Famous Monsters of Filmland is happy to have Don D’Auria as our guest today. Mr. D’Auria is the Executive Editor, who heads the horror line for Dorchester Publishing. Dorchester Publishing has been publishing mass market books since 1971 and is in fact the oldest independent mass market publisher in the United States.
Famous Monsters: First off Don, let me welcome you on behalf of Famous Monsters and to thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to do this interview.
In an email you sent me you said that Famous Monsters had an enormous impact on you and your career. Would you care to elaborate?
Don D’Auria: To tell you the truth, I doubt I would be where I am now if it weren’t for Forrest J. Ackerman and Famous Monsters. I was the classic “monster kid” growing up. I watched all the movies, built the monster models and of course read FM. It was really FM that instilled the respect and love for the novels that inspired the movies. It was because of Uncle Forry that I read Bram Stoker, Mary Shelley, H. G. Wells, Edgar Allan Poe, Robert Bloch, so many people. I’m very, very glad that I had a chance a couple years ago to tell Forrest Ackerman in person what FM meant to me and to thank him for everything he did, not only for me but for so many other kids who were inspired by him. You can imagine how delighted I am to be interviewed by Famous Monsters. It really is like coming home.
Famous Monsters: How did you become an editor and how long have you been doing it?
Don D’Auria: I’ve been an editor now for just about twenty years. I always knew I wanted to be in book publishing, just because books were always so important to me. My first job in publishing though was as a sales rep. I did that for three years and then I decided that I wanted to be more involved with the books and authors and the creative side of things. So I basically started over. I took a big pay cut and became an assistant editor at a book packager, where I really learned the ropes. And I’ve been lucky enough to be an editor ever since.
Famous Monsters: How long have you been at Dorchester Publishing?
Don D’Auria: It’s coming up on fifteen years now. Dorchester is a great fit for me. The people are terrific and they really care about the books and the authors. Plus I get to work on books that I love. You can’t ask for much more than that.
Famous Monsters: Have you always been a Horror editor?
Don D’Auria: When I first started as an editor I did a little bit of everything. Fiction and non-fiction, adult and young adult, in a lot of different genres. It was a great way to learn and get a feel for the business in general. Then at Bantam I narrowed a bit to primarily men’s fiction like action/adventure and westerns, but I also did some suspense, true-crime and mystery. At Harlequin I edited historical romance, which was a bit of a change for me. Then I came to Leisure, where I was able to move into horror.
Famous Monsters: Do you accept unsolicited manuscripts and if not why?
Don D’Auria: I do. I know many houses don’t accept unsolicited or unagented submissions, but I feel like I’d be missing out on too many potentially good manuscripts that way. Authors should still send me a query letter before they send in their work, though. And it always pays to look at our submission guidelines. You can find them on our website, www.dorchesterpub.com.
Famous Monsters: What is the first thing you look for when you receive a new manuscript?
Don D’Auria: First I read the cover letter to get a sense of what the book is. Once I start to read the actual manuscript, though, the very first thing I look for is all the basic stuff: spelling, grammar, sentence structure. Then I start to look for style.
Famous Monsters: How important is a cover letter to you?
Don D’Auria: A cover letter can make a very big difference. That’s what will make the first impression of both the author and the work. So if it looks unprofessional, sloppy or poorly written, that’s what I’ll have in mind when I start reading. Sometimes it can mean the difference between me reading a manuscript or not reading it.
Famous Monsters: Do you have certain criteria a manuscript needs to meet before acceptance?
Don D’Auria: The most important, of course, is the quality of the writing. A manuscript needs an original, compelling plot, believable characters and good pacing. It also needs to appeal to a wide audience, since Leisure is a mass-market house. If I really enjoy the book and I think a lot of other horror fans will too, that’s a big part of the battle.
Famous Monsters: When you decline a manuscript do you make any comments on why it was declined?
Don D’Auria: I wish I could offer personal comments on every manuscript I decline, but I just see so many submissions every day it isn’t possible. There are certain cases, though, when a manuscript is very close to being accepted but it needs one or two things to be fixed. In those cases I’ll point out those issues and say that if the author addresses them I’d be glad to see the manuscript again.
Famous Monsters: What is the best part about your job, the worst part if any?
Don D’Auria: The best part is definitely being able to read all this great horror and getting paid to do it. Being able to work with authors whose writing I’ve loved for years. The worst part is the rejections. I know the writers have worked long and hard on their manuscript and I feel bad about having to say no to them.
Famous Monsters: When you are not editing what do you do for excitement or leisure?
Don D’Auria: I actually read a lot of horror on my own time, completely apart from work. And I love movies, horror of course, but also really all kinds of movies, silent comedies, film noir, foreign, exploitation, you name it.
Famous Monsters: Was there a defining moment for you that led you to love horror?
Don D’Auria: I can’t say because I’ve been a horror fan literally as long as I can remember. Before I could read, my favorite toys were monsters and monster models. I watched all the old horror movies on TV. Then when I learned how to read, my favorite comics were Creepy and Eerie. And I still remember the first time I saw an issue of Famous Monsters. My older sister bought it for me to cheer me up after a trip to the dentist. But where it all started, who knows? Something must have happened when I was two or three.
Famous Monsters: How many manuscripts would you say you look at a month?
Don D’Auria: It varies dramatically from month to month, but as a really rough average, I’d say maybe two hundred.
Famous Monsters: I received a notice saying that Dorchester Publishing is doing their entire frontlist and selected backlist in Ebook and digital formats. Is this a conscious effort to maintain relevance in this TV/video game obsessed world we live in?
Don D’Auria: Dorchester has always worked hard to stay current, whether it’s via the internet, audio books, ebooks, or whatever new technology comes along. If we want people to read our books, we need to make sure the books are available and accessible to them.
Famous Monsters: That was quite a shock wave that went through the publishing industry a few months back, do you see that lasting or do you think publishing will rebound?
Don D’Auria: Publishing has been through a lot over the centuries, but as long as people like to read, publishing will exist. Right now the economy is in pretty rough shape. All publishers have taken a hit in terms of sales, some worse than others. I think Leisure fared a little better because we’ve always been fairly lean and efficient all along so we had less fat to trim. But as the economy improves—which it looks like it’s starting to do now—I think we’ll see our sales go back up.
Famous Monsters: In my opinion one of the biggest single factors in the decline of book sales is that reading is not being taught at a young enough age today and so many children are missing out on the joys of reading. They can name all of the American idols though. What do you see as the biggest reason for declining book sales?
Don D’Auria: There’s just a lot of competition for folks’ time. There are hundreds of TV channels, the internet, computer games and a million other things all demanding your time. And there are only so many hours in the day.
Famous Monsters: Enough with solving the world’s problems. What do you like to read?
Don D’Auria: My tastes are pretty broad. My degree was in comparative literature so I like the classics, but I read a lot of things. Mostly fiction, but also biographies, true-crime, history, philosophy, humor and psychology. My apartment is filled with all kinds of books. Every room has as many bookcases as it can hold.
Famous Monsters: Who are your favorite authors?
Don D’Auria: It varies according to my mood. But I’ve always loved S. J. Perelman, Fitzgerald, Lovecraft, Poe, Stephen King, Robert Benchley, Peter Straub and Hawthorne.
Famous Monsters: What are your three favorite books (stories)?
Don D’Auria: It’s really hard to limit it to three. But for right now I might have to go with ‘Salem’s Lot, Moby Dick and The Most of S. J. Perelman.
Famous Monsters: What are your three favorite movies?
Don D’Auria: Again, it’s hard to narrow it down, but maybe Annie Hall, The Godfather and Bride of Frankenstein. Or maybe M, or Jaws, or The General, or Psycho, or…
Famous Monsters: Who would you say was your biggest influence in your chosen career path?
Don D’Auria: Honestly, in the grand scheme of things it really might have been Forrest Ackerman, since I feel like he crystallized so much of my love of not only horror but reading and movies in general. In terms of editing I’d say I learned an incredible amount from Paul Dinas, Robin Hardy and Greg Tobin, my first bosses back when I was starting out as an editor. They were all terrific teachers and I just tried to absorb and learn as much as I could.
Famous Monsters: The calendar has just turned to 2009 what can we expect from your Horror line in the coming year?
Don D’Auria: One thing I’m especially excited about is a contest to discover previously unpublished horror authors. We’re finalizing the details right now so I can’t go into specifics, but we’ll be announcing it soon. Lately I’m seeing an incredible amount of young talent out there, and we want to showcase that. We’ll be looking for the best horror novel written by a new, unpublished writer. So folks might want to get their manuscripts ready and keep their eyes open for an announcement. Watch our website or check us out on Twitter: twitter.com/DorchesterPub.
And we have some pretty terrific books coming up. In the next few months alone we have novels by Jack Ketchum, Richard Laymon, Nate Kenyon, Brian Keene, and Gary A. Braunbeck. In June Jeff Strand makes his Leisure debut with Pressure. Jeff is a prime example of that young talent I’ve been talking about, and I think people will be blown away by Pressure.
I’m also very pleased to have been asked by Cemetery Dance magazine to write a column for them. Beginning in their upcoming issue 61, I’ll be writing a column called “Editorial Perspectives,” to give readers a view of what it’s like on the other side of the desk, so to speak. Hopefully I’ll be able to shed a little light on things that readers and authors have wondered about, to generally present an editor’s point of view of publishing and the horror genre, and to have some fun in the process.
Famous Monsters: In closing what words of advice would you give to the aspiring novelist trying to get their first novel published?
Don D’Auria: Don’t give up, don’t get discouraged. And don’t take a rejection personally. So much of getting published often comes down simply to timing and personal tastes. If one house, or ten houses, don’t choose to publish your book, keep at it.
Famous Monsters: Thank you Don, for spending some time with us here at Famous Monsters of Filmland.
Don D’Auria: Thank you! It’s incredibly exciting to see FM back, and it’s even more of a thrill to be in it. It’s a dream come true for any monster kid.
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