Publishing's Queen of Harlem - BIBR spotlight: Janet Hill - Brief Article

Black Issues Book Review, Sept-Oct, 2002 by Mondella S. Jones

In a world where high-paying salaries are usually associated with doctors, lawyers, stockbrokers and IT specialists, publishing has been called the "accidental" profession. Recently, over dinner at New York's Hudson hotel, Janet Hill, one of the highest-ranking African Americans in the publishing industry, shared her accidental ascent to the top.

Unlikely Beginnings

While a student at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, Hill, a Detroit native, never considered a career in publishing until she served as a teacher's assistant for an African-American literature class. "I was in school from 1981 to 1985, which was a very exciting time in African-American literature. Alice Walker had just rediscovered Zora Neale Hurston, so Their Eyes Were Watching God was available again. Professors would put a few copies on reserve in the library because the books weren't available, and I thought `Wow, wouldn't it be great to get into publishing and republish works of these lost authors,'" says Hill. She tucked the idea away in the back of her mind and began interviewing for corporate jobs.

Shortly after graduating from Wesleyan in 1985, Hill found herself in an interview with Proctor & Gamble. All dressed up in her corporate navy blue suit and answering all the right questions, she explained how she had somewhat of an out-of-body experience. "I was sitting in the interview and all of a sudden, something told me to get out of there. That the job wasn't for me," she says. After the episode, she went to California for the summer, and upon her return informed her parents that she was moving to New York to get a job in publishing. Her parents were understandably concerned when she told them she didn't have a job lined up in publishing or anywhere to live. But she went to New York anyway, moved in with a friend, got a job at the Pottery Barn at South Street Seaport and signed up with an employment agency that specialized in publishing.

Hill turned down several job offers, including a position at John Wiley & Sons, because she wanted to work at a large, trade publisher. She eventually landed at Krager Publishing, a small educational publisher. Shortly after joining Krager, she got a call about an interview at Doubleday. The day she got the call, she says, she felt a little uneasy because her boss was out of the office. "I felt like I was being sneaky. My boss was out sick, and I didn't think it was right to go out on an interview," says Hill. She went on the interview, landed the job, and began her career at Doubleday.

Doubleday

In 1986, Hill began climbing the ranks at Doubleday where she is now vice president and executive editor of Doubleday/Broadway/Harlem Moon. She began as an editorial assistant for two associate editors. Two and a half months after she started, one editor went on maternity leave. Hill then got the opportunity to perform tasks under the remaining editor that she normally would not have handled. Eventually, Doubleday was sold, and in 1988 she was offered a job as assistant managing editor, again while her boss was out of the office on vacation.

"I was very young and very green," says Hill. But she says she's glad she took the job. In the early 90s, Hill was promoted to associate managing editor and then moved up to a joint position--managing editor and editor.

"Being in the managing editorial department gave me a chance to be a liaison between publishers, editorial and art departments. I got to attend meetings that the editors didn't get to attend, and I really got a sense of the business side of publishing. I learned a lot about the business and had the best of both worlds. I also had a group of books that I was editing," she says.

The managing editorial department was eventually absorbed into the production department and in 1997 Hill had to make a choice. "Lucky for me, I had bought about 14 books during my last two years as managing editor and editor. So I was able to become a senior editor at that point," she says.

"Although I worked in the managing editorial department, which was really more on the production side, I always had my fingers in the editorial pot. Being an editor is much more creative."

Hill credits two individuals with encouraging her to become an editor: David Gerner, former Doubleday editor in chief and currently a literary agent, and former Doubleday publisher Arlene Friedman.

Harlem Moon

Over the years, Hill has worked with authors ranging from Isaac Asimov to Dorothy West to E. Lynn Harris, and in 2000 she was promoted to vice president and executive editor of Doubleday/Broadway/Harlem Moon. This September she is launching a new imprint, Harlem Moon, a line of original trade paperback books aimed at the ever-growing African-American, book-buying community. Harlem Moon will also serve as a paperback home for many Doubleday hardcovers. The imprint's debut roster boasts a unique balance of seasoned writers, including E. Lynn Harris, Marita Golden, Stephanie Stokes Oliver, Brian Keith Jackson and Bertice Berry, plus newcomers Nicole Bailey-Williams, Cris Burks, and Kenji Jasper.