Josh Getzler
Traditionally, Publishing is very quiet and lazy in the summer, with editors and agents loosening up (and sometimes heading to a summer place with water for long weekends that occasionally stretch into weeks).
As a young editor back in the day and am inexperienced agent more recently, I used the summers as an opportunity to play while the more more experienced mice were away--I'd get my submissions in, lots of reading and editing, and the occasional early afternoon hooky-play for an adult beverage with the other junior level folks.
Then, in 2009, things changed. Folks were afraid, after the financial collapse, that their next long weekend would be their last intentional one, and they stayed firmly at their desks, not really buying much but not wanting to be the odd man out in the next round of layoffs.
As things on a macro level chilled out a bit, and a modicum of stability poked its head out, there was a bit of an industry-wide exhale, and out of office messages started to return. There was a change, though: what I've found in the last two summers is that vacations are now rolling--there's not a mass exodus in August, but rather a trickle of absences from late June through mid August.
What that has meant is that I've been as busy as ever--can't stop submitting manuscripts because most people are at their desks. But it has really been difficult to close. Editorial Meetings have seemed sporadic, one level of Boss is always just gone or playing catch up. It's as if everyone's at 2/3 capacity all the time, which is worse than being at 100% and then dead. I felt all summer like I was running on a hamster wheel, emailing and calling and writing and nudging, and through no fault other than vacation timing ended August with as much on my sub list as I did in June.
And now we approach Labor Day, which is followed immediately (and bizarrely) by Rosh Hashanah (and for me all the other fall Jewish holidays). We're going not from 0-60, but 66-125, all at once. The usual rush of September submissions will show up, and the inbox will be still more engorged. Should be interesting...
I do want to end with one little shout out, to an HSG summer intern named Eric Sturgis, who was with us for a few months, realized he hated being in a big Eastern city more than he loved publishing, and moved to Denver. Eric's a smart guy, a good reader, and did a super job. When he left on his last day he gave an honest assessment of the program with both praise and suggestions for future groups of interns. When he closed the door to the office, we had no expectation of seeing him again.
The next day, my assistant Danielle and I got a lovely email thank you note. Not effusive, not pro forma. Just a nice couple of honest lines of appreciation. We don't always get that, even from terrific interns, and this isn't really an indictment of people who don't, particularly when they are often on their way back to school. But I have to say, it's really good form.
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