Meet the Emma Press editors: Yen-Yen Lu

The Emma Press is introducing a new element to pamphlet submissions: authors get to choose the editor they would like to read their submission in the first round. This doesn't mean that you have to have this editor if your book is chosen, and nor does it guarantee that your chosen editor will be the one who reads your manuscript in the first round, but we will try our best.

We've put together profiles of all four Emma Press editors, to help you decide which editor might look most favourably on your manuscript. We do recommend that you read all four profiles and give them some thought, but don't agonise over your decision – if the editor reading your manuscript thinks it's good but might appeal to another editor more, they will pass it on to them.

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Hello, I'm... Yen-Yen Lu.

Mandatory editor selfie

in front of bookcase

I'm hoping to find... honest, earthy, and diverse writing. I’m interested in young adult, coming-of-age stories, particularly ones that break traditions and subvert tropes and stereotypes.

Three of my favourite books are... Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han, A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers by Xiaolu Guo.

I wish I'd published... The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. I was completely in awe the first time I read it. She wrote fearlessly about a very difficult subject matter (police brutality and the Black Lives Matter movement), and told an authentic and impactful story which still ended on a somewhat hopeful note.

I wish I'd written... Am I Normal Yet? by Holly Bourne. The way she integrated the protagonist’s anxious OCD thoughts into the text was very simple but creative and I love how her characters in this series were so unapologetically flawed.

I've got a soft spot for... stories about friendship! It feels as though they are still undervalued in literature or written as secondary to stories about family or romantic love and it would be nice to see more of them.

I'm less keen on... clichés.

My advice to anyone thinking of submitting is... Ask yourself: 'What did it cost to write this?' This was something that my creative writing lecturer would say to me and I found it useful to think about when trying to write something authentic or personal.

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This round of pamphlet submissions ends on 10th December 2017. See the Emma Press website for guidelines.