“Anatomy of a YA Anthology” is back with a brand new anthology to spotlight with an editor who has had experience with the process of anthology creation before, All Out edited by Saundra Mitchell. All Out hits shelves tomorrow, February 27, and the reviews of the collection have been nothing short of positive.

 

Your Name

Saundra Mitchell

 

Your Anthology’s Name

All Out: The Not-Longer-Secret Stories of Queer Teens Throughout the Ages

 

Anthology Description

From a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood set in war-torn 1870s Mexico featuring a transgender soldier, to two girls falling in love while mourning the death of Kurt Cobain, forbidden love in a sixteenth-century Spanish convent or an asexual girl discovering her identity amid the 1970s roller-disco scene, ALL OUT tells a diverse range of stories across cultures, time periods and identities, shedding light on an area of history often ignored or forgotten.

 

How did you get your idea/what was the initial spark?

I had edited an anthology before (Defy the Dark, Harper, 2013) and I was raring to go again. My agent (Jim McCarthy, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret) mentioned one day that he would love to do a queer historical anthology. I took that as an invitation and dropped a proposal in his inbox the next day.

 

Where did you begin researching your idea and/or developing the idea into a more clear, focused concept?

After the initial proposal, Jim and I hammered out specifically what ALL OUT should be. We’re both queer, and it was easy to figure out what we didn’t want: the moralistic, miserable stories that were available to US as teens. It was important from the start that ALL OUT be the anthology we wish *we’d* had at sixteen. You know, stories about queer characters having adventures, living in cursed towns, discovering magic, abandoning Hollywood…

The historical aspect was important to us as well– queer history isn’t taught in schools. It’s kept and carried on through universities, but also oral histories. So we wanted an anthology that reflected the fact that there have always been queer teens, even if they were made invisible in the history books. It’s a lighthouse for queer teens: you’re not alone, and you’ve never been alone.

 

How did you find your writers?

I asked all of my colleagues whom I knew were queer– because I love, love, love working with my friends. Then, I crept around like a creeper asking authors I love (but didn’t know) if they might possibly be queer, because I wanted to invite them to an antho. I really did that. I sent multiple messages on Twitter that started with, “This is the rudest question in the universe, and I apologize, but…”

I visited multiple Twitter chats, including #TransLitChat and #AceLitChat, because the few trans and ace authors I personally know were unavailable. The goal was to make sure that as many kids as possible could see themselves represented in this anthology. I’m delighted to say that I met the wonderful Nilah Magruder through #AceLitChat.

Finally, my agent told me he’d just signed a new author that he thought would be perfect for the project. I had had open calls for the final slot in DEFY THE DARK, because I love working with new, unpublished authors, so I was thrilled to take his suggestion. That’s how we got the extraordinary Tehlor Kay Meija!

 

How did writers pick their story or essay topic ideas?

I asked each of these authors to write the story they wish they could have read when they were wee queer teens. The only constraint is that it had to take place no later than 1999.

 

As an editor, were you responsible for contracts between you and your writers? Did your publisher or agent handle the administrative/legal side of things?

I control the vertical! I control the horizontal! All of my authors are contracted to me. My agent and I negotiated all contract changes with contributor agents. I contact the contributors and their agents with all business details, requests and information. I built my schedule based on the publisher’s delivery schedule, and then I held my authors to it. Normally, I would also process all payments and tax documents, but my agency was kind enough to remit checks for me this time. (My personal publishing schedule was so hectic that I was afraid I might miss something.) When it comes time for royalty statements, I’ll also be generating and sending those out, as well.

 

How did the editing process work between you and your writers?

I am a hands-on editor when it comes to anthologies. Some authors bounced ideas off of me; some went away to write their stories, and returned with them. No matter how I got the first drafts, I carefully read each one. I wrote revision letters and in-line notes on the first drafts.

This is the first point where I involved sensitivity readers. Many authors wrote their own representation, and many included others in their stories, as well. So we wanted to make sure that we got it as right as we possibly could. In addition to Sensitivity Readers, I also referenced a variety of inclusivity sites and guidelines like Disability in Kidlit and We Need Diverse Books.

I talked to a few authors on Skype, because they preferred to go over notes that way. I think I also did a couple of Google Chats with some authors, because real-time discussion is more organic than long e-mail chains. Basically, a pretty standard first draft/first letter situation, I think.

Once an author finished their revisions, I re-read. If there were any remaining major issues, I wrote another letter or more in-line notes. Mostly, at this point, though, it was line editing and minor suggestions. There was one author at this point who requested another sensitivity pass, because she was concerned about the trans representation in her story.

I am *so* glad she followed her instincts and spoke up on that. I sourced three more transgender readers for it, and they all zeroed in on a particular passage. I had missed it on multiple reads, but the trans readers found it instantly.

Once I had all the stories, I sent them on to TS Ferguson, my editor at HarlequinTEEN for his pass. He had very few notes (yay!) and returned them to me with copyediting. When it came to copyedits, I did most of them, but I passed them on to individual authors if there were rewriting queries, or queries where I felt the author might have strong feelings. (Do you want this to be a semi-colon, or a comma? Did you mean to use this word twice here? Is this the best word here?)

I gathered all the copyedited stories and sent them back to HarlequinTEEN, and off it went to become a book! When the typeset pages came back, I passed PDFs to each author so they could have one more look at their story. This is when we discovered that all of the primary-language, non-English words had been italicized. I asked TS to change those back, which was no problem! But it was a fun challenge, because one story, which is written in English with primary-Spanish speakers and Spanish words (not italicized) which also included secondary-French language (italicized!) I asked for a third-pass copyedit on that story, just to focus on the language.

(Seriously, y’all. This is how the sausage gets made!)

 

Money talk: how did you get paid for your work? How did your writers get paid?

HarlequinTEEN won the auction for ALL OUT, and they paid me a standard advance. Half on signing, and then the balance on Delivery & Acceptance.

I split the total amount of the advance in half. One half was mine, the other half was split among the contributors. I paid them on the same schedule that I got paid: half on signing, half on D&A. This is how royalties will be paid out, as well– the authors will be paid when I get paid.

 

What role did you take on as editor of the anthology? Were you hands on? Hands off?

I try to be the editor that the authors need. So if they want me down in the trenches with them, that’s where I’ll be. If they want to go away and hide, and come back with a story, I leave them alone. I try not to be intrusive; I try to time reminders and or requests carefully, so no one is overwhelmed. For me, the anthology is a big project. For the contributors, this is one story they’re writing, in the midst of their primary career.

 

How did you communicate changes and/or concerns between writer and your editor/publisher?

I have had such a great relationship with TS at HarlequinTEEN. He has treated me as the editor and helm of this project from the beginning. Any questions, problems or issues I had, I felt 100% comfortable taking directly to him as a peer. He put a lot of trust in me, and allowed me to steer this collection on my own, and I really appreciate that. (I do want to say that this was the same relationship I had with the editor on DEFY THE DARK, as well. Anne Hoppe is a dream of a collaborative editor!)

 

When it came to the package of your anthology, how much say did you have in the cover or design? How much were contributors involved in that part of the process?

The contributors weren’t involved in the package and design, except to the extent that I sent them comps so they could see where the cover was headed, and let them know what the final cover was. I feel like I had a lot of say in the cover design– TS and HarlequinTEEN took my and my agent’s suggestions seriously. We went through a lot of different covers, trying to get just the right one. (And if you’ve seen an advance copy of ALL OUT, you’ll note it has a different cover from the final. Everybody worked SO hard to get this cover right!)

 

What was your favorite part of the anthology creation process?

I love, love, love reading the stories. I really do. The magical thing about anthologies for me is that I get to ask my favorite authors to write stories *just for me*. It’s a book lover’s dream.

 

What was your least favorite part?

Ugh. I hate it when I have to ask an author to start over, or to radically change what’s on the page. It’s demoralizing as an author to get those requests, and I hate to give them. But, through two anthologies I’ve learned, sometimes those reboots turn into the most extraordinary stories in the collection.

 

What were some of the biggest lessons you as an editor learned in creating an anthology?

I’ve learned so much about how other authors work. How their language works, how they draft. What the difference between their initial idea and their final piece can be. I’ve also learned that the thing I think is the best fix sometimes isn’t. I encouraged one author here to just retool the ending of a story. They decided to start over… and their new story blew me away. It’s a good reminder that my job as editor is to help the author shine.

 

If you aren’t already working on another anthology, would you do another one? Why/why not?

Honestly, I’m an anthology maniac. If I could start another one today, I would. I have a concept and a wish-list of authors sitting on my hard drive right now. Alas, I must wait. ALL OUT comes out February 27, and I actually have several novels under contract that I need to work on as well. But I would do it again in a heartbeat. I love working with other authors. I love creating collections that I think teens will love. The process is frustrating and chaotic and infuriating and exhilarating and delicious. I hope there are so many more to come!