Nicole Counts
Senior editor
One World
Most people who work in publishing think of themselves as book people. For Counts, who’s been in the business since 2013, the book that made her a book person is Jacqueline Woodson’s If You Come Softly. It was “the first book that took hold of me, and me of it,” she says. It made her realize that books give us “a safe space to wonder about the hardest and most joyous parts of this life.”
Counts, whose authors at Random House imprint One World include National Book Critics Circle Award–winner Morgan Parker, Gabriella Burnham, and National Book Award–finalist Kali Fajardo-Anstine, is known for more than just her sharp literary eye. Jennifer Baker, creator and cohost of the podcast Minorities in Publishing (and last year’s Star Watch Superstar), believes Counts stands out for her activism as much as her editorial instincts. Baker says she is someone whose “activism is inextricably woven into her acquisitions, her promotional methods, and the partnerships.” She is working both on and off the job to make publishing a more inclusive space and is a member of POC in Publishing and a volunteer with Well-Read Black Girl (a Brooklyn-based book and literary festival dedicated to connecting Black women readers and authors).
Counts is also someone, Baker says, who makes people feel seen: she exudes “a kindness and interest in every single person she come into contact with.”
Counts says it’s a simple worldview that leads to this positive nature. “I try my best to constantly care for the world,” she explains. For her this means to “seek justice, and question the treatment, in policy or practice, of all the world’s beings.” And she’s feeling a bit positive about what’s happening in her industry: “the Black and brown folks making waves the last few years, so that the books we are publishing in the U.S. are not only remarkably good but are given the same glory, care, and audiences as a book published by their white counterparts.”
Nivia Evans
Editor
Orbit Books
Evans got her start in publishing with a postgraduate internship. She had been a teacher and says few people were interested in hiring someone recently out of college. “I remember calling lots of small agencies and asking for them to give me a chance. I was lucky that one did.”
That one was Aitken Alexander Associates. Evans spent six months at the agency before another internship at the Overlook Press led to a full-time job there.
Six years on from that difficult employment search, Evans has her dream job at Orbit, a Hachette Book Group imprint. She is also breaking boundaries, even if unintentionally. She is one of a only a handful of Black editors working at the Big Five and is in even slimmer company as a Black woman editing science fiction and fantasy. It’s the genre “of her heart,” she says. And a series she recently acquired, Suyi Davies Okungbowa’s The Nameless Republic (book one will be released in May 2021), is firmly in her wheelhouse. “It’s classic epic fantasy with a quest, magic, fantastical creatures—and it’s unapologetically Black.”
Bringing more books that are unapologetically Black to readers is something Evans is looking to do in her role at Orbit. She notes that science fiction and fantasy is “a genre that pushed BIPOC people to the fringes for a long time” and says she wants to change this. “While I loved [SF/fantasy books], I rarely saw myself reflected in [them]. That definitely influenced why I decided to chase this career.”
But amplifying the voices of BIPOC authors is only one aspect of Evans’s professional calling. She wants the industry to be more welcoming to people like her. “It’s easy to give internships and hire for entry-level positions,” she says, “but if the people in power aren’t creating environments that encourage BIPOC employees to stay long-term, then they’re not doing much at all.”
Ryan Mita
Membership and marketing manager
Children’s Book Council
The right book at the right time betters a person,” Mita says, adding that this core belief drew him to publishing. And though still quite young, he’s already had a varied career in the industry. Before joining the Children’s Book Council, he worked in bookselling, for an independent press, and as a literary agent. These roles have taught him quite a bit about connecting people and books.
A 2010 graduate of the Denver Publishing Institute, Mita has a professional ethos grounded in kindness. He has learned that “empathy and listening are welcome in any situation.” They’re key, he believes, whether he’s “introducing an author to 600 audience members” or “asking convention hall staff for shipping instructions.”
Bringing kindness into the workplace is a theme with Mita. When asked about some of the achievements he’s most proud of at the CBC, he cites a meet-and-greet with 20 authors and roughly 100 booksellers at 2019’s BookExpo. “My favorite moment,” he recounts, “was thanking the CBC interns for their BookExpo work with a meal and a drink.”
This theme of giving back, and supporting people across the industry, is evident in Mita’s involvement with the CBC’s diversity committee. He says the group is focused on helping “increase the variety of creative voices and work towards a more inclusive industry.” Not only is he advocating to make the industry a more welcoming and diverse place but he is also, day-to-day, advocating for his members.
“I’m the point person for 100-plus publishing CEOs,” Mita says. “I enjoy it, because I get to establish relationships over time with colleagues that I admire.” He and his colleagues also seem to be forging some strong relationships with those clients; the CBC’s current membership renewal rate is 96%.
Katherine Turro
Senior marketing manager
Flatiron Books
A history major who always loved to read and “wanted to do something creative” in her career, Turro got her first taste of publishing, and marketing, while interning at Scholastic. Working on social media for the publisher, she wound up taking that experience and landing a job with an academic publisher. But her dream was to work on the trade side of the business.
“I love how books can transport readers to new worlds and give them new perspectives, so being able to experience firsthand how they are made will always be exciting to me,” Turro says. The push toward trade publishing resulted in a move to William Morrow, where she landed a role as a marketing assistant. She’s worked her way up the ladder since then and moved to Flatiron two years ago.
“I’ve enjoyed working on a focused list of books that continues to evolve,” Turro says of working at the Macmillan imprint. She says getting attention for books is not easy, but she’s always up for the challenge. Citing Jessica Shattuck’s The Women in the Castle, Angie Cruz’s Dominicana, and Leigh Bardugo’s Ninth House as just a few of the titles she’s proud to have worked on, she is, first and foremost, someone who wants to be challenged. Explaining that a lot of marketing has shifted to social media in the last five years, she says it’s difficult “to break through all of the noise around everything else going on in that space,” but “it also gives us the opportunity to be fluid and to pivot quickly with new ideas.”
When asked how she wants to be remembered professionally, Turro laughs. While retirement may be some way off, she would like those she leaves behind to say she was “a thoughtful coworker” who was always “creative, open to trying out new ideas, and someone who always continued to grow, be challenged, and challenge others.”
A history major who always loved to read and “wanted to do something creative” in her career, Turro got her first taste of publishing, and marketing, while interning at Scholastic. Working on social media for the publisher, she wound up taking that experience and landing a job with an academic publisher. But her dream was to work on the trade side of the business.
“I love how books can transport readers to new worlds and give them new perspectives, so being able to experience firsthand how they are made will always be exciting to me,” Turro says. The push toward trade publishing resulted in a move to William Morrow, where she landed a role as a marketing assistant. She’s worked her way up the ladder since then and moved to Flatiron two years ago.
“I’ve enjoyed working on a focused list of books that continues to evolve,” Turro says of working at the Macmillan imprint. She says getting attention for books is not easy, but she’s always up for the challenge. Citing Jessica Shattuck’s The Women in the Castle, Angie Cruz’s Dominicana, and Leigh Bardugo’s Ninth House as just a few of the titles she’s proud to have worked on, she is, first and foremost, someone who wants to be challenged. Explaining that a lot of marketing has shifted to social media in the last five years, she says it’s difficult “to break through all of the noise around everything else going on in that space,” but “it also gives us the opportunity to be fluid and to pivot quickly with new ideas.”
When asked how she wants to be remembered professionally, Turro laughs. While retirement may be some way off, she would like those she leaves behind to say she was “a thoughtful coworker” who was always “creative, open to trying out new ideas, and someone who always continued to grow, be challenged, and challenge others.”
Quressa Robinson
Literary agent
Nelson Literary Agency
For Kristin Nelson at Nelson Literary Agency, Robinson, who joined her firm in 2017, is summed up by the speed of her success. Her first big hit as an agent, Brittney Morris’s Slay, which sold in a six-figure auction, went on to become a major title at that year’s BookExpo and a lead debut at Simon & Schuster. It’s the kind of book, Nelson says, most agents wait close to a decade to land. But Robinson “pulled it off in her first year of agenting.” A member of People of Color in Publishing and a volunteer with We Need Diverse Books’s Walter Grant Committee, Robinson has become notable both for her deals and for her work to make the industry more equitable and diverse.
In the business since 2012, Robinson left Thomas Dunne Books in 2016 to become an agent in a bid for more control over the publishing process. Frustrated at being unable to acquire titles she wanted to publish as an editor, she saw agenting as a way to be more of her own boss. “Now, if I want to take on an author, no one is shutting me down,” she explains. “A voice speaks to me and I take it from there—no limitations or decision making by committee.”
Robinson’s gotten the autonomy she sought at Nelson, but there are still aspects of the industry outside of her control. And the hardest part of her job, she says, is dealing with unconscious bias. “I know I have great taste. The vast majority of projects I offer on and don’t land go on to sell, and sell well. That’s not a fluke. That means I have a great eye, and the writers on my list deserve the same level of consideration from white editors as they would get if a white agent was the one presenting them.” On the flip side, knowing this makes her successes feel that much sweeter.
Robinson cites her client Roseanne A. Brown as an example. Brown was, she recounts, “my first YA sell, my first MG sell, and my first GN sell. We’ve also sold a ton of translation rights, another first for me. And now she’s my first New York Times bestseller.” She notes that the author has endured hurdles of her own, adding another element of joy to the milestones achieved. “One yes was all it took to start what I am sure will be a juggernaut career.”
Passionate about seeing publishing change, Robinson says she hopes she will one day be able to retire “as a top agent, not a top Black agent.” For that to happen, much needs to be done. “It should not be possible for me to count the number of Black editors in kids lit on one hand. It’s ridiculous to have 20-plus white editors I can potentially sub to but maybe five Black editors. Homogeneity is utterly boring. It’s time to do something about it.”
