History of Pocket Books editors

[Landru1000]

Hi,

Does anyone have a chronological list of the editors of the Star Trek line at Pocket Books? I know most of the names (Hartwell, Ordover, Clark, Palmieri, Stern), but I don't know everyone, or exactly when they were in charge. I'm interested in the history of the line and would like to see if there are identifiable changes to the editorial direction depending on the editor. (Of course I know changes at Paramount are important factors, too.)

Thank you!

 

[Greg Cox]

Not sure I could get the sequence straight from memory, but there was also Mimi Panitch, Kevin Ryan, and (currently) Ed Schlesinger.

In terms of chronology, I know that Ryan directly preceded Ordover.

Panitch once observed, looking back on her stint, that being the STAR TREK book editeor back then was like being the Pope during a time of extreme doctrinal dispute.

EDIT: It occurs to me that Jeff Ayer's book on TrekLit, VOYAGES OF THE IMAGINATION, probably covers most of this.

 

[Therin of Andor]

We did work this out a few years ago. From memory: Hartwell, Panitch, Haas, Stern, Ryan, Ordover, Clark, Palmieri, Schlesinger, Heddle, Costas (and there were overlaps).

Ah, here we are:
http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Pocket_Books#Star_Trek_editors

Karen Haas is not listed on Memory Alpha, but was mentioned in fanzines of the day as being Mimi Panitch's replacement after the "Killing Time" and "Ishmael" controversies.
http://fanlore.org/wiki/Killing_Time_(Star_Trek_tie-in_novel)

 

[Greg Cox]

Costas . . right! I knew I was forgetting someone!

 

[Christopher]

I know David Hartwell was first, the founder of the Timescape Books imprint that originally included Trek novels and then pretty much became the Trek imprint exclusively. I found a reference in Voyages of the Imagination quoting Bob Greenberger as saying that "the initial editorial crew" at Timescape was Hartwell, John Douglas, and Mimi Panitch. Panitch was apparently the editor at the time of Diane Duane's early novels and was the physical model for the character of Ael. She was also the editor as late as Dwellers in the Crucible in 1985. But by The Romulan Way in '87, David Stern was editor. I think Kevin Ryan was assistant editor by mid '89 and took over fully after Stern's departure around '92. John Ordover was on board by the start of '96, Marco Palmieri by 1999. Margaret Clark actually started working on Trek reference books in the latter half the '90s, before moving to fiction in 2002. Ed Schlesinger's apparently been around since 2003, according to his Simon & Schuster bio. I'm not sure quite when Jennifer Heddle was around, but she was contemporary with Marco, Margaret, and Ed, I think. Jaime Costas (nee Cerota) was an assistant editor who was briefly left in charge after the 2009 economic crash led to Marco's and Margaret's layoff, but she soon went on maternity leave and chose not to return. These days it's Ed and a returned Margaret who oversee the line.

 

[Csalem]

Am I wrong or did Jaime Costas only last a very short time in role? Anyone know the books she was responsible for?

 

[Christopher]

Am I wrong or did Jaime Costas only last a very short time in role? Anyone know the books she was responsible for?

See my post above. She was the one who commissioned my first DTI book, Watching the Clock, although she was gone before it was completed. I think that book went through two or three editors.

 

[Greg Cox]

It should perhaps be noted that, like David Hartwell in the beginning, many of these editors did not work exclusively on STAR TREK but handled other books and tie-in projects as well. Ordover acquired the UNDERWORLD license for Pocket Books, although the later books were edited by Schlesinger, who also edited my GHOST RIDER and FANTASTIC FOUR novels. Clark oversaw the 4400 books, while Jen Heddle was my editor on WAREHOUSE 13, before she jumped shipped to go work for LucasFilms on the STAR WARS novels . . ...

Digressing a bit, I recently attended a memorial for David Hartwell in NYC, where John Douglas spoke quite movingly of his early years working for David at Timescape. David was also one of my early mentors as well, and the person who finally convinced me to move to NYC and go to work in book publishing. This was long after David's stint on STAR TREK, mind you. It was John Ordover who first hired me to write a Trek book, after we had worked together as assistant editors at Tor Books, as well as on The New York Review of Science Fiction--which was published by David Hartwell.

 

[Christopher]

IIRC, Ordover also edited the line of eight Alien Nation novels, most of which were by authors who'd previously done Trek novels with him (Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens, K.W. Jeter, Peter David, L.A. Graf).

 

[Csalem]

@KRAD also edited the Corps of Engineer novels. Were there any other free-lance editors like him over the years working on the books? I suppose Margaret Clarke is in a similar poistion now.

 

[David Mack]

There was also an associate editor named Jessica McGivney who in 2000–2001 worked with me on The Starfleet Survival Guide. Not sure whether she was involved in any other Star Trek-related projects before she left S&S.

 

[Landru1000]

Thanks for the info, everyone. I found a few more specifics at Robert J. Sawyer's website. He indicates that Mimi Panitch resigned in November 1984, Karen Haas was around for less than a year, and Stern was editor by September 1985.

http://www.sfwriter.com/armada.htm

 

[tomswift2002]

I know that people have listed the editor's for the adult line, but who were the editors for the 1990's Starfleet Academy/DS9-YA line and the 2010 Starfleet Academy series?

 

[Jim Johnson]

Elisa Kassin helped edit a few of the Strange New Worlds anthologies before moving on.

 

[Stevil2001]

See my post above. She was the one who commissioned my first DTI book, Watching the Clock, although she was gone before it was completed. I think that book went through two or three editors.

Yeah, Myriad Universes: Shattered Light was commissioned by Marco Palmieri, handed off to Margaret Clark when he was laid off. The book was pushed back because Margaret's workload was too heavy, and she was laid off before actually doing any editing. Jaime Costas handled it until she went on maternity leave, when Emilia Pisani took over. Then Costas quit when her maternity leave ended, and Pisani finished it up.

Similiarly, A Choice of Catastrophes was commissioned by Jaime, turned into Emilia, and handled by Ed Schlesinger, though I think a freelance Margaret did all of the actual editorial work.

It was a turbulent time!

 

[Greg Cox]

FYI: David Hartwell just posthumously won this year's Locus Award for Best Editor, at a ceremony in Seattle tonight.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I'm interested in the history of the line and would like to see if there are identifiable changes to the editorial direction depending on the editor.

I think the most identifiable redirection in the licensed tie-ins was between the novelizations of "ST IV: The Voyage Home" and TNG's "Unification", but not due to editorship. Richard Arnold started vetting manuscripts on behalf of Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek Office, and there was an infamous memo of early 1989 that requested no more sequels to original novels and comics, no more shared original characters and no more TAS elements. The second half of ST IV's novelization is decidely lacking in additional material, following feedback on Vonda McInyre's first half, and the first new TAS reference is in Jeri Taylor's "Unification" (Phylosians). Roddenberry passed away during the production of "Unification" and the new restrictions/contracts, established in the hiatus between TNG Seasons 1 and 2, continued to affect pitches and manuscripts in the production line for some time.

The other very noticable change would be Marco Palmieri's encouragement to increase wordcount while keeping the unit price stable. His "Worlds of DS9" series represented amazing value for money, IIRC.

You could probably also track differences via cover design. The move from "floating heads" to starships, and painted covers to photo manipulations. There was a distinctive Boris cover era, and a Keith Birdsong cover era. I would guess covers are an agreement between editor and Marketing?

 

[Christopher]

The other very noticable change would be Marco Palmieri's encouragement to increase wordcount while keeping the unit price stable. His "Worlds of DS9" series represented amazing value for money, IIRC.

Yeah. Ordover tended to favor duologies and trilogies, even without the word count to justify it, so we often got one book's worth for the price of two. But Marco often gave us two or more books' worth of content for the price of one. Heck, I think Worlds of DS9: Twilight alone has a higher word count than the entire DS9: Rebels trilogy.

On the other hand, Ordover did pioneer multi-series crossovers like Invasion! and book-original series like New Frontier.

You could probably also track differences via cover design. The move from "floating heads" to starships, and painted covers to photo manipulations. There was a distinctive Boris cover era, and a Keith Birdsong cover era. I would guess covers are an agreement between editor and Marketing?

More like editor, art director, and marketing, I think.

 

[Greg Cox]

More like editor, art director, and marketing, I think.

And in this case, it would be editor, art director, marketing, and the licensor.

In addition, and, mind you, I'm just speculating here, there's also the matter of feedback from the accounts and retailers, not to mention the sales figures. If it turns out that covers with spaceships on the cover routinely sell 8% more than covers with floating heads on them, or if covers with Spock on the cover sell 6% more than covers without Spock on them . . . well, you'd want to pay attention to such things.

There used to be a myth in publishing that green covers don't sell, although that seems to have finally fallen by the wayside. But I'm still half-convinced that putting a wolf on the cover of a sci-fi or fantasy book boosts sales.

 

[Jinn]

There used to be a myth in publishing that green covers don't sell, although that seems to have finally fallen by the wayside.

Wasn't that limited to Marvel Comics? Something that Stan Lee hated the color green and would fire everybody who used it prominently on a cover?

But I'm still half-convinced that putting a wolf on the cover of a sci-fi or fantasy book boosts sales.

I'll just leave this here:

Spoiler