Writerland » Writing

Ben Fountain: Author Interview

Meghan Ward — Tue, 15 May 2012 08:01:26 +0000

Today I had the pleasure to meet Ben Fountain, who came to lunch at the San Francisco Writers’ Grotto. Ben’s first novel, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, debuted this month. His short story collection, Brief Encounters with Che Guevara, won a PEN/Hemingway award, a Barnes & Noble Discover Award for Fiction, a Whiting Writers Award, an O. Henry Prize, and two Pushcart prizes. His fiction has been published in the Paris Review, Harper’s, and Zoetrope: All-Story, and his nonfiction has appeared in he New York Times and elsewhere. He lives in Dallas, Texas.

Ben will be reading at Book Passage in Corte Madera at 7 p.m. tonight night (Tuesday, May 15). In his quiet, self-deprecating manner, Ben calls himself a 54-year-old debut novelist.

MW: Can you tell us about your new book?

BF: It is generally speaking about football, cheerleaders, the Iraq war, capitalism, family, sex, death, and the general insanity of American life. Specifically, it’s about a group of eight American soldiers who are in the United States for two weeks doing a public relations tour to boost support for the Iraq war. The book takes place on the very last day of their tour. They’re guests of honor at a Dallas Cowboys game. And after that they go right back to Iraq, back into combat.

MW: Were you in the Iraq war?

BF: No.

MW: How did you research the book?

BF: I read lots of soldier memoirs, lots of reportage. Every magazine article that I came across I would put in the file, and after three or four years or research I had four or five big, thick files. I got to know a couple of vets of this war and had conversations with others. But there were two main relationships.

MW: Is your protagonist based on one of those relationships?

BF: No. Bits and pieces, but the main character, Billy Lynn, is really someone from my own head.

MW: So you spent three to four years researching before you began writing?

BF: Yeah, I was writing other things. So when I would read at night or on vacation, I would read something about the war. I was working on a novel called The Texas Itch at the time, which crashed and burned.

MW: Why?

BF: It wasn’t good enough.

MW: What wasn’t good enough about it?

BF: It took too long to get going, and the plot relied too heavily on arcane matters of law, at least according to my editor.

MW: And before that you wrote a collection of short stories?

BF: Correct. It’s called Brief Encounters with Che Guevara, the stories that I wrote between 1999 and 2004. I started writing in 1988, and I wrote for a good ten years before I started writing work that really pleased me. So all the stories in that book came after I’d been doing this for ten years.

MW: Who are your favorite authors?

BF: Robert Stone, Joan Didion, Walker Percy, Norman Mailer. I think Mailer went as far as any writer I’ve come across in trying to figure out the American Psyche—along with Joan Didion and Robert Stone. I think Fitzgerald wrote the Great American Novel.

MW: The Great Gatsby.

BF: Yes, which I didn’t like for many years. It wasn’t until I was in my 30s that I really appreciated it. And now I read it every few years, and I’m more and more ravished by it.

MW: What is it about it that ravishes you?

BF: He got it all. In one sense, the essence of American life in that love and identity are so bound up in money and also the idea of reinventing the self on the basis of money. And it’s a heartbreaking love story and a wonderful love story.

MW: What is your writing routine?

BF: Five days a week I’m at my desk by 8 and I work until lunch, say noon, and I read The New Yorker while I’m eating lunch, then I’ll lie down on the floor by my desk for 20 minutes, then I’ll get up and write for a couple more hours—so between 5 and 6 hours. And then I’m done. So I’ll go out and try to sweat at that point—run or ride the bike or work in the yard. I also like to work on Saturdays, but I’m not real hard on myself on Saturdays. I’ll work for half a day and make notes.

MW: Do you have goals during the week for how much you want to get done in those 5-6 hours?

BF: No, not as far as words or pages, no.

MW: You mentioned at lunch that you’d written one other novel.

BF: There were two. I worked on the Haiti novel from ’91-’96 and then there was The Texas Itch that we talked about.

MW: What happened to the Haiti novel?

BF: I got an agent for it, and we got respectful responses from the big publishers and the small publishers, but nobody would take it. It just wasn’t good enough. It was a very labored piece of work. It was very much an apprentice piece of work.

MW: How so?

BF: I didn’t know how to skip steps back then. I thought everything had to be spelled out, and everything had to be in its own dedicated scene. I hadn’t figured out how to go straight to the heart of it when that was called for. There was lots of bloat in that book.

MW: Was it long?

BF: Yes, it was about 600 manuscript pages.

MW: What did you do differently in your new novel?

BF: I’ve gotten better at knowing what to leave out and maybe become a bit more skillful at leaving it out. But the words that are in there carry all that weight. I suppose something I’ve gotten better at is compression and concentration, getting as much bang as I can out of each page.

MW: How did you develop that skill?

BF: By writing. That’s the only way to do it.

MW: You mentioned at lunch “keeping it simple?”

BF: Yes, it helps if you aren’t very smart to keep it simple, and that’s where I’ve come out.

MW: What are you working on now?

BF: I turned in the final version of this book in mid-January. That was on a Friday, and on Monday I started this new thing. I didn’t know if it would be a long short story or a novella or something in between. It was just something I wanted to write, and I thought it doesn’t have to be anything because I just finished a book, but it seems to be developing into a novel. It starts in Nicaragua and ends in Haiti.

MW: Are you using any of the research you did for your first Haiti novel?

BF: Well, I continue to go to Haiti. I started going in 1991 specifically for that novel, but I’ve been going there twice a year since then. So I’m drawing on all of my experiences there—twenty years’ worth.

MW: Why do you go to Haiti twice a year?

BF: I’m connected now. I’ve got two godchildren there. I’ve got a lot of friends there.

MW: How much time did you spend in Haiti when you were researching your first novel?

BF: I was going two to three times a year for two to three weeks at a time. But then I would have a specific agenda. Now it’s much looser. I get to see my friends and just see where things take me.

MW: How important is it for writers to read?

BF: I think it’s really important. Maybe there are certain times when you step back from reading anything serious. I’m sure there are writers who don’t read much of anything, but for most of us, if nothing else, it’s a great pleasure. It’s one of the pleasures of living, so why not.

MW: How much do you read?

BF: I read The New Yorker and The New York Review of Books, and I’ll skip around in Harper’s. Lately I subscribe to The Paris Review. I think really interesting things are happening in there. And books. I try to keep a French book going and a poetry book going.

MW: Do you speak French?

BF: I read it, but my speaking is pretty bad.

MW: What is your last favorite book that you read?

BF: This will sound kind of snobby, but René Depestra is a wonderful Haitian writer. I think he should get the Nobel Prize. He wrote this wonderful book of short stories called Eros dans un train chinois. It’s hysterical and wonderful and tender and full of humanity. At the back of it, he has a glossary of slang terms for the male sex and the female sex, and it’s hysterical. That’s worth the price of the book.

MW: Is it translated?

BF: No, it’s in French. My last favorite thing in English is Of A Fire On the Moon by Normal Mailer. It’s his reportage on the Apollo 11 moon shot.

MW: What do you think of the changes going on in the publishing industry?

BF: I think everyone’s running around looking for their ass. Nobody really knows what’s coming. Borders is gone, that was a huge part of the bookseller market. B&N seems to be hanging in there. I think the e-book revolution is really turning things upside down.

MW: Do you have an e-reader?

BF: No. I’m not really a gadget person. I like books. I like the way they feel and I like the way they sell. E-books, as far as I can tell, have no smell.

MW: You don’t have a website.

BF: No.

MW: Why not?

BF: It would be another thing to take care of. I try not to look at e-mail until the afternoons. It’s hard enough to do this work without having a million distractions coming at you. And plus I’m just not that interested. Instead of doing a website, I’d much rather be reading.

MW: Is it possible to make a living as a full-time fiction writer?

BF: For me, for the first fifteen years I would have starved a thousand times over if not for my wife. Now I’m making enough that I could pay rent, pay for groceries. Paying for health insurance would probably be beyond reach.

MW: But you’re not interested in teaching?

BF: I like teaching, but for me it takes a lot of time and energy, and I’m very wary of any kind of path that would have me teaching full time.

MW: Because it would take away from your writing time?

BF: Yeah. Writing time and energy. It’s what you walk around with in your head. Are you walking around with your story in your head or sixteen students’ stories that you’re trying to do justice to?

MW: Do you think it’s important to write every day?

BF: Everybody’s got to figure out their own way. For me it’s important to write five or six days a week. I’m pretty slow, so that’s the only way I’d get anywhere.

Hemingway and I: So Different and Yet So … Different

Meghan Ward — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 06:35:36 +0000

There are some obvious ways in which Hemingway and I differ:

He was male; I’m female

He’s dead; I’m alive

He was one of the greatest writers who ever lived; I’m a writer.

But then there are some not-so-obvious ways in which we differ, too, and I discovered those while reading The Paris Wife by Paula McClain last week (which I loved). For those of you who haven’t read it, it’s told from the POV of Hemingway’s first wife, Hadley Richardson. Kristan Hoffman wrote two posts that will make you want to read it. But I don’t want to discuss the book. I want to discuss Hemingway and all the ways we differ.

I lived in Paris during my late teens/early 20s, and I read A Moveable Feast, Hemingway’s autobiography about his years there, during that time. The only scene I remember from A Moveable Feast was one in which Hemingway discreetly bends over while sitting on a park bench to break the neck of a pigeon, so he can take it home for his wife to cook for dinner. They were that poor.

But A Paris Wife paints a very different picture. Although McClain acknowledges that the Hemingways lived a modest lifestyle in comparison to some of their wealthy friends, like Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, that modest income was comparable to about $40,000 in today’s dollars, which went a LONG way in France in 1925, when one dollar could buy 22 francs, and their cleaning woman, Marie Cocotte, charged 2 francs per hour. That means for $.09/hour, or $1.17 in today’s dollars, Marie Cocotte not only did their dishes and prepared their meals every morning but came back most afternoons to prepare their dinners as well.

When Bumby, the Hemingways’ first child, was born, Marie Cocotte frequently took care of him, often staying late into the night and sometimes spending weeks at a time with him in Paris, in the South of France or in Brittany while the Hemingways were off skiing in the Alps or watching the fiesta in Pamplona. I can’t help but think how much writing I could get done if I, too, had a cleaning woman/nanny taking care of my children and cooking me gourmet French meals for $1.17 an hour. Sure, I’d have to put up with cold showers, a lack of heat, and stinky squat toilets down the hall from my tiny apartment. It would be a lot like the trip I took to India in the 90s, only without the giardia and other intestinal parasites that left me writhing in pain every week or two. But wouldn’t it be worth it to finally write that Pulitzer Prize-winning novel? (If only the Pulitzer board were still giving out prizes for novels.) To finally win that Nobel prize?

Now that Europe is more expensive than the United States, I’m thinking Honduras might be the place, or Bali. We could start a new ex-pat generation without all the absinthe and bullfights. A few smoothies, a little yoga, and I’m sure plenty of drama would ensue. Who’s in? I’ll meet you on the beach at sunset, where I’ll be working on my next novel: The Sun Also Sets.

When Should We Limit Literary License?

Meghan Ward — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 23:24:15 +0000

An interesting discussion took place over lunch here at the San Francisco Writers’ Grotto last week. The topic: literary license. The talk was sparked by The Lifespan of a Fact, a book co-authored by essayist John D’Agata, who teaches at the University of Iowa, and his former fact checker, Jim Fingal, that was published by W.W. Norton in February. It all started in 2003 when D’Agata wrote an essay for Harper’s about the suicide of a teenager in Las Vegas. Harper’s ended up pulling the piece because it was riddled with factual errors, but D’Agata resold the essay to The Believer, where he met Jim Fingal, who became his fact checker—for the next SEVEN YEARS. The result is The Lifespan of a Fact, a curious juxtaposition of the original text of the essay alongside the correspondence between D’Agata and Fingal about whether the information in the essay is factual (for the record, some of the correspondence was fabricated specifically for the publication of the book, so the book itself is as spurious as the original essay). For example, in response to the line, “It’s estimated that only 40 percent of suicides are the result of chemical imbalance”), Jim responds, “No source for this, and I couldn’t find anything that says this.” Dispute over the first line of the essay runs on for two pages.

D’Agata defends his factual “errors” by claiming that he is an essayist, not a nonfiction writer. But what is the difference? That is what Grottoites heatedly disputed over tuna sandwiches and tofu stir fries last week—the distinction between fact and fiction, between essays and nonfiction, and whether there should be a new category altogether, one for stories that are 98% true. (If all the facts in a story are true except for the details about the weather, the color of a car that was parked in front of a train station, and the name of one of the characters, should the story still be labeled fiction?)

In one camp are the journalists who believe that no work should be labeled nonfiction unless it is 100% factual. That includes calling a red car red and not blue. The assumption is that an essay—unless stated otherwise—is nonfiction. In the other camp are the memoirists, who, having learned that it is nearly impossible to write an autobiography that is dramatic enough to sell without fudging some of the details, are a little more lenient about the “truth.” One Grotto memoirist said she thinks it’s okay to say a conversation that took place on a telephone really took place in a restaurant (assuming that the location of the conversation bears no significance on the story and that the transfer of the conversation is merely to add some color.) Another writer disagreed, stating that that is taking too much literary license. Barring extreme cases like James Frey’s A Million Little Pieces and Greg Mortenson’s Three Cups of Tea, both of which fudged much more than details, most memoirists agree that is okay to:

1. Recreate dialogue to the best of your recollection

2. Fill in details that cannot be verified, like what clothes people were wearing, what the weather was like, and what color car drove past

3. Condense time. Many memoirs take a story that really took place over several years and condense them into fewer, so as not to bore the reader with the passing of too much time during which nothing significant happened.

4. Change the chronological order of events. The point of this is not to exaggerate events but simply to create a narrative that has a strong arc.

5. Disguise characters. In other to protect the privacy of friends and relatives, memoirists often disguise characters by changing their names, their physical characteristics and even their backgrounds or nationalities.

6. Combine characters. Not all memoirists agree on this point (or any of these points for that matter), but some authors combine similar minor characters into one. For example, in my own memoir, I dated several male models. In one scene, I combined two of them into one. Everything that happened is true, and combining the two men does nothing to change the truth of the scene or even to heighten the drama, it just allowed me to add a little more color.

The big difference between memoirs and essays? The disclaimer. Most memoirs have a disclaimer at the beginning stating that the author condensed time, changed the names of characters, or wrote the story “to the best of his/her recollection.” Essays do not. And that was the mistake of D’Agata—to pass off what may be “true” in the metaphorical sense as “fact” without adding a disclaimer. Jonathon Burnham, a senior vice-president at W. W. Norton, points out to NPR writer Travis Larchuk that, “The expectations are different for newspapers, magazines, literary journals and books.” The disclaimer is, according to Burnham, “an almost essential piece of qualifying information that alerts the reader to the fact that not every single word in this book is true.” Like Craig Silverman points out in an article on the Poynter website, newspapers used to use a phrase in the headlines of newspaper articles that weren’t verified: “Important if true.” Maybe it’s time we brought back.

What do you think? Should “truth” be limited to the “facts” in essays and memoirs? Is it okay to fudge details as long as a disclaimer is attached? Do you assume, when you read an essay, that every word is factual? Or do you think it’s okay for essayists, like memoirists, to take some literary license in order to create more colorful, dramatic pieces of writing?

8 Secrets to a Successful Writers’ Group

Meghan Ward — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 08:27:12 +0000

Writers’ groups, also called critique groups, can be invaluable resources for writers. They provide the structure and support of an MFA workshop without the high cost of tuition. But not all writer’s groups are equal. Get in the wrong group, and you may do more harm to your writing than good. How do you know if a group is right for you?

1. Ask questions before you join. Find out how many writers are in the group and what kind of experience they have. Then ask to sit in for a session. This should give you the opportunity to read the other members’ works and discover whether the group is a good fit for you. If you’re a poet, for example, you may want to join a poet’s group. If you’re a literary writer, you may not feel comfortable in a group full of sci-fi and thriller writers.

2. Groups work best when there are rules. There should be page- or word-count limits on submissions. Find out if writers expect written feedback in addition to verbal feedback. There will likely be a set number of writers who get critiqued each night. (For example, my group has a limit of 20 pp per person, three people are critiqued each meeting, and we meet every two weeks.) Some groups don’t allow the writer whose work is being critiqued to talk during the critique to prevent her from getting defensive. Some groups give critiques one at a time followed by a more free-for-all discussion at the end during which the writer whose work is being critiqued can ask questions and the others can respond. Others follow a more open format during which anyone (except the writer whose work is being critiqued) can jump in at any time. It’s important to have a time limit for each writer, and to avoid too much repetition of critiques.

3. Don’t take the criticism personally. Remember, it is your work that is being critiqued, not you. There are no good or bad writers, just beginning writers and more advanced writers. Everyone started at the beginning.

4. Practice humility. This is one of the most challenging aspects of being a writer. It’s not always easy to take criticism—not when you’re a newbie and not when you’re an experienced writer. But if you think your writing is perfect and you refuse to heed anyone’s advice, you may find yourself with six unpublished books in your drawer. Make it your goal to put your ego aside and learn as much as you can from your fellow writers. Do everything you can to improve your writing through better dialogue, a stronger story climax, more well-rounded characters, etc.

5. Don’t make every change everyone suggests. While practicing humility, be careful not to assume that every writer knows more than you, or that they are always correct. They are not always correct. Take note of which suggestions were made by two or more people, and consider making those changes. But do what feels right to you. You can’t please everyone all of the time, and if you did, your writing would be too plebian to be interesting.

6. When giving feedback, use the sandwich technique. A popular method of critiquing someone else’s work is to start with something positive followed by some constructive criticism, and then close on a positive note. Remember, it’s much easier to criticize than to praise. Make an effort to point out the positive aspects of the author’s work. And when providing criticism, don’t just point out what doesn’t work. Make suggestions for how to improve the piece. Your job is to help the author figure out how to become a better writer.

7. Don’t get hung up on copyediting the author’s work. A writer’s group isn’t a place for you to show off your editing skills. Feel free to correct glaring typos and spelling errors in the text, but don’t use your critique as an opportunity to lecture on the virtues of the Oxford comma. Focus on what does and does not work in the dialogue, story arc, character development, descriptions, etc.

8. Read each piece twice—once straight through to get the gist of the story and then a second time with your red pen. If you mark up the text on your first read, you’ll find that many of your questions are answered later in the text. Give the piece a chance to stand on its own before providing it with crutches. Then go back and read it a second time while making notes in the margins.

What about you? Are you in a writer’s group? What suggestions do you have for someone joining a writer’s group for the first time? What has and has not worked for you?

5 Tips For Hiring The Right Freelance Editor

Meghan Ward — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 05:55:30 +0000

As a freelance editor and someone who has hired several freelance editors, I wanted to give my two cents about if/when/how you need to hire an editor. Anne Allen wrote a wonderful post about this topic Sunday as well. Be sure to check it out when you’re done reading this:

1. Do I need a freelance editor?

If you’ve completed your memoir/novel/nonfiction book and plan to upload it to Amazon or Smashwords or one of the many other self-publishing websites, YES, you need an editor. Before your self-publish, your book needs to be as perfect as it can be, and that means—at a minimum—hiring someone to copyedit your manuscript for grammatical, spelling, punctuation, and typographical errors. You may first want to hire a developmental editor to work on the tone, story arc, character development, etc. of your book. That depends on how long you’ve been writing, whether you’ve had your book critiqued by other (successful) writers, and what type of feedback you’ve received. Whatever you do, make sure you have at least two writers or one editor read your book all the way through before you submit it to an agent or upload it for self-publishing.

2. When should I hire a freelance editor?

That depends. If you’ve got a strong network of writing friends reading and critiquing your manuscript, you may not need one. If, like I did, you sent your book through a writer’s group (twice), queried agents, and got several manuscript requests but no book deal, you may want to hire a developmental editor to help you figure out what’s wrong with your book and how you can improve it. Several times I thought I was “done” with my memoir, only to realize after working with an editor that it still needed a fair amount of work.

Do NOT send your book to an editor after the first draft unless you are okay with getting feedback on content ONLY and doing some major rewrites. Do NOT ask an editor to copyedit your first draft. That’s a waste of money. Like I tell my clients, there’s no point in having me correct the spelling and punctuation of chapters that may get deleted. Wait until it’s gone through several rounds of revision before you hire a copyeditor.

3. Where can I find a good freelance editor?

There are many great resources for hiring freelance editors. Editcetera is one. Media Bistro is another. In the Bay Area, we have the Bay Area Editors Forum. And, of course, there’s the Editorial Freelancers Association. Asking a friend for a recommendation is probably your best bet. If you’re not sure which editor to hire, interview him/her. Ask for rates and whether (s)he’s willing to give you a sample edit.

5. How much can you expect to pay?

That varies. Like Anne mentioned, the go-to resource for editing rates is The Editorial Freelancers Association. My rates are $60-$75/hr, and some editors I know charge significantly more than that. Overall, you can expect to pay a minimum of $1000 for a full-length manuscript edit—I typically charge $1500-$2000. I know editors who charge $6000-$7000. More expensive isn’t always better. And less expensive isn’t always a better deal. If you spend $500 on a cheap editor and need to have your manuscript edited all over again, that’s $500 you’ve thrown down the drain. Ask around. And ask potential editors for references.

5. What can you expect from a freelance editor?

There are several different types of editing. Here are the ones you need to know:

A. Developmental editing is the first type of editing you need. Some developmental editors also line edit and copyedit. Some do not. A developmental editor reads for story arc, character development, POV, voice, description, etc. This type of editor is most valuable at the early stages of your writing process—after you’ve written a first or second draft. You want to get the basic elements of a great story nailed before you spend months perfecting each chapter. (EFA rates: $60-80/hour. 1-5 pages/hour.)

B. Line editing, also known as content editing, is line-by-line editing for consistency, tense, tone, clarity, etc. If the manuscript needs developmental editing, a line editor should also provide feedback on the story arc, POV, character development as well. (EFA rates: $50-$60/hour. 1-6 pages/hour.)

C. Copyediting means editing for grammar, punctuation, spelling, typos, etc. Proofreading is a lighter form of copyediting and assumes that the manuscript needs little more than a quick read-through. I recommend all authors planning to self-publish hire someone to copyedit their manuscripts before uploading them for sale. (EFA rates: Basic copyediting: $30-$40/hour; 5-10 pages/hour. Heavy copyediting: $40-$50/hour; 2-5 pages/hour. Proofreading $30-$35/hour; 9-13 pages/hour.)

The important thing to remember about freelance editors is that it is not their job to rewrite your book for you. If your characters are one-dimensional, if your descriptions are clichéd, if your story lacks conflict, you’re better off taking a writing workshop or enrolling in an MFA program than hiring an editor. An editor can point out what’s wrong with your book and give you advice about how to fix it, but (s)he can’t write your book for you. It’s your job to hone your craft every way possible—by writing every day, by reading great books, and by soaking up every bit of writing advice you can through books, classes, workshops, and articles.

What about you? Have you hired a freelance editor? Were you happy with the results? How much are you willing to pay an editor to do a developmental edit on your manuscript? A line edit? What sources would you recommend for finding a good freelance editor?

Does Publicity Sell Books? The Debate Continues

Meghan Ward — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 08:00:18 +0000

Two weeks ago, I wrote a post titled “If Publicity Doesn’t Sell Books, What Does?” in which numerous published authors offered insider tips on how they publicized and marketed theirs books, and numerous writers responded. This week, Paul J. Krupin, a publicist who blogs at Direct Contact PR, offers his perspective on the publicity debate. Paul’s post will make you want to jump out of your chair and join Toastmaster’s. Welcome, Paul!

Response to Publicity Doesn’t Sell Books
By Paul J. Krupin

Quite a number of authors express great frustration and anguish over the fact that the publicity they received didn’t result in lots of book sales.

In fact several of them conclude that publicity doesn’t work.

Their experience with media may be due to a lot of things. But to me what appears to have happened is that whatever the media published certainly didn’t result in them “turning their people on.” I don’t see that as a reason to conclude that “Publicity Doesn’t Work.” I see that a failure to make effective use of any number of golden media opportunities.

In the middle of February, one of my clients, JJ Smith, did one interview on The Steve Harris Morning Show, and sold over 6,000 books and made it to the top of Amazon’s best seller list ahead of The Hunger Games trilogy. Sure, it was only for 24 hours or so, but it was a single talk show interview that did it.

One of my favorite authors, Vince Flynn, did an interview with USA Today on Feb 6. He’s a best selling author of 13 books. He was asked three questions, and he spent one to two minutes more or less, answering each question. I was tickled to see how he handled the last question from the USA Today interviewer, one that he apparently had never been asked before: “What is it about your stories that brings the reader in?” BTW, it worked since I ran to the local bookstore and bought a copy.

For those of you who have worked with me, I challenge you with this very same question: “What do you do that turns people on?” Whenever we seek get media coverage whether it is for a review, a feature story, or an interview.

Think about what happens—just for example, when was the last time you read the newspaper or a magazine or watched TV and grabbed your credit card?

It probably doesn’t happen very often., does it? In today’s world, it may actually happen more often if you read something on a trusted blog or on a friend’s Facebook and they say, “This is cool. You gotta have it.”

Think carefully about the times that it does happen. How did you feel? Weren’t you amazed, galvanized, and stunned? Wasn’t your attention riveted?

Well, if you want publicity or any other marcom (marketing communications) that you create to do that, then you’d better figure out what is happening when it happens to you first. Then you have to learn what you can say and do to make it happen to others.

Realize that if you want to be a successful author, you not only have to write a really good book, but when you get in front of media you need to turn your audience on. You have to learn how to do that or else people won’t respond the way you want them to.

Now I’ll share with you something I’ve learned doing publicity for a few tens of years.

I believe that you can learn to do this anywhere. I call this the miracle of the microcosm because I’ve found from working with real people, from all over the country, that it really doesn’t matter where you are. You can learn what to say that turns people on one person at a time. Yes you can.

You just have to keep talking to people and pay attention to what you said when it happens!

You can ask people at a speaking engagement to tell you. You can have a partner watch the audience and take notes while you are speaking. You can record your talks and track sales or how many people raise their hand or come up to you after your talk. You’ll find hints in your reviewer comments and testimonials where people tell you why they love what you do.

The miracle is that once you learn the magic words that produce the action you want, you can then you can use all the media and other marcom technologies as a force multiplier to repeat the message and keep reproducing the effect.

In a nation with 330 million people, you have very good reason to focus on that message. Even if you are successful in reaching and converting an itsy bitsy tiny percent, you can be phenomenally successful.

Before you think that doing publicity or any other marcom technology is going to help you, you really need to learn what you can say and do that turns your people on. You need to develop a script that produces action.

Can you stand in front of 50 people and talk for three minutes so that half the people come flying out of their chairs and hand you money? That is what you need to be able to do. You need to hit their hot buttons by being the very best you can be. You need to give people a transcendental emotionally engaging experience. Learn how to do this in a small audience and then place that script into your interviews and feature story proposals.

The same is true by the way with social media. The real promise of social media is only achieved when what you’ve done is so good people rave about it to all their friends. If it’s not good enough, it’s just panned.

If you learn how to turn people on, and then use that in your targeted communications so that you help the people you can help the most, you’ll see your success with the media hit maximum levels. This isn’t easy to do. But if you are strategic and test, improve, and prove your communications systematically, it can be done.

Make sure that the content you offer is like candy. Create a recipe that tastes so good that people just can’t get enough of it. and they want the whole bag.

BTW, I’ve created a five minute, self-serve Prezi that describes how to do this process in a highly entertaining and visual way. Here’s the link.

Enjoy.

Paul J. Krupin, Publicist
blog.directcontactpr.com www.directcontactpr.com
Comments welcome. Send them to me anytime paul@directcontactpr.com

If Publicity Doesn’t Sell Books, What Does?

Meghan Ward — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 03:13:10 +0000

UPDATE: The winner of The Edge of Maybe contest is …

KRISTAN!

It was a tough decision for Ericka, so she took her top six choices and randomized them. Kristan, please email me your latest address, so I can forward it to Ericka. And everyone else, if you’re in the Bay Area, don’t miss Ericka’s book launch tonight: A Night On The Edge. I’ll be there!

And now back to our regularly scheduled blog post:

One of the advantages of working out of the San Francisco Writers’ Grotto is all the wonderful conversations—about writing, about publishing, and about marketing—that take place over lunch and on our listserv. Last month, a blog post by Joe Konrath titled “The Value of Publicity” and another by Michael Ellsberg, titled “The Tim Ferriss Effect”, sparked an e-mail thread about what sells books. According to Konrath, the publicity he got in the Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, the LA Times, etc. did nothing to increase his book sales. According to Ellsberg, a spot on prime-time CNN and an editorial he wrote for the New York Times did little to increase his book sales. So, if publicity doesn’t sell books, what does?

According to Konrath, good writing, an extensive backlist and proper positioning on Amazon are the keys to his success: “[M]y fame and my past have little to do with my current success. … The majority of my sales come from Amazon and my ability to use the tools they provide.”

According to Ellsberg, coverage on a popular single-author blog with a wide sphere of influence is what put his book on the map. (By the way, there is a distinction between publicity and marketing. Publicity means spots on radio and television shows, advertising, and articles and book reviews in newspapers and magazines. While publicity is short-lived—the biggest push done within the first month that a book is out—marketing is an ongoing effort that can last months, even years.)

Grotto writers chimed in with their own thoughts about what sells books and, with their permission, I’ve reprinted their comments here:

Zoe Fitzgerald Carter, author of Imperfect Endings: A Daughter’s Tale of Life and Death, agrees with Konrath and Ellsberg: “I certainly found that mentions in The New York Times, excerpts in O magazine, and getting reviewed in People did almost nothing in terms of my sales. And all that endless social media? Not so much …”

Heather Donahue, author of Growgirl: How My Life After the Blair Witch Project Went to Pot emphasizes the importance of “knowing your core audience, knowing that books are a niche business, and having a laser focus on the top 500 individual readers. Finding them. Knowing your tribe and building from there.”

“Having pieces in Slate, The Awl, and The Nervous Breakdown worked every bit as good as being on The View because you want to sell books to people who read them,” Donahue said in an interview. In addition to a Q&A in The Awl/The Hairpin, which The Rumpus cross-posted, and 21 Questions in The Nervous Breakdown, Donahue had an interview in Bust, two pages in Entertainment Weekly, and a healthy response from Facebook, where she has 1286 friends and 549 likes on her professional page. Donahue says that because her book came out quickly, she didn’t have time to build a large following on Twitter, but she thinks the cumulative effect of the marketing she did was every bit as important as the publicity garnered by her publicists—both the in-house publicist her publisher assigned her and the one she hired on her own. Would she still hire a publicist next time? Yes, if she goes with a traditional publisher next time. Donahue spent so much time marketing her book that she would liked to have seen a larger cut of the profits. “I’d rather find a middle ground partner. Someone who could handle some of the design stuff and do more of a 50/50 split on royalties, to share some of the outgoing publication costs but also share on the incoming profits.”

Janis Cooke Newman, author of The Russian Word for Snow: A True Story of Adoption and Mary, a novel about Mary Todd Lincoln, agrees that knowing your tribe is key. “While we like to think that everybody is going to find our books fascinating, the truth is that it is a niche business. One email blast to an online chat group of people interested in adopting from Eastern Europe put my memoir at number 200 on Amazon—at least for a couple of hours—and practically sold out the admittedly meager first printing. And at a recent appearance at a Civil War literary conference, the local bookseller ran out of my novel. National TV is cool, but finding your niche readers and making it easy for them to buy your book—even years after publication—seems to be the best way to keep those royalty checks coming.”

Constance Hale, author of Sin and Syntax and the forthcoming Vex, Hex, Smash, Smooch, echoes Donahue and Newman’s sentiments. “Have a really sharp, really defined sense of who your reader is (emphasis on the “read”) and/or who would buy your book and then think really hard about how to get to that person, how to let that person know your book is out there. … Being in The New Yorker is highly cool, but again, does it put your name on the radar or does it sell books? Are New Yorker readers the ones who will BUY your book and READ your book and then TELL their friends to buy your book?”

Hale cautions, however, that there is no one-size-fits-all solution to zeroing in on your audience. “Every book is different. My readers are writers who want to write better, so I have taught anywhere that gets the title of the book on a course catalog (reaching tens of thousands of people), I have led countless workshops at countless writers conferences, I have given workshops in bookstores, I have worked on tags and SEO on my Web site, I’ve built modest but loyal FB and Twitter and mailing-list followings, and I give out teachers lessons plans for free. I put my book title in every bio I write. I accept all offers for any kind of publicity: I get up for drive-time radio, I write articles for free if I know it gets to my readers. I work closely with the publisher’s publicity people and I hire my own publicist to help me strategize. Not strategize how to get famous. Strategize about how to reach my readers/buyers.

“It’s a one-two punch. Publicity gets your name and your book on the radar,
maybe helps you build cred. … Marketing identifies your
market/tribe/reader/buyer and focuses aggressively to let those people know
about the book and to make them want to buy it. Publicity lasts for a month. Sometimes you strike gold right away and get an instant bestseller. Marketing
continues for years and can build slowly.”

Speaking from the perspective of a self-proclaimed “readaholic,” Jason Roberts, author of A Sense of The World, says the problem with some publicity is that it breeds familiarity with a book, not intrigue. You know those movie trailers that make you feel like you’ve already seen the movie? That happens with books, too. “Sometimes, a book has fallen off my To Buy list because of one article, one interview, one TV appearance too many. … If I had my druthers, I’d prefer a PR campaign that focused not so much on the book as a quantum of content, but as an experience. How will it surprise me, enlighten me, draw me in? Will it subvert my expectations, shed light on mysteries, go behind the scenes or between the lines? Is it, simply put, not only a book but a story? … Sell the experience, not just the facts. (And don’t sit around waiting for reviewers to tell you what that experience is; decide for yourself, and market accordingly).”

Gerard Jones, author of Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters, and the Birth of the Comic Book, reminds writers that although book sales are nice, they are not the only way for authors to make money. “I’ve gotten a lot of paying gigs talking to colleges and other institutions, and those can keep rolling in long after the shelf-life of the book. … In terms of perceptible Amazon up-ticks, the only broadcast media that ever helped were NPR interviews where I got to talk about the content of the book at some length (Fresh Air helped, but the biggest jump was after Talk of the Nation). Mass-audience radio never did squat, not even Howard Stern in his pre-satellite days, nor did TV. But a speaking agency picked me up and landed me a series of public debates after I appeared on the Today Show, which in turn led to other stuff. I also had a university events programmer tell me he was already interested in bringing me in but didn’t really decide until he saw that I’d been on Bill O’Reilly’s show.  I’ve also picked up quite a few article- and editorial-writing gigs off my books, at least some of which were helped along by publicity. A BBC appearance got me an offer from the Guardian to write something, and I think that may be why the Times of London asked me for something soon after. I think it just looks better in the pitch if you can list a bunch of high-profile appearances too. I’ve found that initial sales usually don’t matter that much; publication is usually the beginning of a long trudge. But the rewards of the trudge can be a lot more rewarding than you think they might be while you’re still processing the realization that you’re not going to soar onto the NYT bestseller list. … And the publicity that seems not to be doing a damned bit of good in the moment can pay off down that road.”

Although there are a number of authors who have launched bestsellers after strategically and methodically (as Hale puts it) building an online presence like Rebecca Skloot , author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project, and Ferriss himself, T.J. Stiles, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt, cautions that no one really knows what makes a book successful. “When a book DOES succeed, publicity is usually an element,” Stiles says. “What makes a book succeed? If anyone could figure out a formula for that, then publishers wouldn’t lose money (or just break even) on 70% of the books they release. Only about 30% make money. Everyone’s in the dark—not when it comes to what makes a good book, but what makes a commercially successful one. So many great books don’t make money. … as William Goldman said about Hollywood, ‘Nobody knows anything.’”

The Edge of Maybe: Author Interview with Ericka Lutz

Meghan Ward — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 08:24:08 +0000

Today I am honored to present you with two wonderful new guests. Author, teacher and book editor Elizabeth Bernstein will be interviewing author, teacher and performer Ericka Lutz about her debut novel The Edge of Maybe, which takes place right here in the East Bay of San Francisco.

Ericka Lutz is a writer, teacher, and performer. The author of seven previous books, including The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Stepparenting, her stories and essays have appeared in many literary magazines, journals, and anthologies. A long time columnist for Literary Mama magazine, she teaches writing and public speaking at UC Berkeley and performs her solo show A Widow’s To-Do List around the Bay Area. She lives in Oakland, the city from which she draws much of her inspiration. The Edge of Maybe is her first novel.

EB: You’ve written seven nonfiction books. What made you want to write a novel?

EL: I was writing novels before I began writing nonfiction books, and also while I was writing nonfiction books. I just didn’t have success getting them published. Short fiction, yes… but I have two slaved-over novels that I wrote before I wrote The Edge of Maybe that will never see light of day.

I wrote the nonfiction books as a “day job.” Once I started teaching (writing and speaking) at UC Berkeley, I was able to take down my “parenting author” placard. Happily. I enjoyed doing those books, and I’m proud of them, but they were never—to put a woo woo phrase on it—my “heart work.”

I long took solace in a story I once heard about Annie Proulx, author of The Shipping News. Apparently, she wrote a huge number of gardening books before her novels started selling. So, I knew it was possible, at least theoretically, to transition from parenting books to novels.

EB: What drew you to this story?

EL: I started working on The Edge of Maybe by throwing together a lot of seemingly disparate elements that I was interested in and concerned by. I wanted to write about a family that felt familiar to my own… but wasn’t my own… and the Bay Area community of mostly-white, progressive, food-loving, yoga-practicing, lefty-liberal, self-satisfied Oaklanders. I wanted to write about how “we” live, and to poke some gentle satirical fun at them/us.

I also wanted to explore family and marriage. A number of friends have had maybe-members of their family arrive on the proverbial doorstep, and had to figure out big issues of responsibility and privacy. I was interested in writing about long-term marriage (as I was, at the time, in one), and how we damage each other and ourselves by sweeping the hard things under the rug. And I was interested in exploring how children are affected by what happens in their parents’ relationship.

And, there were issues of red state/blue state conflict, poisons in our food and atmosphere, and reproductive rights that I wanted to say something about. All subsumed within the context of a compelling story, of course. I wanted characters whose dilemmas the reader would care about.

When writing a novel, I never fully know what it’s going to be about until the first draft is done. I just throw in everything I’m concerned about and drawn to, and hang it on a preliminary structure, and go from there. It morphs. Many times.

EB: How did you research the book?

EL: A lot of the novel takes place in my own city and neighborhoods, so research for those parts largely consisted of going shopping, driving around town, and eating dinner out. A chunk happens at Harbin Hot Springs, a clothing-optional retreat in Northern California. I used to go there a lot for writing retreats, so that was easy enough—I’d already done the research I needed.

For medical scenes, I relied on my own experiences, the experiences of my friends, and our friend Dr. Google. A number of important scenes take place in Elko, Nevada, so I got in my car and drove there, 500 miles from my home—taking copious notes and pictures. I spent four days on that research trip, met some buckaroos, stayed in the dive casino/hotel that Adam stays in, and had an amazing time. That trip really changed the shape of the book.

EB: You sold The Edge of Maybe directly to a small publisher without an agent. How did that come about?

EL: I’ve known Armand Inezian, Last Light’s publisher and editor-in-chief, since 2006 when he was running the Boston Fiction Festival and I submitted a short story and won. I went to Boston to read, and after that we stayed in touch. I finished the manuscript of The Edge of Maybe in summer 2008, and had just begun sending it out when, in December of 2008, my husband suddenly died. So, my life crashed around my ears, and that was the end of sending the book out. I had a hard copy of the manuscript riding around in the back of my car—and I rarely thought about it—until the summer of 2010 when Armand told me he had started Last Light Studio, and asked if I knew anybody with an appropriate novel to submit. I shyly admitted that I had one, and he read it and loved it and asked me if he could publish it.

EB: You’ve worked with big publishers and now a very small publisher. How has the experience been different?

EL: In my experience, there’s more money with the big publishers, but the writer is the smallest cog in a big machine, and I often felt lost and uncared about. I’m thrilled to be working with a tiny publisher of amazing books with more of a cooperative press model. I had huge input on every aspect of the process, and I loved that. And I have huge emotional support and respect from everybody at Last Light Studio. Of course, working with a small press means doing all my own promo, but that would likely happen anyway if I’d been with a big press. I mean, for my first book with a big publishing company, the PR intern misspelled my name in the press release.

EB: In promoting your book, you’re using some traditional methods, like readings in bookstores. But for your main book launch, you’ve rented a theater and are having a show, with musicians and comedians and other performers that you don’t typically see at book releases. What was your idea behind this?

EL: In general, the old publishing models are dead, dying, or at the least changing radically, which means the old promotional models also need to change, and authors need to get creative in order to get any attention at all. But, it was more than that. I’ve done a lot of solo performance and storytelling. I have a one-woman show called “A Widow’s To-Do List” that I’ve performed all over the Bay Area. Having a book launch that’s also a Cavalcade of Stars—musicians, authors, dancers, comedians, clowns (all of whom are friends of mine)—feels like a great way to marry my communities together and do something more original than a typical launch party in a bookstore.

EB: What other ways are you promoting your book?

EL: Lots of ways! Bookstore readings and talks (always with food); a private party where I’ll cook a dish from The Edge of Maybe, serve wine and talk about the book; several reading series in the Bay Area; Facebook, Twitter; giveaways on Goodreads and Redroom.com and through various blogs; interviews here and there.

I also have a kickass website for the novel, and I made two book trailers on my own just for fun and recorded a podcast of me reading an excerpt. And there’s more coming. I even have swag! You can buy coffee mugs that say “Serenitize your Multi-Tasking” and aprons that say “Life with Foodies: You’ll get used to it.” Those are both quotes from the book.

I wanted Edge of Maybe action figures, but that didn’t seem to happen. Maybe for the next book.

EB: You have hundreds of Facebook friends and Twitter followers. How long did it take you to cultivate that? Do you think that’s a requirement for authors these days? How have you tapped into the networks in ways that have paid off for you?

EL: Actually, I have thousands of Facebook friends and Twitter followers. I’m active on social media for my own sanity and entertainment (and have been for years). Yes, it’s nice to be able to access those people for book promotion purposes, and I think it’s helpful for authors to be involved in social media, but only if they aren’t just using it to promote. Because that gets old fast. I will hide or unfriend or unfollow somebody if they are obviously just there for the self-promotion. Social media has “paid off” really well for me, that said. I’ve developed many very real relationships through it, gotten some interesting opportunities… and now, perhaps, I’m selling a few books.

EB: Is your novel going to be available in electronic formats?

EL: Eventually, yes. We are concentrating on this paperback release, with the plan to go e-book in 4-6 months.

EB: How do you support yourself? Are you a full-time writer?

EL: I’m a full-time teacher. I’m a full-time mother and solo head of household. I’m a full-time writer and performer. Only the first full-time job supports me… financially. The other jobs support me emotionally and, to an extent, spiritually.

EB: You’ve gone a fairly nontraditional route to get where you are now. You didn’t get an MFA, yet you teach at the university level without one. You sold this book without an agent. Now you’re releasing it in this unusual way. Is this a path you recommend to up and coming writers? Is there anything you would have done differently, looking back?

EL: I think most of us take a nontraditional path in this profession, and in fact, I don’t know what a standard path would be. I guess the fantasy is that you get a BA in English from a great school and an MFA from a greater one where you are mentored by a master who introduces you to a top agent who sells your first novel for a gazillion dollar advance… and then, book awards, Oprah, film rights, and sycophants who peel you grapes while you lounge by the seaside and write the best novel of the century. That doesn’t happen that often, and I’m not sure that’s a path you can really plan. Or, if you plan it, you’re likely to be disappointed.

My path has involved a lot of working for free, taking strange digressions, believing myself to be a failure and living long enough to have that not matter—and to even, in some ways, stop believing in the concept of failure and success completely.

One of my big mottos has been: “Circumvent the gatekeepers.” I believe none of us knows much of anything, really, so if somebody says “no,” there’s probably a way around that “no.”

EB: What are you working on now?

EL: I’m working on promoting this book and teaching my Giant Schnoodle puppy not to nip people, even if you really love them. But, I also have another novel in the works—I’m about 1/3 of the way through the first draft, and I have most of an outline written. It, too, is about life in the Bay Area, and about family and responsibility. Characters include a new widow, her homeless aunt and two cousins who live in a car, and her long dead grandfather. Yes, this book has a ghost.

To win a signed copy of The Edge of Maybe, tell us in comments what you think of when you hear the phrase “The Edge of Maybe.” Ericka will pick her favorite answer on February 29, the release date of the book. If you don’t win, be sure to order a copy on The Edge of Maybe website to get a free inscription or at Laurel Bookstore in Oakland. To buy tickets for “A Night on the Edge,” Ericka’s February 29 launch party and performance, visit Brown Paper Tickets.

Valentine for a Writer

Meghan Ward — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 08:34:25 +0000

To all my writer friends and followers out there, here’s a valentine for you:

You’ve spent days, weeks, months, and years
Gallantly confronting your writerly fears
The blinking cursor, like the blank page
Is daunting to writers at every stage
But you never give up, you keep trudging on
You’re the hero of your journey, you’re a paragon
Of persistence, determination, and commitment to your art
But stave off the hubris before you start
To get published because even then,
You’ll never have time to put down your pen
Once you’ve outlined, written, revised and queried
The agent call comes but now you’re hurried
To edit and market, to Facebook and Twitter
This social media stuff is making you bitter
You don’t have time to read, write, or eat
You look like a zombie, you sleep on your feet
But soon all your efforts will pay off in spades
And you’ll no longer need all those anti-sleep aids
Your book will come out, your dream will come true
The world will look rose and no longer blue
But don’t wait for that day to take a break
To go for a walk, maybe bake a cake
Because what you need is some R+R
To celebrate the brightest star
In your life—no, it’s not me; it’s you
And all of the wonderful things that you do
It’s Valentine’s Day, so celebrate
Because you’re fantastic, stupendous, and great!
Eat some chocolate, drink some wine
Then ask yourself, “Would you be mine?”
I bet (s)he will answer “yes” “ya” or “oui”
Or perhaps “hai”—that’s Japanese for “si”
And now it is time for this poem to end
It’s finished now; it has been penned
I just have one last thing to say
And that is, “Happy Valentine’s Day!”

Is Self-Publishing the Way to Go?

Meghan Ward — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 08:27:24 +0000

Today I have a wonderful post from Sarah Baker, a former editor for Viking/Penguin and Simon & Schuster in New York, via Constance Hale over at Sin and Syntax. If you haven’t visited Sin and Syntax yet, go check out the Salon. It’s full of great articles about writing and publishing like Gianmaria Fanchini’s post on sliding book advances, which follows up on my Author Advance Survey Results, and Constance Hale’s post on breaking into the publishing world. And now …

Is Self-Publishing the Way to Go?

With a sidebar on what you need to know to do it yourself.

By Sarah Baker

Go to any panel on book publishing these days, and you’ll hear the hoopla over self-publishing. Easy to do! More control! A bigger cut of the profits! At a time when advances aren’t exactly advancing, editors are often too over-worked, and publicists are spending the house’s dimes on blockbusters, self-publishing sure sounds tempting. Add to this the allure of royalty rates of 70 percent or higher instead of the 15 percent (at most) from traditional publishers, and it’s no wonder all writers aren’t going indie.

But, wait. Self-publishing might be the word on everyone’s lips, but is it right for you?

“You have to decide what your goals are,” said thriller-writer and self-publishing guru Barry Eisler at a lecture in November 2011 at the Park Plaza hotel in Boston. For him, it seemed like a no-brainer. He had already published three books with a traditional, or what he calls “legacy,” publisher. He has a following, developed when he pounded the pavement one summer, visited 500 bookstores, and called on 1,200 bookstores in 40 states. Other things in his favor: His wife is a literary agent, so he has access to publishing professionals.

As if his platform weren’t enough already, the press from his decision to turn down $500,000 from St. Martin’s and go indie practically made him a household name. The mighty-marketing-machine Amazon is his publisher. He likes control. He likes business. He’s clearly very good at it.

But not everyone has built what Eisler has. For first-time authors, like Boston Globe reporter Billy Baker, who is armed with a literary agent and a nonfiction book idea, an advance from a traditional publisher is necessary for him to take time off from work to report and write. “I don’t have 50 grand in the bank,” he said.

Other authors make the point that they want the strong winds of a trusted publisher in their authorial sails. Pagan Kennedy, author of ten books including Spinsters and Black Livingstone, doubts she would ever go indie. “If you can live with 1,000 readers and not making any money, then fine. But, if you want an audience of 20,000 for your book—how do you get that?” she said.

So what should a writer weigh when considering self-publishing?

“Self-publishing had a stigma,” said Eve Bridburg, literary agent and founder of Grub Street, Inc., an independent literary-arts center in Boston. But she points out some critical new factors: increasingly sophisticated self-publishing tools are available; you can distribute via the Internet (and not just via the back of a station wagon); Twitter and Facebook can help to spread the word. Then there is the payoff: higher royalty rates. So many more serious writers are self-publishing, she added, that Grub is now offering workshops not only in the craft of writing but in marketing and publishing, as well.

Many people are taking the plunge. An article by Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg in the Wall Street Journal cites an estimate by R. R. Bowker, which tracks the publishing business: the number of self-published titles exploded 160 percent from 2006 to 2010 (that is, from 51,237 to 133,036.)

Some recent success stories—Amanda Hocking and John Locke, in addition to Barry Eisler—have helped fuel the movement. And let’s not forget that some historic bestsellers (What Color is Your Parachute and The Elements of Style, for example) started out as do-it-yourselfers (DIY), the old-school name for the self-published. They were acquired by traditional houses after they were already successful.

Sales figures for self-published books are difficult to track, and hard to interpret, since people choose this route for all sorts of reasons. Many are printing 10 copies of a memoir for the family or 100 for the business. Amazon.com doesn’t share overall sales figures of books, according to Brittany Turner of their public relations department. But, in an email she was willing to say that “John Locke and Amanda Hocking have both sold more than 1 million books using Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), 12 KDP authors have sold more than 200,000 books and 30 KDP authors have sold more than 100,000.” Over at Amazon’s self-publishing service site, CreateSpace, she added, former New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin self-published his memoir Katrina’s Secrets, which hit the Top 100 Best Sellers in Books on Amazon the week of its release.

(If you’ve seen anyone report on the other end of the spectrum—that is, the number of self-published authors who never surpass their break-even point—please post links in the comments section! The more solid information we all have, the better.)

Even traditional publishers are capitalizing on the popularity. Book Country is Penguin Books new foray into the do-it-yourself world. It’s a place for genre fiction writers to circulate their work, get feedback, and buy self-publishing services. “Self-publishing is a trend that isn’t going away,” said Book Country president Molly Barton to Calvin Reid of Publishers Weekly.

But all of this takes time and ingenuity. Martha McPhee, author of Dear Money and three other novels, said self-publishing would be like pushing a boulder up a mountain, and she wouldn’t know where to begin. Claire Messud, New York Times-bestselling author of The Emperor’s Children, equates self-publishing with home schooling.

Would you consider home schooling?

SIDEBAR: Should you self-publish?

If you want a professional-looking book with a chance of success you’ll need four things: Time, Money, Connections, and Gumption. Traditional publishers have been in the business for a long time and a book contract, despite that many authors accuse them of everything from neglect to abandonment, guarantees a professional process. You’ll have a well-oiled machine behind you so that you can focus on writing and promotion. If you want to replace them you’ll need to:

1. Hire a load of people if you aren’t a jack-of-all-trades: Editor, copyeditor, jacket designer, interior designer, publicist, marketer, rights salesperson (for foreign and first serial), Web site designer, printer, and distributor (for print books). If you’re publishing nonfiction you might need a lawyer to check for libel and an indexer to create an index. But buyer beware—these people work for you, so make sure they tell you what you need to hear and not what you want to hear.

2. Verify your account balance and uncap your pen—you’ll be writing a lot of checks.

3. Buy a Starbucks Card or a Nespresso machine. With the amount of work this will involve, you’ll need your caffeine. Self-publishing is akin to starting your own business.

4. Do the hustle. Work your friends on Facebook, your followers on Twitter, your old colleagues in the media, your local librarian, and your buddies in the bookstores to spread the word and buy the book.

Good luck.

{Formerly a book editor at Viking/Penguin and Simon & Schuster in New York City, Sarah Baker is now a freelance writer and an independent radio producer. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.}

Thanks Sarah and Constance for a great post! What about you? Have you self-published? What has your experience been?