As we round down the final few posts for our Penguin Imprint Feature, we're going to step aside and allow Nichole Morford to post about life at DK. She's going to be guest blogging for the next few entries, and will reveal what being a DK Editor actually entails.

Hi all. I'm writing from London, where I've been working as an editor for DK for the past eight months. Prior to November 07, I spent two and a half years in the New York office, where I looked at new submissions, liaised with authors and agents, helped brainstorm book ideas, and made lots and lots of phone calls. Such is the fabulous life of an editorial assistant.

Here in the UK, I edit sex and business books. A natural combination, right? Editing non-fiction is the best (and most fun) form of continuing education, because you learn so much new information with each project. Already today I have tried to find answers to the following questions: How do the fantasy lives of men and women differ? What determines the laws of attraction? And, most riveting of all, exactly which curriculum forms the backbone of a degree in Financial Accounting? Clear evidence, I think, that there's never a dull moment in the editorial day.

Throughout the week, I'll be writing on unique aspects of my job, the differences between the New York and London publishing worlds, and the many fabulous books on the DK horizon. Any questions, let me know. Otherwise, keep reading for more thoughts on sex, business, and a whole lot more.

DK, Dorling Kindersely, Penguin books, imprint, editors, authors, guides, book publisher, books, eyewitness, dictionary, encyclopedia, publisher

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Ideas pay off when you really grab a reader.

This is the first and primary litmus test I use when I'm evaluating an idea-does this idea have the power to keep a reader turning pages?

 I find my relationships with ideas take the following course:

1. Think of good idea. Often feels like being struck by lightning. Nice warm glow permeates body. (Thinking of bad idea takes about ten seconds, and is the mental equivalent of wadding up a piece of paper and tossing it into the garbage.)
   
   
2. Madly embrace idea as the best one I have ever had. Let the obsessing over idea begin. Wife exhibits saintly patience as I continually ponder various aspects and execution of idea.
   
   
3. Dance around with the idea, gathering related ideas that can deepen the story, do initial research, and then start writing.
   
   
4. Start to worry that I am not doing justice to the idea (usually when you get to the middle of the book. I describe middles of books as where ideas, badly executed, stumble and die. Think of a book you didn't care for, and it's often the middle that seems wanting.) Keep plugging away, hope that I'm doing right by the idea, do my best to keep it fresh and interesting, remind myself I've done written books before and try not to fall into the paralyzing trap of eternal second-guessing.
   
   
5. Finish the book with a last bit of confidence that I did the best I could, and hope that readers will enjoy my take on the idea. This reader did, in one of the kindest e-mails I have ever gotten: