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Books make a life
by Andrew Seguin
 After graduating from the University of Chicago, Gretchen Young Baxter ’80 was unsure of what to do with herself. She had been working as a receptionist at Good Morning America during her summer vacations, so television seemed a natural career to pursue. Ms. Young became a television producer, but after years in that field she realized that there was a part of her — the part of her with a master’s degree in Spanish literature — that wanted a change. That change came when she was offered a position in Harper Collins’ audio book department, and discovered that book publishing was the career she was meant for.
Ms. Young is now an executive editor at Hyperion Books, where she has edited dozens of New York Times bestsellers. Her taste is wide-ranging: She works with authors as varied as Caroline Kennedy, George Carlin, Joe Torre and George Stephanopoulos, and has edited books on topics from the planet Mars to politics to music.
Ms. Young credits Chapin with fueling her interest in books. “My English, French and Spanish teachers at Chapin really made me care about literature,” she said. “One of the best things that happened to me in high school was entering Chapin’s Margaret Emerson Bailey Creative Writing Contest. I worked hard and wrote something, and I loved what I wrote, but it was sloppily written and poorly presented,” she added. “It was originally deemed unacceptable for the contest, but after reconsideration it was accepted. Amazingly, I won first prize.”
An experience like that has been a boon to Ms. Young, given the range of authors she handles — a scribbled first draft may end up as a bestseller, but not without considerable work. “Sometimes I work with an author to come up with a concept, sometimes I tell the author what chapters in the book work and where they should go, and sometimes I’m poring over every word. The process depends on the writer.”
It’s a process that Ms. Young finds empowering, because the end result is literature that can empower others. “I’ve never felt so passionate about a book as I have about Don Cheadle’s book, Not on Our Watch,” she said. The book, which the Hotel Rwanda star co-authored with human rights activist John Prendergast, examines ways in which ordinary people can help to stop the genocide in Darfur and beyond. “It’s a book that’s trying to do some good,” Ms. Young added.
The message that books can do some good may be hard to hear these days, given the fact that people, especially students, are inundated with so many technological distractions, but it’s one that Ms. Young is determined to share. “I’m committed to the written word,” Ms. Young said. “No matter how much one book fails, you never lose the fire or the desire to find the next book that will resonate.”
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