Sherry Knowlton's Blog

In case you have ever wondered what an editor does and how they get into the field, here is a great account to give you an idea from my very own (and beloved) editor, Jennifer Cappello.Jennifer is an editor, writer, and mother of three—five, if you count the dogs—living with her husband and family in Linglestown, PA. She holds an AA in Secondary English Education from Harrisburg Area Community College, a BA in English from Penn State, and an MFA in Creative Writing with a certificate in publishing from Chatham University. Her partial novel, “Fixed,” won runner-up for best thesis in Chatham University’s 2013 fiction category. She established an independent press while at Chatham, publishing a poetry chapbook (Chalk & Fire, Melrose Publishing, 2012) for an up-and-coming poet. Jennifer has served as editor for two college literary journals, has had poems published in HACC’s Wildwood Journal, and serves annually as a Scholastic Writing Contest judge. She loves to read, write, knit, cook, and travel. Jennifer has been editing for Sunbury Press since 2011.How did you get into editing?“Getting into editing” can take different forms because there are lots of positions within the publishing world that use the title “editor.” I'm a manuscript editor in the publishing industry in my work as an employee at a small press, and I also work independently as a freelance editor/proofreader (and writer) of just about anything. I figured out that I wanted to be a book editor around the time that I completed my AA in Secondary English Education. I began the second half of my undergrad degree by pursuing my BA in English, as I realized I didn't want to teach children; I wanted to be involved in creating content, specifically books (and specifically “literature”). At that time, I thought I'd have to move to NYC to break into publishing, and I wasn't even really sure what exactly being an “editor” meant. But I was determined to get there eventually, even if I had to start in the mailroom (like in the movies)! After college—not finding any publishing opportunities in Central PA, and unable to afford to move myself and my young daughter to NYC or even Jersey—I began working as a fundraiser for a local United Way. One of the aspects of my job was to research my clients, so I read lots of local newspapers and media features about the goings-on with my accounts. In January of 2011, I came across an article about a small press that was reopening on the West Shore in Harrisburg—ten minutes from where I lived! That weekend, I just showed up on Sunbury's front step and asked the man (who ended up being Lawrence Knorr) about shadowing the editors and learning more about the industry. We sat down and talked for about two hours, and I left my contact information with him. He reached out to me with an editing assessment, and then he offered me a part-time job, saying that our two-hour impromptu chat and my successful assessment were my “interview.” I've been working as an editor for Sunbury Press ever since. In grad school, I had to create my own independent press (a requirement toward my certificate in publishing), which I did by publishing a chapbook of poetry for an up-and-coming poet. I also launched my freelance writing, editing, and proofreading business, Jennifer Rose Freelance, in late 2017.Was your college degree focused on a prospective career in writing or editing?I started off my college career thinking that the only way to continue working with literature after school was to teach it to high school students and maybe someday make the leap to college professor. So, I pursued an AA in Secondary English Education. During my time in that program, I realized that teaching children wasn't what I wanted to do. So, I closed the chapter on my education degree and switched to English for the duration of my BA, hoping to pursue a career in some kind of writing and/or publishing/editing. I started working part-time for Sunbury Press in February 2011, and in August 2011 I enrolled in grad school at Chatham University, pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing - Fiction with an additional certificate in publishing. What is your favorite genre of book to read vs. edit? Typically, I like to read for pleasure the same types of books I enjoy editing—usually fiction, but not exclusively. What matters most to me is that the book is interesting and memorable in some way. If I can’t stop thinking about it or can’t put it down, I don’t care so much about the book’s genre classification. Usually, I'm drawn (in no particular order) to compelling short story collections and story cycles, satire, magical realism, writing guides, stories about the human condition and social/cultural commentary, historical fiction, literary fiction (“classics,” the canon, and beyond—especially as modern-day classics and contemporary literature include more books by women, people of color, indigenous authors, immigrants, etc.), and somewhat surprising to me, lately, I've become interested in biographies and memoirs. I rarely pick up, for pleasure, “genre fiction” like detective stories or westerns or horror, but I've been pleasantlysurprised to have read some really interesting page-turners in those categories throughout my editing career.Have you ever authored a book?I've written a novel-length story cycle, which was my grad school thesis project. It won runner- up for Best Fiction Thesis at Chatham University in 2013, the year I graduated. Unfortunately, due to the other wonderful but busy parts of life—getting married, working, having more children—I haven't revisited the project in years. I have, however, continued to write other short stories throughout the years, but they’re mostly for myself right now; I find short story writing to be the most therapeutic way of digesting the ups and downs of parenthood, marriage, family life, aging, grief, society and the crazy world around us, etc. Maybe I’ll decide to publish some of them someday, but for now they’re just cathartic for me. I've also ghostwritten novels for freelance clients. Do you edit more than one book simultaneously? If so, how many?I typically edit more than one book at a time. Currently, I'm actively editing four books, and I have five more books assigned to me in my queue. The way it works at Sunbury, it's ideal to have more than one book to work on at a time, as I can be editing a manuscript while my other authors might be doing revisions or proofing (or whatever, depending on what stage each manuscript is in). It's a lot of plates spinning in the air, but it keeps the work flowing at all times. How many times do you edit a book before it's published?The process is different for every project and every editor, but typically, I perform two full edits plus a final proofing round. Occasionally, a manuscript will go through only one round of editing before the proofing stage, but that's usually a manuscript that's been exceptionally professionally edited (at cost to the author) prior to being submitted, or the book has been published before.Sometimes a book will require more than two initial edits, but usually only if we've had to make a lot of cuts, additions, restructuring, or the book has some other extra facet—for example, a significant amount of academic sources that need to be checked, cited, etc.Hear the Milford House Mysteries podcast featuring Jennifer Cappello here.

As I am wrapping up edits on my fifth book in the Alexa Williams series, the humidity in the air brought me back to my second book, , in which my companion story drew from my real experiences at the original Woodstock that occurred last week sixty years ago. Some of you may already know that I went to Woodstock in 1969. My friends and I were there for five days and came prepared with food and tents. But, who would have expected half a million people to show up? In this time of Covid and national unrest, a peaceful gathering of so many people -- some of them with little food and no shelter -- in a weekend punctuated by pouring rain seems like an impossible feat. Was it just a more idyllic time? In reality, that era was one of turmoil too JFK and Martin Luther King were assassinated; there was rioting in the streets at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago; protests raged over the Vietnam War and four protestor were killed at Kent State. I could go on. But at Woodstock, a huge group of hippies and music lovers decided to co-exist peacefully, get high, and appreciate the outstanding music --even when the site was declared a disaster area. It would be so wonderful to recapture some of that hopeful peace. I have to admit some of my recollections of Woodstock are hazy. It was a long time ago. And, there's an old statement: "If you say you remember Woodstock, you were never really there."Two of my most vivid musical memories were Santana, a fairly new band at that time, which played on the second day. Every time I hear "Soul Sacrifice," I think of Woodstock. And, I was just six feet back from the stage that night for Janis Joplin's set. Amazing. The bottom right picture in the collage above is me in my hippie days. Unfortunately, I have no photos of me at Woodstock in full hippie garb. One of the guys in our group did take a lot of photos. He put them on slides, which was fairly common at the time. He loaned those slides to me while I was at college, and someone stole them from my dorm room -- his only copies.To this day, I still feel terrible about it. They would have been classic photos, and, more important, a lasting memory of our small group of concert-goers' experience. Three Days of Peace and Music in 1969. The tickets that many of us bought in advance were never collected when attendance swelled to half a million. The concert organizers threw up their hands. Concertgoers tipped over the fences. And, on stage, they announced that Woodstock had become a free concert. The roads were jammed. The crowd far exceeded infrastructure capacity. Intermittent rain turned everything into mud. And, the Governor of New York issued an emergency declaration that the concert site was being designated a Disaster Area.Meanwhile, most of the crowd was having a wonderful time hearing all the world class music. On the last day of the concert, we were having breakfast outside our tents when Jimi Hendrix made history with his unique rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner.In closing, I'll leave you with a song from songwriting legend, Joni Mitchell. Mitchell didn't attend the festival; she had another obligation. But, she heard about it from her then-boyfriend, Graham Nash, and composed this tribute to the event. By the way, I did see Crosby, Stills, and Nash perform. It was 3:00 am, very dark. The ground was so wet and muddy that we stood for most of the performance. It was their second public performance as a group.Here's wishing you peace, love and rock and roll:

From my July 2020 Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/69620424c262/podca...In this episode of Milford House Mysteries, Joan West and I interview author Simon Landry about his debut novel Chestnut Street. This suspense novel involves a dangerous plot spanning five decades which looms over Philadelphia. Powerful men are willing to do anything to keep the truth from coming out. But when they make the mistake of framing Sam Brighton for a crime he didn’t commit and take away everything he holds dear, they unknowingly unleash a dangerous enemy who will do anything to bring them down. To listen, click the link below.Listen to the podcast HERE.

From my July 2020 Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/69620424c262/podca...At the beginning of June, as we started to step back into the world, I had been thinking of ways in which the pandemic may have affected so many of the people my husband, Mike, and I have met on our travels. Few countries have escaped unscathed. And, of course, our experience with COVID 19 is far from over. As a way of paying respect to the current predicament we are in and the wonderful, unique and culturally-diverse people we have encountered throughout our travels, I have been sharing photos on my Facebookand Instagram pages. It's my way of articulating the truly global nature of this pandemic. I hope you all are staying safe and healthy during this time.TRAVEL WITH ME ON INSTAGRAM OR FACEBOOK

From my July 2020 Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/69620424c262/podca...I'm excited to share with you that the newest book in the Alexa Williams suspense series is in editing at Sunbury Press! Alexa takes on a new adventure in a new country and fights against injustices of a beloved animal species. Stay tuned to find out more in my August newsletter!

From my June 2020 newsletter (https://mailchi.mp/ece82282b55a/podca...) ...When I started posting photos to Facebookand Instagram, most of us were quarantined. Some of us were anxious. And, I wanted to give folks a glimpse of the world outside our doors. A daily moment of Zen. But, now we're launching back out there. Some of us are eager to leave; some may hang out at home longer. But, these balloons symbolize our flight into a new unknown. Starting this week, my daily photos have taken on a slightly different theme. This one's "Ready to Launch" from Bagan, Myanmar (Burma).Stop over to my Facebookpage or Instagram account to check out more photography by my husband, Mike Knowlton, and me and share some feedback in the comments. Thanks!

I am 18 reviews shy of reaching 100 reviews for Dead of Autumn on Amazon. Getting 100 reviews will make a huge difference in how often my book appears in relevant searches on Amazon. If you have read the book and haven't already written a review, please consider taking five minutes to write one HERE. Thank you so much!

For years, I have been thinking about starting an Instagramaccount to share my travels, passion for photography and books and I finally did it! If you have an Instagramaccount, please follow me HERE. See you on Instagram and let me know what you think!

Excerpt taken from my newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/8c6b69978d41/podca...Since you have opened my newsletter, it's safe to say that you probably have already subscribed (thank you!). However, if you haven't or if you know a friend or family member who would enjoy reading it, please share. Now through June 1, any new subscribers to my newsletter are automatically entered to win all four books in the Alexa Williams suspense series. To enter, simply click on the following link to subscribe: http://www.sherryknowlton.com/contact... new subscribers qualify. Contest ends 06/01/2020. One winner will be randomly chosen and announced on 06/02/2020. Must live in the continental U.S. and be 18 years or older.

Excerpt taken from my newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/8c6b69978d41/podca...The Alexa Willliams suspense series was featured on the Sunbury Press blog earlier this year, but I didn't catch it as I was away. It's a nice summary of the series. If you're an Alexa fan, please share with your friends. !Read Sunbury's blog post here.