Anna Dixon – Editor

A 2024 Bookseller Rising Star.

I have worked in publishing for over ten years, with a core background on the agency side of the industry. I’ve provided editorial work for new authors bringing their work up to submission standard, established names who need an editorial hand on a future work, and I've often been an extra set of editorial eyes on behalf of my colleagues at agencies, rather than just working for my own clients. Alongside working closely in an editorial capacity with fiction clients (often developmentally), I have a lot of experience in building non-fiction proposals. My work has been very broad, and I've worked on almost every kind of book in my time, from fiction, to non-fiction (both black & white and colour), to children's. So far, I've secured offers on 88% of the projects I've worked on during my time at YMU, and I've been known to restructure projects that failed to sell beforehand, and then proceed to get a deal.

My favourite things to work on include; dark women’s fiction with bite (anything dark and twisty at all for that matter - clearly never let go of my emo phase), fantasy and sci-fi, magical realism (a la Ruth Ozeki), book club fiction, crime and thriller, horror (a good example of my taste in that area beyond the obvious Stephen King is Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky - masterful), narrative non-fiction (memoir, polemics, activism, anything useful), cookery and food, talent led crossover non-fiction projects, middle-grade and YA.

I can be a bit of a magpie with fiction, anything with a strong emotional hook and nuanced characters, and you're likely to pique my interest! The only thing that may not be my speed is extremely sophisticated or experimental literary fiction - I admire it greatly, but wouldn't trust myself to know how to help shape it, as it's not an area I've worked in a lot.

I think the foundation for a great editorial relationship isn't dissimilar to the foundation of any great personal relationship - it's based on trust, clicking with that person, and being able to enjoy your time with them. To that end, I'm an open book - ask me anything about my process, nothing is off limits, and if we ultimately don't feel that creative connection and shared vision, then I'm more than happy to be your cheerleader instead and give any advice I can so that you can find the right fit. At the end of the day, editorial is about YOU and getting your project to where you need it to go.