Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a long-time book editor. I got my first job in publishing in 1980 after grad school, and worked for three major NYC publishers for over two decades. Then I started my own business. Editing is still my day job, and I love it!
Here is my official bio:
Leslie Wells left her small Southern town in 1979 for graduate school in Manhattan, after which she got her first job in book publishing. She has edited forty-eight New York Times bestsellers in her over thirty-year career, including thirteen number one New York Times bestsellers. Leslie has worked with numerous internationally known authors, musicians, actors, actresses, television and radio personalities, athletes, and coaches. She lives on Long Island, New York.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
I began writing Come Dancing in 2009, on the thirtieth anniversary of my arrival in New York City. I wanted to describe what it was like in the years 1979-1981, when Manhattan was still rough along the edges. When SoHo was still the domain of artists and galleries, and the occasional local bar or cafe. And when nightclubs like the Palladium, the Roxy, Danceteria, and the Mudd Club attracted a huge mix of people from many different strata of society.
Back then, you could go out dancing and run into just about anyone: actors, politicians, rock musicians. Celebrities weren’t surrounded by bodyguards; the assumption was that if you were allowed into a club, you were cool. No one was going to harass anybody; after all, this was downtown. And there were no cell phones back then. People didn’t walk around with a camera in their pockets 24/7—so if you were famous, you didn’t have to worry about being photographed every time you turned around. That made for a much more open atmosphere, where regular people rubbed shoulders with the glitterati as everyone cut loose on the dance floor.
I also wanted to write about book publishing before the advent of e-readers and computers, when we were all lugging home 400-page manuscripts every night. As with the music biz, the changes have been seismic. Unfortunately the salaries are pretty much the same, especially for assistants (when you account for inflation). I really did find those lavender shoes (that I write about in the novel) on the street, and I wore them until they fell apart.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I am a bit of an insomniac and a very early riser, so often I’m writing from 3 am to 7 am. Then I get my kids to school and start my day job, which is editing other people’s books!
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I love Lauren Weisberger’s The Devil Wears Prada and Jennifer Weiner’s Good In Bed, as well as Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones’s Diary, Allison Pearson’s I Don’t Know How She Does It, and Alice Clayton’s Wallbanger. I also adore Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity, Jay McInerney’s Bright Lights, Big City, and Tom Wolfe’s Bonfire of the Vanities. I really like fiction with a sense of humor! But I would never suggest that I’m as good a writer as these authors — I just admire their work.
What are you working on now?
Right now I’m starting to write the sequel to Come Dancing.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I am such a novice at this that I don’t know the answer to this question yet. I do have a website, www.lesliewellsbooks.com, which has received some very nice comments. I put some bonus scenes on my site; I thought they would be interesting to people who read the novel.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
When revising your work, it helps to read your manuscript out loud; you’ll hear things that you missed when reading silently (word repetitions, for instance). And do ask a few beta readers for their input once you have made all of the edits that you can do on your own. Finally, always have someone copyedit your work, because you don’t want it to have typos or punctuation mistakes.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“Don’t be afraid to ask.” With my Southern background, I was brought up to be very polite and not to ask for anything outright. But when I got to New York City, one of my friends told me that if I never asked for anything (a raise, a job, a recommendation), then I would never get it. “The worst thing they can say is no,” my friend told me. And I’ve found that, particularly if you ask nicely and respectfully, often people are happy to help.
What are you reading now?
Here a few books that I have read recently, and really liked:
The One Plus One by Jojo Moyes (engaging and funny story about the nature of family)
I’m a Stranger Here by Bill Bryson (the most hilarious nonfiction writer on earth)
Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson (so funny about her shockingly awful childhood)
The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner (very intense but beautifully written, great on NYC in the 70s)
I Was Told There’d By Cake by Sloane Crosley (funny material about present day life in NYC)
I just finished A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra. I had never read a novel set in Chechnya; it was fascinating and also horrifying.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I am working on the sequel to Come Dancing.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust (this is cheating because it has five volumes)
Ulysses by James Joyce
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
Author Websites and Profiles
Leslie Wells Website
Leslie Wells Amazon Profile
Leslie Wells’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
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