Welcome to Editor Anna Kelsoe
We are growing here at Fiery Seas and we have added another Editor to our staff. Meet Anna Kelsoe!
How did you get into this business and why?
It took me a couple of years in college to even realize how much I love literature. Originally, I was a Music Education major with aspirations to teach music on the high school and eventually, university level. After two years in college and my entire lifetime before, chasing a music career, I burned-out and tired of the competitive and cut-throat environment. I had always had a passion for the written word and quickly, I realized that English is what I should be studying. I changed my major and never looked back. My first semester as an English major, I read Sylvia Plath’s book The Bell Jar. This book was life-changing for me and sparked my passion for books. Though I was an English major, which usually means Education, I knew that I did not want to teach. The same professor that introduced me to The Bell Jar spoke to me about the Publishing industry. I love the idea of helping aspiring authors reach their goals of publication while also producing something that the public is going to love!
What do you look for when reading submissions?
I have been exposed to a plethora of different genres. Having a wandering soul, I love to travel both on a plane and through a good book. I am looking for anything that transports me to a great adventure. My home library is filled with books that contain strong and independent characters, whether they be here or worlds away. I’m drawn to experiencing a book, not just reading it.
What is the best way for authors to reach you?
I think emails and text messages can be misinterpreted. Of course, email is very efficient, so yes, by email. I’m also more than willing and wanting to speak to authors!
What are your pet peeves?
I’m not a fan of books that give too much away too fast. There’s no point in reading a book that has a predictable ending because all the answers are given in the first few chapters.
Names: If your pitching a story about small town America, do not give your characters crazy names that no one can figure out. That doesn’t make much sense to me.
What can an author do to get you excited about working with them?
Communicate with me! I love meeting new people and bouncing ideas between one another. Be open to constructive criticisms and helpful praises. A good book is going to excited me anyways, but add a passionate author to the mix and it can only create the perfect storm to produce a great piece of work.
What are you looking for in the forms of submissions?
I'm looking for anything futuristic/fantasy, suspense, and YA. Send it my way!
What is on your to-be-read pile right now?
The last installment to the Chaos Walking series by Patrick Ness. I’ve been on a journey with the book to another world. I would recommend this three-part series to anyone who loves fantasy, futuristic novels, and Young Adult Literature. The two main characters, Todd and Viola, are my definition of strong characters.
Andrew Smith’s Grasshopper Jungle. This book involves a science experiment gone wrong which brings giant grasshoppers and praying-mantises to a small Midwest town.
Elizabeth Wein’s Code Name Varity. This is a historical fiction novel that is filled with strong independent women making their contributions to the success of the British in WWII.
Rainbow Rowell’s Eleanor and Park. I’ll be honest, I’ve read this book two or three times and it always finds its way back into my To-Be-Read pile. One of my all-time favorite writers and books.
What are you currently reading?
I’ve been reading Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series for the last couple of years. As of now, she is working on the tenth book in the series that has nine novels and several novellas that have sprouted from it. It’s an awesome series including aspects of Historical Fiction, Time Travel, and the best love that I have ever read. It inspires me to be a better writer.
What is your favorite genre?
Young Adult Fiction
What is your favorite type of hero and heroine?
Hero: Selfless, Sacrificial, Loyal, and Strong. Every male lead character that I read inadvertently gets compared to Jamie Fraser from Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series. I’ve never experienced anyone like him and I fall in love with him every time I go into the Outlander world.
Heroine: Independent, Strong-minded, Determined, and Gracious. I don’t like to read whiney women. I love unique and self-confident female characters that know who they are or are discovering the women they want to be.
Editor:
Anna Kelsoe is the newest member to the Fiery Seas Publishing Team. She sees books as the bridge between here and anywhere else in the world. When Anna is not editing, she is running her baking business and writing freelance.
Anna has an English Degree from the University of South Alabama.
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