A Friendly Hello from Crimson Romance’s Assistant Editor

Categories: Editor's Blog, Featured
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By Jessica Verdi, Crimson Romance’s Assistant Editor

Crimson RomanceHi kids!

Allow me to introduce myself. I’m the woman behind the Editor’s Blog curtain — the faceless person who makes sure there’s a fun new blog post each weekday (and a fun new Ask the Crimson Romance Expert Q&A up on Mondays). But as Crimson Romance’s Assistant Editor, I don’t just maintain the blog — I work with imprint manager Jennifer Lawler on pretty much every aspect of the Crimson line. So I thought it was about time I said hello!

Here’s pretty much all you need to know about me: Books are my life. Seriously.

I work full time for Crimson acquiring and editing manuscripts, responding to submissions and queries, pulling together cover art suggestions for our awesome team of cover designers, writing back cover copy, formatting and styling our books for e-book production, running this blog, and so much more. I love every second of it — especially the days where I wake up and remember that I’m going to get to find out how the hero and heroine in the book I’m currently editing finally reach their happily ever after.

But I’m not just an editor. I’m also a writer. I have an MFA in Creative Writing from The New School (best school ever!) and my debut contemporary young adult novel, My Life After Now, will be in bookstores throughout the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines April 1, 2013. My second novel, The Summer I Wasn’t Me, will be published April 2014. In addition to working on my third contemporary YA, which is a work-in-progress, I am also currently writing a romance for Crimson, which will be published next year under a pen name.

So yeah, I spend a LOT of time in front of the computer. But I also read a ton, too. Between the weekly rotation of submissions from my critique group and the huge stack of to-be-read books on my nightstand, it’s pretty safe to say that I spend more time in fantasy worlds than in the real one. But, hey, who says that’s a bad thing? :)

So that’s my literary life in a nutshell. If you have any questions about my day job as a Crimson editor or my night job as a YA writer, I’m happy to answer them! Have at it in the comments. Until then, happy reading, everyone!

9 thoughts on “A Friendly Hello from Crimson Romance’s Assistant Editor”

  4. So nice to learn more about you, Jess. I agree, The New School is awesome! My son got his master’s at Columbia (also, not too shabby), and he has friends at New who just rave about it.

    So, are you in NYC? My son is in Brooklyn. He does standup comedy at night. One of these days, I’m going to sneak to New York and catch his show.

    Thanks for all you do for Crimson. You’ve got a lot of plates spinning, and you seem to have them all under control. Kudos to you!!!

  6. I’ve had trouble leaving a comment, but I’ll try again because I very much want to say how much I appreciate all the work you do for Crimson, Jess. You’re awesome!

    And you went to The New School? My son got his master’s at Columbia (also, not too shabby), and he had several friends at New who just raved about it. You must be in NYC?

  8. HI Jess! Congratulations on your upcoming releases! Great news, I’ll be on the look out for them. I think of you often “behind the curtains”, am so happy you’re there. You are the most awesome copy editor I could ever have imagined! Thank you for all that you do, unsung heroine!!

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