I came up with the idea for Pubmission back in 2008. Recently laid off from a great job as a children’s book editor, I was staring blankly at a massive soul-sucking spreadsheet I’d made to track all of the writing submissions I’d sent out to publishers and agents over the past year.
There were well over a hundred submissions listed, but I’d only received a handful of responses, even after months of waiting. A number of them were e-mail queries, but there was also a lot of postage, paper, and cash invested in my quest to get published, not to mention time, energy, and soul.
I’ve also spent the better part of my 15 years in publishing handling manuscript acquisitions . I’m well-acquainted with the slush pile and that feeling of hunting for a needle in the haystack. Much of the mail I opened had nothing to do with what we published. And there was all of that wasted paper…
But I’ve also experienced the feeling that comes from discovering a great new writer in the slush pile and the excitement of offering that lucky person a contract.
So on that day, while sitting in front of my submissions spreadsheet, I decided to do what I could to make the submissions process easier and less about luck or who you know. I would create an online hub where writers and publishers could find each other quickly and easily. I’d give both sides some simple, common-sense tools that enabled them to have more control over what can be an overwhelming and dreadful process.
–Wolf Hoelscher
Founder/President
Kelly Gunzenauser — Editor-in-Chief
Immediately, after creating Pubmission I asked Kelly, my editor-in-chief, to come onboard. I’ve known her for more than a decade now, and she is one of the best editors out there.
In addition to making sure there are no dangling participles on the site, Kelly manages our staff of freelance editors, keeps me in line, and writes entries for our blog.
She’s been working in publishing as both an editor and writer for 13 lucky years. She started her career as a writing instructor and then found a job as an editor in educational publishing.
After 9 years of helping authors find success with their writing, she decided to move over to the author side of things herself. Kelly says, “It’s been a real treat to work as a writer after having so much experience as an editor. Seeing both sides of the coin helps me anticipate all kinds of pitfalls and questions that an editor would have. I am finding that it works for me as a writer, and also as I mentor others.”
The Blog
Sure, every business needs one now. But our blog is more than a marketing gimmick for us. It’s a learning tool. We’re passionate about publishing and writing, and the upheaval in the industry right now is both frightening and exhilarating. The blog gives us a chance to interact with those who are trying to save publishing with new technologies and forward thinking. We hope you’ll follow our posts and share your stories with us, too.
Thanks and good luck!
Wolf Hoelscher
