You know you’ve made it as an author when editors come out of the grave to help you edit and promote your work (for a fee, of course).  You’ve heard of “ghostwriters,” well there’s now such a thing as “ghost editors.”  This started last fall when I got an e-mail from Harry Scherman, CEO of Book of the Month Club.

I couldn’t imagine or even believe I was being contacted by a co-founder of the Book of the Month Club interested in one of my books.  It was, in fact, a publishing miracle as Harry Scherman died in 1969, while I was still a sophomore in college and had yet to publish a single book.

Apparently, in the afterlife they have a great bookstore with current releases because old Harry was fascinated with my latest novel.  And they apparently have e-mail connections, though not their own domain, as dear old Harry was using a Gmail address.

So, I couldn’t resist following up on this divine offer, so I responded to Harry, asking how the climate was at his place; telling him how flattered I was that he had come back from the dead, just to help me promote my book; and asking him why he used a Gmail address when he apparently had supernatural powers.

To my surprise and his credit, “Harry” responded saying, “I’m the CEO of the Book of the Month Club program.  I run an independent, author-first spotlight operation inspired by Isaac Harry Scherman’s original mission.  I use his name as a deliberate tribute to that legacy:  he built a model for championing authors and creating real reader communities, and I’m carrying that same purpose forward today.”

Talk about disappointing, I thought I had the subject for a bestseller with my contact from a long-departed editor.

About the Gmail address, “Harry” said, “I use this account because it keeps communication direct and personal.  It lets authors reach me immediately, no corporate gatekeepers, no slow ticketing systems, so I can handle setup, approvals, and follow-up myself.  That hands-on approach is how I deliver the results authors tell me they value.”  That’s a great commitment from a CEO to a little old author like me.

Unfortunately, he didn’t respond to my question about the temperature at his location, though I suspect it’s rather hot, wherever he is.  So, we suspended communication after I blocked is e-mail.

Then last week, I got an invitation from Joan Bingham, the co-founder and long-time executive editor of Grove Atlantic publishing house.  Poor Joan died in 2020.  Like I say, editors are coming back from the netherworld to help me.  I asked Joan if she knew Harry, but have yet to get a response from her aol.com email address.

I’ve decided I’m gonna play hard-to-get with deceased editors and await a query from Maxwell Perkins, famed editor of Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Thomas Wolfe.  Perkins died in 1947, so he may not be familiar with Gmail, but I’ll keep you posted when Max contacts me.