Olivia Roy

Assistant Editor, LitKanmani

That’s how my boss shut me up. 

It was a post-lunch meeting, and we were struggling to keep our eyes open. Despite this, arguments were flying back and forth during our editorial meeting, a typical part of the editorial process in publishing. The team was not fully satisfied with the manuscript we had received, but my colleague and I saw potential in it. I went a little beyond just my usual editor’s saviour complex. I was trying to think of the company as a brand and looking at the investments at stake. I wanted to think of ways that would keep our “client” happy and forgot, for once, that our main focus is to produce and promote good, deserving literature. Not to simply chase the profits of publishing a work that may not meet our editorial standards, but just enough to be a matter of discussion.

Some books do become bestsellers and show signs of that even in their early developmental stages. But that doesn’t always mean they align with a publisher's vision or contribute to the kind of literary publishing we want to stand for.

And that’s when my boss reminded me of my job, which is to focus on the quality of work we are committing ourselves to. When a publisher signs a book deal with an author, it should be with the intention to build long-term author partnerships, not just push out books for the sake of it. That’s where publishing ethics come in.

Akshaya Mohan, founder of LitKanmani, words this investment as:

“The author is someone we invest in emotionally, financially, and with all our time and energy. It's not just their work that we adopt, but the person. Everything that they feel and experience becomes personal to us, too. We become friends, coworkers, confidantes, managers, investors, caretakers, coaches, and more.”

Two years into the job of an Assistant Editor, and I learnt a lesson that day: not to be swayed by potential alone. We’re not in the business of churning out marketable content. We’re here to remain grounded while working with stories that genuinely represent voices that matter in the long run. If every author were seen as a client, then as publishers, we’d risk accepting manuscripts that don’t match our publishing standards, brand tone, or market strategy. That’s not how traditional publishing is meant to work.

This is what publishing integrity looks like, and it’s something that feels like it’s slowly disappearing from the industry. Publishers make careful, strategic decisions about what to acquire, edit, and promote—not just based on commercial gain, but on editorial judgement, market knowledge, and the overall direction of the imprint.

We’re not just choosing a book. We’re choosing to back a voice that can thrive in this ecosystem. That commitment extends far beyond paying advances or covering the costs of editing, design, printing, marketing, and distribution, often without any guarantees of return.

The substantial risk that a publisher takes sets the tone for a true author-publisher relationship. It is not transactional. It’s based on shared belief—betting on the success of both the book and the author. This financial and emotional commitment defines what it means to build an author’s career, not just release a product. Because getting published by a traditional publisher shouldn’t just mean “getting a book out”—it should mean finding someone who cares enough to be all-in, long before the first sale happens.