"...Editors have 30 seconds to read an email and make a decision." Interview with UNC Press Editor Cate Hodorowicz: PART II (& 18 publishing internship opportunities!)

How writers can increase their chances for manuscript acceptance, the publishing industry amid book banning, cancel culture, & more!

This is Part II of a two-part interview with Cate Hodorowicz, an award-winning essayist and editor at the University of North Carolina Press.

Cate Hodorowicz is an editor at the University of North Carolina Press where she acquires in literary nonfiction, food studies and foodways, western and borderlands histories, and regional trade—books about North Carolina and the South writ large. She is also an award-winning essayist and a proud instructor for the Redbud Writing Project.

“Publishers are looking for authors who are going to be good business partners. ”

Justine:

We're living in a time where on one side, we have books being banned and on the other side, we have books and authors being canceled. What role does the publishing industry play in all this? And what is the responsibility of people who have roles in that industry—the so-called “gatekeepers”?

Cate:

Oh my gosh, that’s a huge question. We could talk about this for days. Obviously yes, publishers are gatekeepers by their very definition. At UNC Press, we're very aware of that.. That’s part of the reason why we started Great Circle, which is for emerging literary nonfiction authors who aren't traditionally part of the publishing landscape. We also have a manuscript lab for people whose proposals might not be ready, and we tutor them in how to make their proposals better so they have a better shot at making it into the publishing world. 

I have seen other presses starting to do the same thing, asking questions like: How do we support writers who aren't traditionally part of this landscape? How do we act less as gatekeepers and more as supporters?