Meet Tor Books, 30 years old

Tor Books turns 30 today.

I can hardly believe that, with 16 years on the payroll and counting, I’m a half-lifer. Whenever someone asks me what the best part of the job is, I always have the same answer: it’s the people I get to work with—writers, artists, and staffers.

Our offices are in one of New York’s architectural treasures, the Flatiron Building, at the foot of Madison Square Park. The space is a bit…well, cozy. (It turns out a triangle isn’t the most efficient use of office space.) But I have to say, I kinda love our box-filled hallways, oddly trapezoidal rooms, and curved corner windows.

With the aid of a beat-up Canon point-and-shoot, I’ll  introduce you to a few of the people that turn a stack of manuscript pages into some of the (hopefully, beloved) books on your shelves. This is by no means comprehensive. There are many others not pictured here that are integral to the process. We get to talk about writers and artists a lot on Tor.com. Here’s our chance for a quick “hello,” and a “thank you” to all the other people with similar jobs in other publishing houses—working hard to bring us the stories we love.

Editorial: where the manuscripts come in and get (even) better.

Claire Eddy

Eric Raab

Paul Stevens

Moshe Feder (in my doorway)

Liz Gorinsky and Steven Padnick.

Patrick Nielsen Hayden

Beth Meacham , in her Arizona outpost

Harriet McDougal, in her southern outpost

David G. Hartwell, looking at drawings

Melissa Singer

Juliet Pederson and Susan Chang

Whitney Ross

Melissa Frain, Lauren Brantley, and Kristin Sevick

The infamous slush pile. Hopes and dreams, waiting their turn to be read.

Hard Cover Art Department: where the books put some clothes on.

Peter Lutjen

Jamie Stafford-Hill wuz here

Yours truly, Irene Gallo

Mass Market Art Department: where the books get smaller and the type gets bigger.

Vanessa Paolantonio

The art nook

Production: Corralling the ephemeral ideas of writers, artists, and editors and turning them into pages and jackets.

Joe Meir and Nathan Weaver

Jim Kapp, Jane Liddle, Karl Gold

Kevin Sweeney representing an army of copy editors and proofreaders.

Stacks of typeset  pages to be proofread and envelopes of cover mechanicals to be checked.

“Heather Saunders,” interior designer

Sales: Helping stores near you carry the books you want read.

Stuart Miller, Andy Etzkorn, Christine Jaeger, Jeff Capshew, Ken Holland, Brian Heller
(And many others stationed across the US visiting local bookshops.)

Marketing: What’s selling, where, and how many….And how can we increase all of the above.

Brian Vaughan

Laura Fitzgerald

Jennifer Kaufler: Stacks of marketing materials taller than marketing managers.

Aubrey Lynch

Advertising and Promotion: Getting the word out.

Phyllis Azar

Audrey Steuerwald

Elizabeth Mathews

Theresa Delucci

Publicity: Getting others to talk for the books

Cassandra Ammerman, Dot Lin, Sam Cutler, Patty Garcia, Justin Golenbock, Amber Hopkins, Alexis Saarela

The always changing, but ever present, stacks of books on their way out to the media.

Edwin Rivera, office manager

Constance Cochran
Keeper of the schedule and one of Tom’s two right hands.

Dana Giusio, Manager of Administration

Last, because all the bucks stop here, our leader and publisher Mr. Tom Doherty, who decided to publish Andre Norton’s Forerunner 30 years ago. Thank you, Tom, countless people have traveled to fantastic and impossible places through your guidance.

The view from Tom’s office: Broadway and Fifth Avenue, the Empire State and Madison Square Park.