 |
|
| Jamie Raab | |
For co-founder Jamie Raab, the key qualities the division is looking for in nonfiction are similar to those they want in fiction: strong storytelling and compelling, original ideas from both established authors and new talent. There are no hard and fast rules about subject matter: Celadon Books is interested in works of narrative nonfiction, memoir, history, politics, biography, investigative journalism and science
This has led Celadon Books to buy an eclectic mix of nonfiction titles, from memoirs to "big think" books, from humor to books by outstanding journalists. Thus, for example, it's signed up This Chair Rocks by Ashton Applewhite, which as Raab says, "takes on the last 'ism' "--ageism--as well as Why Don't You Write My Eulogy So I Can Correct It?, "a wonderful book of humor" by Patricia Marx and Roz Chast.
For now, Celadon Books is avoiding practical nonfiction such as self-help, cookbooks, diet, as well as celebrity books. But there is flexibility. "If a well-known personality is writing his/her own book that is infused with a strong point of view and emotional impact, we'd be interested," Raab explains.
Raab has a special interest in "big think" books; as someone who "came to book publishing from the world of magazines," she has, she says, "always been interested in figuring out what is happening in the zeitgeist before it actually takes root." As a result, she's edited books by such original thinkers as Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Michael Moore, Amy Sedaris, Admiral William McRaven, and Jane Goodall, among others. And as a publisher, she proudly oversaw the publication of books by Ted Kennedy, Al Franken, Eric Schmidt and Henry Paulson, among others. She would like to continue that tradition and make Celadon Books a publishing home to thought leaders in history, politics, current events and culture.
As much as she is drawn to nonfiction, Raab emphasizes that she also has "a deep love of fiction." She has edited and/or published Nicholas Sparks, Nelson DeMille, Anne Rivers Siddons, Sandra Brown, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child and David Baldacci, among others. She's also proud of having launched the careers of new novelists and seeing first novels like Billie Letts's Where the Heart Is and Lalita Tademy's Cane River be selected by Oprah's book club.