Interview with Joy Peskin - Editorial Director at Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers

Here's a link to a wonderful and informative interview with Joy Peskin, Editorial Director at Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers.

creativeinterviews.com/publishing/joy-peskin 

And if you scroll down to the question 'Describe the book making process at FSG using a recent example' she talks about 'Bunny Bus' - the book we are working on together! How exciting!

Lesley Breen Withrow - 'Bunny Bus' postcard Fall 2013

Describe the book making process at FSG using a recent example.

My favorite types of books to make are the ones that only we can publish, meaning they start with a home-grown inspiration or idea. For example, I received a postcard from the agent Chris Tugeau featuring an adorable illustration of a bunny bus by Lesley Breen Withrow. I thought, I’d love a book about this character! So I reached out to an agent I know who has a great stable of picture book authors, Erin Murphy from EMLA, and shared the artwork with her. One of her colleagues, Ammi-Joan Paquette, who is both an agent and an author, took the idea and ran with it. She presented a wonderful manuscript that my colleagues and I all thought was fantastic when we discussed it at our edit meeting. Then my publisher signed off, and I presented the project at our acquisitions meeting. It was approved, and I made offers to the author and artist this week. The next step will be for me to make any minor edits to the text, and then when it’s final and copyedited, the designer can break it down page by page for the artist. She’ll submit sketches, the designer and I will review them and make comments, and I’ll share the sketches with the author. If revised sketches are needed, we will request those, and then the author will create final art. The sales and marketing folks have a say when it comes to the cover, and I truly value their opinion as I want us to go out with books that are most appealing in the marketplace.        -Joy Peskin