to really isolate which aspect of a publisher's approach makes the experience work. I can say that, from the inside, Harcourt's relatively small size has been a source of real camaraderie and teamwork on all of the books we publish and that when you have everyone on board from early in the life of a book, there's a personal investment in creative thinking and dynamic publishing. As far as our philosophy goes -- Harcourt sees itself as a house dedicated to writers with strong futures and many books ahead of them; everyone here takes great joy in helping and watching careers grow. From this comes a true sense of contributing to a community -- offering support as well as wisdom, fostering careers as well as publishing books, establishing readers as well as writers.

BDB: Will you talk about Harcourt's list and the sort of books you like to publish?

JJ: Harcourt is well known for publishing literary fiction, poetry and literature in translation, but we also publish narrative non-fiction of all sorts, and have a broad range of subjects covered by our books. Ultimately, for us, it always comes back to the power of truly exceptional writing.

BDB: Harcourt is one of the few publishers that publish literary fiction. This is so unusual. Do you see this continuing?

JJ: Absolutely. We are dedicated to beautiful writing in all genres -- and particularly to literary fiction -- both as a house with a long tradition of publishing literature and as individuals who have grown up with a deep and serious obsession with great books that spill over with imagination and gorgeous prose. I can't imagine a Harcourt that didn't publish literary fiction with pride and enthusiasm.

BDB: A few of ASJA's members have had their narrative nonfiction and other nonfiction pubbed by Harcourt. Please talk about the narrative nonfiction Harcourt publishes.

JJ: Harcourt publishes a broad range of narrative non-fiction -- from history to memoir, food writing, science, current affairs, religion, philosophy, travel, nature and the outdoors, biography, psychology, and even some books on pets. There's a wide range -- and I may have even missed a category -- but every book we publish has strong writing and a compelling story to make it at home on the list.

BDB: Does Harcourt like to publish memoirs?

JJ: Historically, we have published many wonderful memoirs -- including works by Mary McCarthy, Roger Angell, Günter Grass, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and others. Some more recent titles include A Three Dog Life by Abigail Thomas, The Florist's Daughter by Patricia Hampl and Chosen by a Horse by Susan Richards.

BDB: Is there a perfect Harcourt book?

JJ: Yes and no -- there have been many perfect Harcourt books and there will be many more. Not to repeat myself, but for us, it always comes down to the writing.

BDB: How about for you -- what do you love to see come in the door?

JJ: I publish both fiction and nonfiction -- in both cases, I'm looking for authors with strong voices and a real knack for storytelling. Fiction-wise, I'm interested in imaginative work that immerses a reader and leaves you feeling as if you have absorbed another world when you're finished reading. I publish quirky, inventive novels that play with genre, as well as more traditional narratives, including historical fiction and some coming-of-age stories. In nonfiction, I'm interested in history, religion, biography -- particularly literary biography, women's history and studies, food writing, explorations of subcultures and explorations of little-known parts of the world. I also publish a fair amount of world literature or new fiction in translation. And, yes, there is occasionally a memoir among all these.

BDB: How much leeway are editors given? As I recall with my book, Harcourt wasn't in the habit of publishing writing books but was willing to go to auction to acquire mine. So I'm wondering: Are editors given free rein as to what they can acquire?

JJ: The acquisition process is something that starts and, in a way, ends with individual editors. Our enthusiasm for a book and our ability to envision its ideal publication -- as well as our ability to impart that vision to others -- is central to acquisition decisions. We do have a very collaborative ethos here -- so everyone reads potential acquisitions and we definitely consider all the input when we make decisions. Books need to fit with our list and editors have to be able to contextualize a potential acquisition, certainly, but we don't think about our list in a rigid way and if something feels like it's a good fit for us, we can stretch our categories a bit to accommodate that impulse. We're not interested in self-help and we're probably never going to publish diet books, but a smart project with great writing will be considered carefully regardless of whether we've ever done something exactly like it.

BDB: How strongly does the marketing department figure in what Harcourt acquires? I know at other publishers, that department can be quite influential.

JJ: We consult with our colleagues from every department -- marketing, sales, publicity, production -- and we do so eagerly and with a genuine desire for their support and ideas. The earlier we have everyone reading and thinking about a book, the more invested everyone is when the final manuscript hits their desks and the more likely they will have brilliant schemes for the book's publication percolating in the back of their brains. Everyone here is a serious, critical reader -- and that kind of depth and breadth of experience is not something any one of us could ever boast alone. It's one of the real joys of working in publishing and at Harcourt, in particular.

BDB: I always ask about that dreaded word: platform. How important is platform to authors Harcourt takes on? I imagine it's different for nonfiction authors than fiction?

JJ: It often seems much easier for non-fiction writers to step back and figure out where their platform should be and how they can expand and strengthen it, but that doesn't let fiction writers completely off the hook. With the frightening amount of noise shouting at the average consumer, it's important for writers to be creating a community of readers. This is about more than exposure and name recognition -- it's about immediate context, interconnectivity, and making people fall in love with a unique perspective and voice as much as sparking their interest in a particular topic. This is what makes for long, ever-growing careers. Platform is important because it shows you know your readers as well as -- or, preferably, better than -- your publisher ever could.

BDB: Let's talk about advances. What are typical advances an author might expect for a first novel? For a narrative nonfiction book? Or does it depend on that author's platform?

JJ: Everyone has heard stories about first novels that go for piles of cash, but there are far more every year that sell for smaller advances. Non-fiction advances, likewise, range from the very small to the very large. Advances depend on a variety of factors. But they're also ultimately tied to sales -- so if you've published before and haven't sold lots of books that could diminish the potential advance. On the flip side of things, if you have a platform that guarantees you a broad and devoted readership or if you have published several books to critical acclaim and strong sales, you might be offered a hefty sum. But finding the right house and the right editor for your book should be your first concern -- and it's not always going to be the highest bidder. Sometimes an editor may truly love your book and have a clear, right vision for it, but she won't be able to pay more than seems reasonable at the time. It doesn't mean she loves your book any less or that the house won't support its publication -- some of the most beloved books I've worked on have been brought on with small advances.

BDB: We're drawing to the end. I've been longing to ask an editor what editors think about gifts. Do you like receiving them from authors or does it make you feel that you've been put on the spot? And what sort of gifts are appropriate?

JJ: The best gift an author can send is a sincere and heartfelt "thank you." We don't hear this nearly enough -- not only in editorial but also every other department at the house -- and it's incredibly rewarding when authors appreciate not only how much work we have all put into their books, but also how necessary those contributions really are. As for physical objects...who doesn't love presents? My most memorable gifts have been tied in some way to the book we worked on together -- a swimsuit from a writer who was a professional long-distance swimmer, a giant brown-bag deli lunch for the office from a writer who was working on a book about delicatessens -- that one was particularly fun as it forced us to sit down together for a bit and just eat and talk about how much we love pickles.

BDB: If you weren't an editor, what would you be?

JJ: A perpetual and devoted student of the immersion language method.

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Barbara DeMarco-Barrett is editor of The ASJA Monthly and author of the award-winning best-seller, Pen on Fire: A Busy Woman's Guide to Igniting the Writer Within (Harcourt, 2004). She hosts Writers on Writing, a weekly show on KUCI-FM, which streams live and podcasts at http://writersonwriting.blogspot.com. More at www.penonfire.com