At most publishing houses, an acquisitions editor is a specialized editor who is responsible for finding and acquiring new manuscripts. This type of editor may be responsible for sorting through unsolicited manuscripts, contacting existing writers about new projects, or exclusively interacting with agents, depending on the publishing house. An acquisitions editor largely directs the direction of a publishing house through the books they acquire, but they must ultimately defer to superiors in their decisions, so they rarely have complete control over book acquisitions.
An acquisitions editor at a publishing house that accepts unsolicited manuscripts may spend a significant amount of time reading potential manuscripts from new or emerging authors. Most acquisitions editors have a team of assistants, either junior editors or interns, who assist them in reading through the slush pile of unsolicited manuscripts. These subordinates then set aside any manuscripts they believe the acquisitions editor might be interested in, reducing the number of manuscripts the editor has to look through in his or her search for material with potential.
An acquisitions editor at a publishing house that does not accept unsolicited manuscripts will mostly deal with agents or existing authors. In this case, the editor will cultivate relationships with agents in order to secure appropriate work. Agents act as a sort of preliminary screen to ensure that only high-quality writing makes it through, allowing the acquisitions editor to focus on the good stuff.
It’s critical that an acquisitions editor enjoys the manuscript or has another reason to want to promote it. This is critical because the acquisitions editor’s job is far from done once a manuscript has been chosen. He or she must persuade others in the publishing house that the book should be published. Even mid-tier publishing houses require agreement from a diverse group of individuals, including other editors, executives, legal advisors, and sales managers. This list of people grows even longer with the addition of large publishing houses.
To produce a basic book, a publishing house will typically spend $50,000 to $100,000 US Dollars (USD). This is a significant investment for a well-known author; it is even more so for a lesser-known author. The acquisitions editor who decided to promote that particular manuscript in the first place is largely responsible for the investment’s success or failure. His or her reputation is built on consistently selecting winners, or at the very least books that break even, and an editor who consistently selects failing books will soon find themselves unemployed.
The best acquisitions editors cultivate close relationships with key figures in the industry, such as agents, authors, and even smaller presses. They use this network to find golden manuscripts and tap into talent before other publishers do. As a result, a truly successful acquisitions editor must possess not only a keen eye for good, marketable writing, but also the ability to build relationships and maintain the trust and respect of the best authors.