My creative collaboration on the project started with someone I had never met (but not a stranger) appearing in my Twitter DMs with a question. “Hi Charlie! If you ever want to chat about AR/VR, I would love to hear your stories/perspectives.” Since it was Kathe Koja, whose many books lined my bookshelves, I was surprised, intrigued, and more than willing to talk with her about Augmented and Virtual Reality. She was working on Dark Factory, an “immersive novel” which involved a nightclub featuring futuristic technology that allowed the high-end guests to play around with reality. Kathe was interested in what was currently feasible in reality-shifting technology and what was coming down the pipeline.

Kathe Koja’s Dark Factory is a designer’s dream come true. So much opportunity from the book cover to the book design to the website to the merchandise and everything in between. As a writer, Kathe Koja has one of the most unique styles of anyone I’ve read. If there is one word in the many reviews that captures it for me, it is “propulsive.” Drop that into the setting of the club scene and you’ve got the perfect recipe for high energy fun.

The first time Kathe Koja mentioned Dark Factory to me was in 2019. It sounded intriguing—immersive fiction, a story that goes beyond the printed page, blurring the lines between fiction and reality. Who wouldn’t be excited. She continued to drop bits of info on the project regularly, but it was September 2020 when I received the first draft. The contract was signed in October, starting a creative journey with the author that exceeded my wildest dreams of what storytelling could be.

Though I’ve known Kathe Koja for over thirty years, and I’ve been her agent for over twenty of them, she still surprises me with every project. (In truth, she surprises me with every email but let’s focus on her books.) Her earliest work was rightly published as horror fiction, and a half dozen of her titles in the early 2000s were clearly YA, but most of her amazing novels form genres unto themselves, illuminating liminal spaces and the strangely familiar people who occupy them.

Dark Factory is Kathe Koja’s wholly original “immersive” novel that combines her award-winning writing and her skill directing immersive events, to create a story that unfolds on the page, online, and in the reader's creative mind.

William Morrow released Mercy House on February 11. For this edition of Beginning to End, Spine follows Mercy House from author all the way through to publicity and marketing, stopping along the way to talk to Dillon’s agent and editor, as well as the book’s designer. For our last piece, publicist Jes Lyons.

The cover of Mercy House features an angel door knocker hung on a red door, with a woman’s hand reaching for it. In the book, the angel is Mercy House’s identifying feature, signaling to victims of domestic violence that they’ve arrived at safety. Quite early in her process, designer Elsie Lyons came across a similar image, of a red door with woman’s reaching for a knocker. “At the time, I thought it might be too straightforward,” she told Spine. And so she passed.

Lucia Macro, executive editor for William Morrow/Avon Books, knew she wanted Alena Dillon’s debut novel Mercy House “the moment it landed on my desk.” For her, the decision to take on a book is often about the voice. “I respond to strong voices in the books I love, both from the characters and the author, and Mercy House delivered.”

William Morrow released Mercy House on February 11. For this edition of Beginning to End, Spine follows Mercy House from author all the way through to publicity and marketing, stopping along the way to talk to Alena Dillon’s agent and editor, as well as the book’s designer. We began with the author, and now arrive at her agent, Nicki Richesin.

Mercy House, Alena Dillon’s debut novel, centers on Sister Evelyn, a fierce, wise-cracking, and ultimately kind-hearted nun who helps run a small Brooklyn shelter for women fleeing from domestic violence. When Bishop Hawkins threatens to close the home, Evelyn fights to save Mercy House and protect its residents, a struggle which forces her to face abuse in her own past.

When Alisha Gorder arrived at the end of Hard Mouth, Amanda Goldblatt’s debut adventure novel about a woman struggling to face her father’s slow dying, she “immediately texted [Counterpoint Press] editor Jenny Alton in all caps, and with more crying emojis than words. I was devastated by the ending,” she told Spine. “And also that the book was over.”

Beginning to End is a series from Spine following a book from writing through acquisition, design and on to publication and publicity. For our second "season," we're looking at Hard Mouth, Amanda Goldblatt's debut adventure novel. We’ve spoken with author Goldblatt, her agent, Caroline Eisenmann, and book cover designer Nicole Caputo. Next up: Jennifer Alton, assistant editor at Counterpoint Press and editorial lead on Hard Mouth.

Some titles just echo down the aisles. Some titles deserve to consume covers. Amanda Goldblatt’s novel Hard Mouth, a dense narrative told from the perspective of a tight-lipped daughter caring for her cancer-ridden father in his final days, is one such title. Hard Mouth. What are those words doing together? Where will this story take us? Designer Nicole Caputo designed the cover of Hard Mouth with Goldblatt’s straightforward, tense, and smart narrative approach in mind.

Literary Twitter can be a scary place. Twitter mobs engage in Twitter pile-ons, at the least hurting writers’ feelings and at the most, threatening to take down titles before they’re officially released. But Caroline Eisenmann, agent at Frances Goldin, argues that Twitter is also a force for good, at least in her professional life.

Beginning to End is a series from Spine following a book from writing through acquisition, design and on to publication and publicity. For our second "season," we're looking at Hard Mouth, Amanda Goldblatt's debut adventure novel about a woman facing—and sometimes fleeing from—her father's drawn-out battle with cancer. Counterpoint Press publishes the book this month. We begin the series by talking with Goldblatt.

Beginning to End is a series from Spine following a book from acquisition to publication. For our first "season," we're following Light from Other Stars, about a young astronaut hopeful and an invention that alters time. The novel is author Erika Swyler's second, following her much-lauded 2015 debut, The Book of Speculation. Bloomsbury will publish the book in May, and the publicity team — Senior Publicist Lauren Hill, Senior Marketing Manager Nicole Jarvis, and Digital and Trade Marketing Director Laura Keefe — is already at work generating buzz. Keefe spoke to Spine about their efforts.

Beginning to End is a series from Spine following a book from acquisition to publication. For our first "season," we're following Light from Other Stars, about a young astronaut hopeful and an invention that alters time. The novel is author Erika Swyler's second, following her much-lauded 2015 debut, The Book of Speculation. Bloomsbury Art Director Patti Ratchford designed the cover, which features art by Marc Burckhardt. Bloomsbury will publish Light from Other Stars in May.

Beginning to End follows a book from acquisition to bookshelf. For this "season," we're honing in on Light from Other Stars, about a young astronaut hopeful and an invention that alters time. The novel is author Erika Swyler's second, following her much-lauded 2015 debut, The Book of Speculation. In our first article, we spoke with Swyler's agent Michelle Brower. Next up: Lea Beresford, senior editor at Bloomsbury Publishing, working with Swyler to ready the book for publication next year.

Beginning to End is a new series from Spine following a book idea from acquisition to bookshelf. For our first "season," we're honing in on Little Twitch, about a young astronaut hopeful and an invention that alters time. The novel is author Erika Swyler's second, following her much-lauded 2015 debut, The Book of Speculation. Michelle Brower of Aevitas represents Swyler; Bloomsbury will publish Little Twitch next year.