HOW A BOOK IS MADE:

THE EDITOR

Meet Cathy Martin, editor.

Cathy is the

Commissioning Editor for

all the ‘Read On’ books

including, of course, Lone

Wolf. This means she

came up with ideas for the

books and found authors

and illustrators to make

those ideas a reality!

Cathy is going to tell you

about the many parts of

the process for putting

together Lone Wolf.

Cathy says …

My role as editor of ‘Read On’ involved coming up

with and researching the idea of the whole series,

and then working with a team of creative people

to make it happen.

I first talked to teenagers in different schools

about the kind of books they enjoyed reading. Of

course, horror was a popular choice. One boy told

me he would like to read a story where a bloody

heart was ripped from someone’s body!

Editing Lone Wolf

We were delighted that Alan Gibbons and his son Robbie

Gibbons were able to write several stories for us. Here is

the email Alan sent me with their first ideas:

Editing Lone Wolf

To: Cathy MartinFrom: Alan Gibbons

Cathy,The stories:How to be a superheroGladiator time slipPossibly The Wolf Within - a werewolf story. Alan G

The werewolf story sounded

like it was just what we

were looking for. Robbie

wrote a short summary of

the story and then the full

manuscript of Lone Wolf

arrived.

The editing process for Lone

Wolf was very

straightforward, as the first

draft of the story was so

strong. There were just a

few corrections to make.

Editing Lone Wolf A sample page from the real manuscript

The biggest decision was what to show in

the illustrations.

In horror stories, as in horror films, the

most scary moments are not when you see

something horrible but when it is heard or

suggested.

For most of the book we decided to focus

on Danny’s thoughts and feelings as a boy,

and to let readers imagine the werewolf for

themselves. However, Matt Timson, our

amazing illustrator, didn’t agree! He

thought readers would definitely want to

see the transformation on the page.

Editing Lone WolfSo, thanks to him, we have this image of Danny turning into a wolf on page 42.

Our designer Nigel laid out the

book, we did some final checks

and edits to make sure the text

was just right, Paul finalised

the cover, and then the files

were sent to the printer.

Editing Lone WolfThe cover

The final pages

 Ten weeks

later, Lone

Wolf was

here!

Editing Lone Wolf

As an editor, nothing beats the thrill of holding a finished book in your

hands. It was great to see those blood splashes and claw marks in the

design, and the wonderful artwork to draw readers into Robbie and

Alan’s story. We may not have had a bloody heart but we certainly had

an exciting and gruesome book ready to share. – Cathy Martin