3 Books With Neil Pasricha Chapter 160: Nita Prose on mastering manuscripts and making Molly the Maid
Happy Flower Moon, everyone!
Up in Toronto we're experiencing a wonderful blooming, a beautiful bird migration, and lots of slowly-getting-warmer days as we inch towards summer.
With this warm spring breeze I'm thrilled to welcome our latest 3 Books guest: a luminous force in publishing, a powerhouse editor-turned-author, and a wonderful storyteller ... the one and only Nita Prose!
Today Nita is best known for her Molly the Maid mystery series which features three main titles and a holiday edition—'The Maid,' 'The Mystery Guest,' 'The Mistletoe Mystery,' and 'The Maid's Secret'—which have collectively sold over 2 million copies.
Raised in Ontario's Simcoe County, Nita began her career by contributing to literary magazines, became a production editor with HarperCollins, and then became a Senior Editor at Doubleday.
She then held the lofty publishing position of Vice President and Editorial Director at Simon & Schuster Canada and oversaw titles by authors like Rupi Kaur (@rupikaur_), Kate Morton (@katemortonauthor), Iain Reid (@tidydissolve), and... me!
Nita was the editor of my book on resilience 'You Are Awesome: How To Navigate Change, Wrestle with Failure, and Live an Intentional Life' which came out in 2019 and my book on gratitude and community 'Our Book Of Awesome,' which came out in 2022.
Nita has since left publishing to write full-time and today her phenomenal career and perspectives offer a true publishing and writing masterclass.
Tune in as we discuss: What does an editor actually do? How do you get a job in publishing? What writing routines structure Nita's stories? Why might you keep the novel you're writing a secret from your long-term partner? How do you write an allegory? And (of course!) which 3 books most shaped her life?
We talk about creating characters grounded in emotional truths, measuring success within the labyrinth-like writing industry, the importance of reading across genres, and much, much more.
Let's flip the page to Chapter 160 now...