Pub Talk is a new interview and podcast series where KYD’s publishing director Rebecca Starford chats to some of Australia’s most experienced and influential publishers, editors and agents about the industry and the many pathways to publication for new writers.
Brigid Mullane is our first guest. She is the commissioning editor at Ultimo Press. Previously, she worked at Hachette Australia as both a managing editor and a senior editor.
This piece is an edited extract of the full interview, which is available now on the KYD Podcast!
Ultimo Press commissioning editor Brigid Mullane. Image: Supplied
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Ultimo Press is a new, independent publishing house. How long have you been up and running?
Brigid Mullane: I think we’re actually coming up to our first year birthday, and I started in January 2021. We’re based out of Ultimo in Sydney, which is where we get our name from. The founder, James Kellow, noticed there’s a really vibrant indie scene in Melbourne, the majority of the indie publishers are concentrated in Melbourne, but in Sydney we are kind of dominated by what’s called the multinationals, or the big houses. Ultimo is looking to build on more of that indie publishing spirit here in Sydney.
At the moment the Ultimo team is six. And although we are backed by Hardie Grant, with this small-press ethos we’re trying to uncover, discover and publish emerging writers from around Australia. We did eight books this year, so that’s quite a curated list, and we’re ramping up to 20-odd books next year. That’s still a small-ish list, but it means we can give the kind of time and care to each author and their work that we want to be able to give. And I think we’re aiming to be a place that publishes exciting and progressive work, and to give platform to authors that might not get a run in some of those bigger houses.
The Ultimo team at a design meeting. Image: Supplied
What exactly does a commissioning editor do?
BM: The title of commissioning editor, I think, is a confusing one. In the UK, a commissioning editor is what we would call a publisher here—so the person who seeks out the titles and publishes them.
In Australia, a commissioning editor sits halfway between a publisher and an editor. So I have two streams to what I’m doing: one is seeking out new work to publish, trying to find authors, taking books to acquisition and finding things to publish (that’s the commissioning part of my job); the other part of my job is helping support the publishers in their publishing work. So that might be assisting with their schedules, helping do second reads of their books. It’s a dual role of both finding manuscripts and then helping the other publishers realise their vision.
A commissioning editor is a dual role of both finding manuscripts and then helping the other publishers realise their vision.
But editing roles are different at different publishing houses. Hachette was my first in-house position ever. I got a job there as a senior editor, and I was really surprised how much of that job was really a project management job, and not as much sitting with the text and reading multiple times. So it was completely different to what my expectations were of being an in-house editor.
What does a typical editing day look like for you?
BM: As I mentioned, my job is split into two areas. So on the commissioning side, I might be scrolling through Twitter, trying to see if there’s anyone who’s posted interesting links to articles, looking at mags like KYD to see if there’s anyone in there who might have a longer book project, and reaching out to them. I might be reading the submissions inbox or talking to authors that I’ve already reached out to about their book proposals. I might be getting one of those proposals ready for an acquisitions meeting, preparing to pitch the author’s idea to the wider team, or I might be in the contracting stage, getting the book idea finalised and then working with the author on their book in that sense.
I don’t think as an industry we’ve nurtured the space between the great literary mags we have, for these writers to then go on and have a viable career as a non-fiction author.
On the other side, I might be talking to freelance copy editors or checking a copy edit, talking to typesetters, helping get the production of the ebooks done. So on that side of it is a lot of production and scheduling and getting things ready for the sales reps so that they can go out and sell the books. It’s a really varied role which has kept me highly entertained because I like learning new things.
An online Ultimo team meeting. Image: Supplied
A strong perception for many new writers is that editors are not open to finding new writers, or that the gatekeepers’ walls are incredibly difficult to scale. But as a new publishing house you are hungry for new voices. Tell us about what writers you want to find for Ultimo.
BM: This role is new to me, and I’m really keen to build my list. The kind of publishing that I want to do is emerging non-fiction. I want to support these titles as I don’t know that emerging non-fiction writers have been given that many opportunities. Non-fiction in Australia is particularly hard to get a crack in if you’re not a celebrity, or you don’t already have a really big following online. So I don’t think as an industry we’ve nurtured the space between some of the amazing authors that will be in KYD or Liminal or some of the other great literary mags we have, for these writers to then go on and have a viable career as a non-fiction author.
So while I’m actively searching for new writing talent online and in other publications, I also consider the work we receive via agents. I think the agents do a lot of the same scrolling and reading that I do, and they pick up the talent and represent them, and then a proposal might come to Ultimo that way, through an agent.
As an editor, you are the first reader, and you get the ability to help an author shape their work, so the message that’s in their brain, is going to go directly to the reader.
It might be me reaching out to someone if I’ve seen an article that they’ve written in a literary mag or in the paper, or I think there’s an idea in it, and I will reach out and see if they’ve ever thought about having a book-length project. That’s the kind of longer-game acquiring strategy. Or I might see someone at the Emerging Writers’ Festival and reach out to them. There’s also, I think, a growing pathway that is coming through prizes.
Another way that people are probably familiar with is the submissions inbox or the unsolicited ‘Pitch Friday’, or most publishers have some kind of pathway for unsolicited submissions. I’ve been working on a Submissions Portal on the Ultimo website where you can actually see each of the publishers, you’ll be able to see from the portal is who’s accepting what, and I think just having that information will help people target their pitches more effectively.
Because the thing with a submissions inbox is just there’s hundreds per month, so standing out in that space is really difficult. Whereas I think if you have a way of targeting the right publisher, you can at least speak to why your project is right for their list in a way that you can’t if you’re just sending it into the ether, and hoping for a response.
And targeting your pitch to publishers helps a lot, doesn’t it?
BM: It really does. And what I think also really helps you stand out is showing that you have an understanding of the kind of book you’re writing, and the kind of readership that exists or that already exists. Like sometimes you get a feeling that people have written a book, but they don’t read, if that makes sense? Like they don’t read in that genre, or they don’t read widely, and they don’t have an understanding of where their book would sit in a bookstore.
What are some of the best things about being an editor?
BM: What I love doing is reading—and as an editor, you are the first reader, and you get the ability to help an author shape their work, so that the message that they’re trying to convey, the one that’s in their brain, is going to go directly to the reader. It’s such a collaborative process, and it’s so satisfying to be able to identify an issue, or where something might not be landing, or where there’s a narrative bump, and help the author resolve it. I find that incredibly satisfying.
