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It’s a big change, and a lot of new responsibility. And I won’t deny that I’ve had moments of self-doubt as it was all coming together. But it’s the right thing. And Devi Pillai is outstanding.
To clarify one thing: I’m still an editor. I still plan to work with the books and authors I’ve got, and to bring new ones to the house. No matter what my business card says, there isn’t any future version of Tor in which I would stop doing that.
Congratulations on the promotion, Patrick!
Congratulations, Patrick! Tor is fortunate,indeed, to have you in your new role.
Congratulations, Patrick! This seems like a natural culmination of much fine work.
Congratulations. What does an Associate Publisher do? (I assume it's more than just associating with the publishers... <grin>)
Congratulations and felicitations! This is really wonderful.
"Associate publisher" basically means you're part of the firm's upper management team.
Wow! That's excellent and you totally deserve it! Congratulations!
Congratulations, and thank you for the clarification about your continuing role as an editor; I saw the news over on tor.com and had been wondering about that.
Yay! And (in typical British style) Well done sir. My congratulations.
Congratulations!
<smallvoice>
Can someone explain to the ignorant of the publishing industry what an associate publisher does versus an executive editor?
</smallvoice>
Congratulations, Patrick, everyone involved! And to all of us readers, too--looking forward to many more years of good books from Tor!
Congratulations! It's good to see at least one of my friends doing well in the current economy...
James Harvey, #14: see comment #6. An associate publisher is presumed to be one of the people helping run the firm.
Congratulations on this promotion Patrick! It sets up Tor for much continued success in the future.
Happy to hear of the promotion!
So many good things are happening at Tor. Admittedly, Patrick getting promoted to Associate Publisher is my favorite of them.
It *is* nice to hear good news now and then in a world that lately seems saturated only with the bad stuff.
Congratulations, Patrick!
Congratulations Patrick! It sounds like good times at Tor.
Congratulations, and good to see you'll still be editing as well.
Many, many congratulations, sir.
Well done, Tor, and well deserved, Patrick! Congratulations to all!
Congratulations! It's very well deserved.
Congratulations! An excellent choice on Tor's part.
Congratulations! I'm sure you'll do an amazing job.
pnh #18 Thanks Patrick: this is obviously a big change and an awesome responsibility! Good luck with it.
Congratulations!
Soon you will have access to the hidden floor of the Flatiron where . . . but I have said too much.
Congratulations! (I hope to publish speculative fiction with Tor some day.)
So interesting to discover that the seemingly obvious from within an industry is completely opaque outside of it.
I'm an executive editor. That means I have the skills and experience to manage an editorial department -- supervise and train editors, manage and balance their lists and task allocations, handle personnel problems and interface with the rest of the company to represent the needs of an editorial department to a publisher.
Publisher is a job category above any kind of editor. A publisher oversees the entire company: sales, marketing, publicity, art, production, everything. Publishers set print runs and determine budgets, they set the direction of the house, they handle the financial and business responsibilities. Publishers can be drawn from any area of publishing -- it's actually unusual for a Publisher to have been an editor. Tom Doherty was Sales, for instance.
These are jobs and skill sets. To people within the industry, they define what you can do, and what can be expected of you. Going from executive editor (or editorial director, or editor-in-chief, all analogous titles that people at that level tend to bounce between depending on where they're working) to associate publisher means that your responsibility and workload have approximately doubled.
Patrick is justly getting congratulations from most people. Me, I'll buy him drinks. I know enough to know that it's a job I don't want. But I'm really glad he's going to be doing it. He'll be great.
All the congratulations. No, wait, I'll send out for more. More congratulations, to you and to Devi both.
Congratulations, Patrick. Happy for you.
What a step! I congratulate you and wish you stamina, growth, clear perception, support from all directions, and opportunities to make a difference.
Congratulations, Patrick! I hope the new duties increase the enjoyable parts of your job rather than taking you further away from them (as promotions so often seem to do).
Devi Pillai! I met her once, I think, at an N.K. Jemisin reading or book launch. Pillai edited Jemisin's debut novel and many Jemisin novels to follow (Jemisin's praise of Pillai), plus of course books by a bunch of other authors. As an Indian-American I am always on the lookout for superneat people of Indian heritage, and it makes me particularly happy to see a person who shares this bit of my identity earning such responsibility and honor in SFF.
Congratulations, Patrick! May you have everything you need to cope with the new responsibilities.
Congratulations, Patrick!
And extra thanks to Beth Meacham @49 for the explanation of just how big a deal this really is!
I've been holding off dropping by to say "congratulations" until I could hit "send" on the checked page proofs of the novel of mine Patrick is publishing next January ...
... but now it's time to say "congratulations"!
(Parenthetically: I've been expecting something like this announcement for a while now, and as a Tor author it's a huge relief to know that these appointments will be in place well ahead of Tom's eventual retirement.)
Congratulations! (Is there a list of books you edited, somewhere? Because I read a bunch of books last week, and I remember seeing your name as editor on one of them. I thought it was Company Town, but that is not the case. Good book, Tor book, just not your book.)
I'm so happy to see Tor blossoming and very excited for you Patrick, and your new and extant colleagues
Mostly, though, I have greedy expectations of even moar good things to read.
Congratulations and best of luck going forward!
Belated but heartfelt congratulations; like Charlie, I'm glad to see signs of continuity in the management that has made Tor such an outstanding publisher.
beth meacham @ 49: So interesting to discover that the seemingly obvious from within an industry is completely opaque outside of it. Doesn't every industry have its own argot? Some of it is adjectives and context; cf "producer" = "person who overrides the director's cut"(*) vs "assistant producer" = "anything down to gofer" (an exaggeration from Sturgeon). Or the fact that tomatoes, squash, and such are fruit in a formal definition. In any case, thanks for the clarification; I had seen the news (not just this but the cascade of promotions) but was not sure of the meaning.
(*) ~recent definition; Houseman's autobiography suggests that producers were once packagers, subordinate to the ]whims[ of studio executives whose titles I forget.
CHip: you want added whackiness? Try dealing with the BBC.
In Hollywood-speak, a Producer is someone who stumps up the money for a production, and a Director is the person who actually makes the movie, dealing with the nuts and bolts of the process.
But in BBC-speak, and thus throughout the British TV and radio sector, a Producer is the person in charge of production on a program, in other words the one who tells the actors, writers, camera folks, and so on what to do; meanwhile, a Director is an executive within the corporation who organizes funding and pushes through a string of shows.
In other words, a Director is a Producer and a Producer is a Director, depending on whether we're dealing with the American or British TV industries.
And I'm sure something similar probably happens in branches of the jokingly-named "publishing" industry other than trade fiction book publishing.
[FX: one small party hooter tooting]
Congratulations!
Just saw this. Congratulations, Patrick!
The BBC seems to be a little confused over how they use the Producer and Director. I just checked the end credits of one of last years Doctor episodes, and Moffat is listed as "Executive Producer", with a flurry of more-standard terms ibn the credits, such as "Assistant Director". I get the impression that, while the older BBC meanings might still be there, they're shifting towards the customary job-titles of the trade.
A further check shows that the "Producer" and "Directoe" get their names in the Opening credits, but the pattern on the BBC website makes more sense it they're using the Hollywood style: a different "Director" from episode to episode, and the same "Producer"
Maybe there are "Directors" in more senior offices who don't get on-screen credits.
Obviously Charlie has seen the process from a different direction, but it is possible that a lot of the apparent change is associated with the BBC output being produced by so many more outside companies.
Congratulations on the promotion, Patrick!
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