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KRISHAN TROTMAN
AUTHOR, EDITOR, AND PUBLISHER AT HACHETTE BOOK GROUP
Krishan's ability for storytelling has lead her to being and editor and publisher at Hachette Book Group. She followed her passion for writing as well and wrote The Queens of the Resistance, a series that inspires women to get into politics and to become change makers.
THE MUG 10
TEN QUESTIONS THAT UNLOCK REAL STORIES OF SUCCESS.
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AT A GLANCE
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I am able to make my patients feel comfortable and well cared for while using my analytical brain to give them the best dermatologic care possible.
My unique genius is my ability to be exacting and my love for narrative and language and using those skills to help my authors tell their stories.
WHAT IS YOUR
UNIQUE GENIUS?
how did you become interested in this career?
IN THE FIFTH GRADE
I realized I wanted to be a writer when I was in the fifth grade. My teacher told me that she loved my story about aliens and asked me to read it out loud to the class. When I did, everyone loved it — they were so into my story. That really sparked my writing career.
I became interested in [editing] because I was in a publishing certificate program and I was looking to see what I could do in the publishing arena that incorporated my writing skills, my love for books, and my love for collaboration and storytelling. I found that it was editing.
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IN WHAT WAYS IS THIS JOB
A PERFECT FIT FOR YOU?
I'm have a big imagination.
I am a storyteller.
I love making an impact.
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Publishing is a perfect fit for me because I enjoy storytelling. I enjoy working with others from collaborating on a marketing campaign to thinking about how to push the books out into the world. I also enjoy working line by line with authors on their stories or [figuring out] how to formulate a sentence to really bring [it] to life. I just love educating audiences in a creative way.
WHAT SKILLS DOES IT TAKE TO BE SUCCESSFUL AT YOUR JOB?
WORKING WITH PEOPLE
You have to like working with people. You have to be a good communicator and you have to be someone who enjoys sharing your ideas in a way that people who may not do your job can really understand it.
You also have to love books. Obviously, you have to read a lot — not only the books that you're working on, but in general. You have to keep your passion for books alive. You want to learn about what are the other books in the marketplace.
I am able to make my patients feel comfortable and well cared for while using my analytical brain to give them the best dermatologic care possible.
WHAT DO YOU WISH YOU KNEW WHEN YOU WERE YOUNGER?
CREATE THE LIFE YOU WANT
I wish I knew when I was younger that I could have stuck with being a writer. I felt a lot of pressure to get a corporate job coming from a working class family. I didn't think that publishing as a writer was going to bring me the sort of lifestyle and income that I aspire to have. But I've learned that writers [can] make tons of money.
If you stick with it and you really listen to your editor and your agent and figure out how to grow your career, [writing can] be a very lofty career.
I am able to make my patients feel comfortable and well cared for while using my analytical brain to give them the best dermatologic care possible.
IN YOUR BODY OF WORK, WHAT ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF?
MAKING A CHANGE
I get to contribute to social change. I find that is most gratifying when I publish a book [that gives a] voice to communities that have not had a voice. I'm happy that I get to contribute a list of books into the world every year that will have impact on how we live and how we think.
WHAT'S THE MOST CHALLENGING PART OF YOUR JOB?
MANAGING THE WORKLOAD
The most challenging part is keeping up with the workload because there's just so many different areas of what I do. I scout the books, I edit the books, I have meetings with the team on the production end. There's just so many different areas of what I'm doing that involves editing, selling, and marketing these books.
WHAT'S 1 THING PEOPLE DON'T KNOW OR UNDERSTAND ABOUT YOUR JOB?
MY JOB INCLUDES SALES
One thing people don't know about the job of an editor is the amount of selling that's involved. An editor is not just sitting behind their desk on a computer working on a manuscript. A lot of people go into editing because they're introverts and that's what they want to do. But a huge part of the job is actually selling the book to the world.
WHAT WAS A DEFINING MOMENT OF YOUR LIFE?
LANDING MY JOB AT HACHETTE
When I decided that I was going to leave the smaller publisher because I was not happy there, I did not think that I [could] get a job at a big publisher [again] because there's only a few in New York. I had left a big publisher a while back to pursue travel and other things I wanted to do after I graduated. But, I got a call from a major publisher to come work there as a senior editor.
I learned that there is opportunity and usually it's about speaking to people, letting them know what you're interested in and just finding a connection with the right person that could hire you.
INDUSTRY STATISTICS
PUBLISHER
PROJECTED GROWTH
Projected Growth: -2% or lower
Projected Openings: 10,200
AVERAGE ANNUAL SALARY RANGE
$38,400-$145,240
TOP SKILLS FOR THIS JOB
Writing
Networking
Storytelling
Collaborating
WORK ENVIRONMENT
Attention to detail
Leadership
Initiative
Dependability
TRAINING + DEGREE REQUIREMENTS
bachelor's degree or master's degree usually needed