Molly O'Neill

Molly believes that if she can visualize exactly how to form a web of connections around a book and its creator while reading an early draft, it is a fantastic signal that she knows how to help that author or artist build a meaningful, and potentially lucrative, career.

When reading a manuscript, she thinks about building connections with the editor who will buy and champion the work, the publishing team who will bring it to life, and the teachers, librarians, booksellers, and other professional book mavens who will put it into the right hands.

Most of all, she focuses on the readers whose lives will be entertained, improved, challenged, informed, or delighted by the book, noting that the stronger those connections, the more likely a book will live on forever.