Live E-Panel: Long Time Writers, First Time Authors

LONG TIME WRITERS, FIRST TIME AUTHORS – A LIVE E-PANEL – 9/8/2005

Introduction by Richard Nash:

Thanks to Dan for asking me to introduce this conversation—in part for the pure privilege of it, but also because the questions asked and the anxieties expressed in this roundtable are very much questions that I ask myself all the time:

For a debut writer (especially of fiction or memoir) it is the best and worst of times. One reads of how impossible it is to reach this point of being published; one reads of million dollar (plus!) advances; one reads interviews with the writers who got those advances; one reads of how idiotic it is to be chasing the Bright Young Things, when there are superb and neglected mid-career writers.

Soft Skull has a record of publishing never-before-published writers, which, I imagine, is one reason Dan invited me to introduce this; but we also are beginning to compile a solid record of publishing writers with two, four, six books already published by larger publishers, and of having more success with the book we did than the larger publishers had with their bites at the apple. So, before I launch into giving some detailed context for the publishing debutantes, let me say this—this is only your first book. You have a long career ahead of you; what happens in the coming months is just that, a few months in your life, and even if the book took five years to bring into being, you have, I hope, ten times five years ahead of you.

The writers in this roundtable have a chunk of sensible things to says, especially about publicity, so listen up carefully to them—I won’t go into any additional suggestions here myself because every book is different when it comes to promoting it. Read how each of them approaches it, plays to his or her strengths, and understands that ultimately books are sold one at a time, by word of mouth. Everything you do to promote your book should always be aimed at helping advance that process. (And I gather EWN is doing a roundtable on exactly this subject, so read that when it comes out, also!)

So I’ll confine my comments to two, the first of which is to echo a topic in this roundtable, the big advance. As a number of the writers recognize, the big advance can and probably will be a curse. The media and the publishing industry don’t discuss debut bombs—the $250,000 advamce for a story collection that sold about 3,500 copies—but there are ten of them for each Foer or Kostova you read about. Leaving you as a writer with the Scarlet U (for “unearned advance”). So can one turn down a $500,000 advance? Actually, yes, you can, because even a half million bucks is not “fuck-you” money, the kind of money where do won’t need to work for the rest of your life. Your career is more than your first book. And the deals open to you aren’t necessarily going to be all or nothing, there will probably be a multiplicity of deals open to you, ways of structuring accepting higher royalties for lower advances, that will put you in a situation where you are likelier to earn out your advance, fulfill the expectations of your business partners (publisher, agent) and start getting royalties.

The other comment is somewhat of an admonition also, sorry! Here it is: your first book can only happen once and, like that one other thing that “only happens once” it can be a…very commercially desirable quality. You have no sales history. And if any of you have any familiarity with the conversations that occur between chain, wholesaler, and independent store buyers and a publisher’s sales rep, you know: convincing them to order more, or even the same number of books of yours that sold the last time can be well-nigh impossible. All the starred Publishers Weekly reviews, raves in the NYTBR or SF Chronicle blah blah blah mean basically nothing to a bookstore buyer if they have a sales record to look at. Bookstores (and not just the chains) crunch the numbers and your sales history will be 80%-90% of that decision. (This also suggests that if you’ve a story collection you’d like to publish, and also a novel, nine times out of ten don’t let that story collection be published before the novel. Lead with the novel, it’s far more likely to sell in the stores, and its success will help the story collection, when it’s published as your second book.) The lack of a sales history will only happen once in your career, the moment when there is no glass ceiling on your potential success. So it is a resource that should be husbanded carefully.

So, as you can tell, it’s all about expectations management. The lower the expectations on your first book, the easier it will be to surpass them, the easier it will be to sell your book. Because there will always be a next book, guys, you know that. So enjoy the first book, but above all, enjoy your careers!

-Richard Nash, Soft Skull Press

Emerging Writers Network:

Welcome to a live E-panel of long time writers who have very recently, or will soon become, first time authors (book form). Would you each please introduce yourself and state the title of your book, when it will be out, and with what publisher please…

Ron Hogan:

Hi. Ron Hogan, The Stewardess Is Flying the Plane: American Films of the 1970s, coming in November from Bulfinch Press.

Felicia Sullivan:

Surely! I'm Felicia Sullivan and my debut book, a memoir, is due out from Algonquin Books in the fall of 2006. My book changes titles quite literally every day, however, the working title is We Don't Live Here Anymore.

Benjamin Percy:

Benjamin Percy. The Language of Elk. Forthcoming from Carnegie Mellon University Press…any day now.

Marcy Dermansky:

Hey Dan. Marcy Dermansky. My debut novel is called Twins. It came out this Tuesday (September 6, 2005).  Published by William Morrow.

Brad Listi:

Hey everybody.  My name is Brad Listi.  My novel, Attention. Deficit. Disorder. is going to be published by Simon & Schuster in January 2006.

EWN:

Congratulations to each of you on these great accomplishments! You have all had some experience within the literary industry prior to finding out that your book would be published - can you fill us in on these experiences?

Ron:

I've written book reviews for various publications, and I've run a literary website for about a decade.

Felicia:

I'm hesitant to say that I'm involved in an industry, per se, as I think of myself as a writer infatuated with books. However, I've published (online and most recently, in print) a literary journal, Small Spiral Notebook, in addition to curating a reading series at KGB, publishing stories here and there, while trying to keep sane at a corporate day job, which, thankfully, I’ve resigned from to complete my book.  While at Columbia, I'd been working on a novel that dealt with the core themes in my memoir (abandonment, addiction, a compromised relationship with a parent, parent/child role reversal), but artfully dodged its true feelings, so it read rather cold ...and it wasn't until I finally confronted writing the memoir, took the subject matter head-on, that, I felt, my writing was most authentic.

EWN:

I’m curious, Felicia - was the novel an attempt at a veiled memoir or something different altogether?

Felicia:

Absolutely, although my novel revolved around a troubled WASP family in Long Island paralyzed by a parent's abandonment and all the consequences of that leaving, because I was that fixated on distancing myself from the life I lived from the life I'd created on the page. However, the book was too cold and I was too afraid to push the characters deeper for I'd start to unfold my mother and myself, that complex relationship, which was something that I couldn't manage to write about a few years ago. It’s only when this [memoir] is completed that I can return to fiction – sort of like an exorcism of sorts.

Brad:

Wow....hard to know where to begin.......I guess it starts with working for a lot of years with nothing much to show for it......writing freelance for magazines.......trying to avoid full-time work.......and then eventually, after a pretty long apprenticeship, getting to the point where the book was done & I was ready to go out looking for an agent......

Marcy:

I've been writing short stories for a long time. I got a bunch published in literary journals, including the Alaska Quarterly Review and McSweeney's. My first novel attempt came up short, a novella, and so I kept on writing until I felt something. Which turned out to be TWINS.  I also had a lot of not so great jobs supporting myself while I was writing. But the stories, they all contributed to getting the novel published.

Benjamin:

Since 2002 I've been publishing stories in places like The Chicago Tribune, Rosebud, Amazing Stories, Idaho Review, Hayden's Ferry Review, Swink, Greensboro Review, and blah, blah, blah.  I did the undergrad creative writing thing and I did the MFA thing and I've done the conference thing, but I've done other things as well, like worked as ranch hand, a cook, a weight-room instructor, a gardener, an actor, and an undercover reporter, and most recently, a wanky English professor.

EWN:

Have these experiences led somehow, in your opinion, to your finding a home for your book?

Ron:

Sure. I owe all my successes to my willingness to go drinking with any industry professional at any time. Editors, agents, other writers, you name it.

Benjamin:

I need to go drinking with more industry professionals. Where do they hang out? Hardee's?

Brad:

Sure.......I tend to think everything that happens somehow leads you to where you wind up......but in addition to serendipity, there has to be a pretty concentrated persistent level of effort involved….....as far as my personal experience goes, a lot of what's happened with respect to finding an agent and a publisher comes down to hustle......and a little bit of luck......

Felicia:

I would say that me being involved with publishing fantastic emerging writers and seeing their writing transform in that process felt like an organic progression in selling this book, if that makes any sense. However, I would say that regardless of the projects in which I'm involved, I would have pursued publishing this book anyway.

Benjamin:

Sure. The stories piled up. Some of them came together thematically. Others didn't. The ones that did evolved into this book.

EWN:

Ben and Marcy - did getting the stories out there get you any interest from agents, publishers, etc.?

Marcy:

Yes. Absolutely. My agent contacted me after reading a story I had published in the Indiana Review. We corresponded for a year while I was writing the novel. And when I was done, it worked out pretty smoothly.

Benjamin:

Yeah. I got a lot of phone calls and letters from agents, but most of them were interested in this: a novel.

EWN:

One quick note, where are each of you from? Are there more chances to get noticed if you're NY based?

Brad:

I'm originally from Milwaukee, but I live in LA now. That's an interesting question.  I think your chances of meeting people in publishing are certainly better if you live in New York, due to the fact that most of the publishing world is located there, but ultimately I feel like your work will get noticed if it's good, regardless of where you're from (at least, that's how I hope it works.)

Benjamin:

I was raised in the high desert of Oregon, which is where most of my fiction takes place, but I'm now living in Milwaukee, the only place in the world where it's easier to get a pint of beer than a glass of water.

Ron:

I'm originally from New England, but live in the outer boroughs of New York City. Absolutely, there are plenty more opportunities to get noticed in New York City, but physical access to the publishing community can only substitute for talent so much.

Marcy:

I'm from New Jersey, but I've lived in San Francisco, Hattiesburg, the Dominican Republic, and now Astoria, NY. With email, it doesn't really matter where you live.

Ron:

Queens, represent!

Marcy:

Queens!

Benjamin:

Boo Yankees.

Felicia:

Brooklyn born. Good writing gets noticed regardless of where you live. I actually think it's better not to live in New York – sometimes I find it's difficult to focus on the writing, the work, when most folks talk about the business of writing (agents, book deals, numbers, etc).

Benjamin:

I've made every effort to go to conferences, to attend readings, for this reason, because the Midwest isn't exactly a hotbed for industry connections.

EWN:

Back to agents: Marcy, we know where you found yours (or the reverse).  Ben, those agents that contacted you looking for a novel - did they find one?  Did they take you on? Felicia, Ron and Brad - do you have agents?  How did you come about getting them? Brad, you began to elaborate on this a bit earlier…

Ron:

I do have an agent. I met her at a cocktail party.

Felicia:

I do, although I had a particularly unnerving first agent experience. One thing I've learned - don't utter a word until a contract is signed. However, I'm delighted because it brought me to my current agent and I am thrilled to have a wonderful, revered agent, Matthew Carnicelli, a former acquisitions editor with over 15 years experience. Plus, he keeps my neuroses in check.

Benjamin:

Initially no. I only had a collection in hand. They all seemed to dig it but said, “Get in contact with us later, once you finish that novel, and we'll try for a two-book deal,” but I wasn't about to sit on my collection. So I sold it (on my own) to CMU Press. And when that deal was announced on Publisher's Lunch, my inbox filled up with queries, most of them wanting to know, of course, if I had a novel. And by this time I did (two-thirds of one anyway). Initially I didn't know what to do, what agent, what agency to go with: the big, medium, or small; the established vet or the green-but-supereager newbie. In the end I ended up joining forces with superagent Katherine Fausset at Watkins/Loomis and I appreciate her like I appreciate Ben & Jerry's New York Super Fudge Chunk: a whole hell of a lot.

Brad:

My agent search was an odyssey.... worthy of a book all by itself......a lotta ups......a lotta downs.......best piece of advice I heard throughout the whole process, and one that I always tell people:  follow the enthusiasm. With debut fiction, the market tends to be tough and volatile and unpredictable..….you need to have an agent onboard who really believes in you and your work, an agent with whom you really have good rapport. Chances are you're going to hit bumps in the road.  Chances are there are going to be near misses and setbacks and close calls.  And in those instances, having an agent who really feels strongly about your work is essential.

EWN:

Ron, when you met said agent, what did you have in terms of material to have her shop?

Ron:

I already had a book deal. I was just waiting for the contract to show up.

EWN:

Speaking of advice - where did you go early on in your writing career (well, earlier than this first book experience) to get advice?

Brad:

One of the great things about writing in modern times is how much information about the work there is out there--in books, on the internet, in magazines, etc. It democratizes the process quite a bit.  Even if you don't live in New York or Paris or Florence or whatever, and you don't have access to literary giants and heavyweight mentors and whatnot, you can still self-educate.

Marcy:

I went a lot on instinct, and reading Poets & Writers.

Benjamin:

I mainly bugged professors -- and later on, those who I met at conferences like Sewanee.  I've read Poets & Writers religiously for, like, say, maybe seven years. And of course, more recently, the net -- blogs, resources like EWN -- have been invaluable.

Ron:

Larry Beinhart's "How to Write a Mystery" is the best fiction writing advice I've ever read, for any form of fiction.  But mostly, I learned what works by reading a lot of fiction.

Felicia:

Absolutely. I couldn't agree more. It is so necessary to have someone who will champion your work, horrible first drafts, et all...and will help you shut out all the noise, all the buzzing of what sells, what doesn't.  Regarding influences, close friends and family have always influenced/shaped my best work.

Marcy:

I have some readers who will only tell me my work is great. I don't believe them. But I also rely on them.

Felicia:

I have readers as well. I like to call them my butchers - affectionately, of course. And, I firmly believe that one can't possibly be a writer without being a reader.

Benjamin:

My magic 8-ball has also come in handy.

Brad:

Really and truly, most of what I learned about writing came via reading books and books about books, and reading about the lives of writers I admire, and thru reading interviews.

Benjamin:

EWN interviews, of course.

EWN:

Does your agent act at all as a first reader/editor?

Brad:

Yes.  My agent is my first reader and my first editor, and she's excellent at it. 

Marcy:

I waited until my novel was done, and what I considered polished before I let my agent read my book. I wanted the writing to be pure. The last thing I wanted, while I was writing, was advice. He was really helpful, however, in the editing process.

Brad:

Exactly.  I made my book as good as I could make it before submitting to an agent. No sense submitting unless you feel like you're putting your best foot forward.

Benjamin:

Yes. Most of my buddies are writers and academics, so they're pretty stingy with their time. My agent has turned out to be my best, my most enthusiastic and trustworthy reader.

Felicia:

For this book, my agent was my first reader and editor. Thank God. He had an objectivity that perhaps some readers couldn't have had with a first draft. Some of my closest friends were subsequent draft readers.

EWN:

Ron, you said you had your book deal already. Did you already have a completed manuscript when you found your agent?

Ron:

Nope. I sold my book on the basis of a proposal. Didn't really start writing it until the contract was turned in.

Brad:

With a novel, as far as I understand it, you usually have to have a completed manuscript before they'll consider taking you on.  Sometimes there are exceptions to  the rule, but usually this is the way it works.

EWN:

That leads us to getting a book deal. How exactly did each of you come to get your book deal?

Marcy:

This is where the agent is essential. (So I'll name him) Alex Glass. He sent it to fifteen houses he thought were right for it, and I think he hand-picked the editors.

Benjamin:

Independently, in this case. The novel will be shopped around by my agent but I handled the collection on my own. I had several nibbles from presses medium and small. As luck would have it, through my EWN connection, Sharon Dilworth at CMU Press asked to see my manuscript and the rest is history.

Ron:

I convinced my editor I was brilliant, then I waited four or five months until she managed to win over the rest of the publisher's committee.

Felicia:

My experience was actually, shockingly, quite seamless. It was all the preparation to get the sample pages and proposal in prime form - that was the work. My agent submitted my packet to about sixteen editors and we sat back and prayed. Or more like I checked my email and voice mail compulsively.

Marcy:

I feel really grateful that the business end of my writing life is handled beautifully by someone who is not me.

EWN:

Brad, did you sell your own novel then, or did your agent?

Brad:

My agent sold the book. 

Felicia:

We sold the book within two weeks, however, the best part was seeing some of the editors' responses, which could be a tragic comedy in and of itself.

Brad:

We had multiple editors interested and multiple positive reads, but sometimes those editors had trouble building consensus at editorial meetings which is another element of the sale, typically speaking. Debut fiction is a fickle market.  It took patience, but ultimately the book landed at Simon & Schuster.  I owe a lot to my agent, Erin Hosier, over at the Gernert Company.  She fought the good fight and she didn't give up.

Marcy:

It took about a month for Twins to sell. It was a pre-empt deal.

EWN:

Pre-empt?

Marcy:

Agent stuff. He gave one editor exclusive rights. A price was named. I had a day to decide. It felt a little crazy.

Felicia:

Mine was a pre-empt as well.

EWN:

How much does money play a factor at that point?  You've waited your whole life it must seem to get somebody to say yes…Do you allow a specific amount determine if you'll accept or not?

Brad:

Depends what your options are.  As a young writer, you don't have much leverage, particularly if you've never published before.  But of course you don always have the ultimate leverage--you can always take your book and walk. 

Felicia:

Initially, I had an idea of how much I would get, or expected, or wanted...however, in the end, I'm not in this business for the money - I could go back to [mergers and acquisitions] for that, in the end it mattered most which editor connected to my project. And what editor could help me generate the finest finished book.

Marcy:

There are always those stories about first time authors getting auctions, six figure deals, to make you insanely jealous.

Brad:

Unless you have multiple publishers interested in making an offer, it's difficult to get much traction when it comes to dough.  You do the best you can, you trust your agent's advice, and you proceed.  For me it was about getting a foot in the door...getting a toehold.  the money will come later.

Benjamin:

Since I was agentless at the time, and since I was selling a collection, I knew I would not make much money off of this deal. For the upcoming novel, however, I can't help but cross my fingers for greenery...

Brad:

Yes. It would be nice to finally make some goddamn money!

Marcy:

You're in this place where you know you are getting published. A book. And that is such a thrill.

Felicia:

After seeing a friend of mine suffer from a six-figure deal and witnessing first-hand how her book was mis-marketed, ignored...etc...I'd forgo the money for peace of mind; I want to put out a book without the obligation to earn an insane advance out.

Brad:

Great point.  Sometimes the six-figure advance can be a kiss of death.  It’s important to remember that you don't make a dime in royalties until your book earns back its advance. And if your book receives a big advance, it's often under a lot more pressure to perform in the marketplace. From a fiscal standpoint, a big advance can make it more difficult for your book to be considered "a success" by the folks in the publishing industry.  And if it's not, it can affect your ability to get future book deals.  That said, you never turn down $500,000 if somebody offers it to you for your book.

Benjamin:

Actually, my pseudonym is Elizabeth Kostova, so money means nothing to me.

Marcy:

Hah.

Felicia:

I'm waiting for the moment of when I first see my book at St. Mark's Bookstore and passing out right after.

EWN:

Based on the publishing dates you all listed earlier, I'm assuming not all of you have gone through the editing process. For those of you who have - can you describe the process?

Felicia:

I've just handed the completed manuscript in and am waiting with bated breath. However, I’m confident that Amy Gash (at Algonquin) will be the rock star editor that she is.

Marcy:

My experience has been good. I have no doubt that my editor made my book into something better. She defended me in the final copy editing stages when I wanted to keep a lot of grammatically incorrect sentences. There was one small kissing scene she kept crossing out, but I made sure it stayed. Though I did tweak it.

Ron:

It was pretty light. I turned in the first couple chapters, got some feedback, went on to the rest with those comments in mind.
.
Brad:

The editing process has been surprisingly easy in terms of personal stress and creative discussion.  My editor and all the folks at Simon & Schuster have been terrific to me from moment one. 

Ron:

I got some good questions, which helped a lot.

Marcy:

Yes: questions all over the manuscript. They were good ones.

Brad:

My editor read the manuscript and returned it with notes. It was then up to me whether to implement them or not. His approach was always about trying to help me realize the book as I intended to write it rather than change it into something he thought it should be.

Benjamin:

Since all of my stories were already published, editing played a very small role in the road to getting my book out.

EWN:

Have you had any meetings at all with the publicity and marketing folks yet?

Brad:

I was out in New York for a meeting in early August.

Felicia:

Very informal meetings...I’ve been spending much more time with my editor to perfect the work before I fret over marketing it. I'm sure I'll be focused on promotion as I go along.

Marcy:

Since my book just came out, it feels like my life is all about publicity.

EWN:

Will you be doing any publicity on your own, beyond that of what the publisher is planning for you?

Felicia:

Absolutely. I definitely will help out in any way possible in promoting/selling my book.

Marcy:

I have a terrific publicist at Harper Collins, but I'm also working with independent publicist Lauren Cerand.

Benjamin:

Most of my publicity will be self-generated. So. Hitting the road and reading at whatever universities and bookstores will have me. I've got a website in the works and a postcard campaign on the way.

Felicia:

Ditto what Benjamin said.

Ron:

I'm doing a mix of in-house and self-publicity. I'll be working the online angles I know well.

Brad:

I think the internet democratizes the process of publicity and marketing quite a bit. It gives people who don't have a huge marketing budget or deep pockets the ability to get the word out about their work, provided they're willing to hustle a little bit.

Marcy:

I have a lot of interesting readings coming up. No corporate bookstores -- a “Smut” reading series and a dinner buffet with Mary Gaitskill in the suburbs. And the Internet is key. I guest-blogged at Old Hag this week, which I found very nervewracking.

Brad:

That being said, I've wound up co-opting the MySpace music site as a way to let people know about the work.  It's wound up being a pretty great resource (http://www.myspace.com/attentiondeficitdisorderb), and best of all, it's free!!!

EWN:

Do you all foresee using the internet then?

Felicia:

Yes. I already have a personal website, which will be redesigned near my publication date.

Marcy:

I also have a website. I was against it for the longest time, but then I realized how important it was.

Brad:

Definitely.  You can do it from your desk.  It's a way to get the grassroots word out.  I think the web is great.  My attitude is:  why not have a website?  It just makes it easier for readers to find out about your book.

Benjamin:

I'm hoping, just praying, a few bloggers will be willing to help me out. I'll send out free books, money, wine, women, song, whatever it takes to get the word on the street.

Marcy:

You'll send out women?

Benjamin:

No.  But I’ll send wine.  Lots of wine.  The pink kind that comes in a box with a spigot.

EWN:

Do you all read lit-blogs fairly regularly?  Do you see them affecting sales of books?

Brad:

There are 40,000 books published every year.  Most of the reason why a lot of them don't find readers, in my opinion, is because people simply don't know about them.

Marcy:

I've been reading lit-blogs fairly compulsively for the last year.

Felicia:

I frequent a lot more non-literary webjournals (especially culinary, gourmet cooking, and eco-friendly blogs). A great deal of my life revolves around books (literary journals, reading, publishing, etc) and I feel that expanding one's horizons, getting perspective beyond the book business, is important to me.

Ron:

I read them; heck, I write them. But I couldn't tell you what their impact is in a quantifiable sense.

Benjamin:

I read Beatrice daily. Hi, Ron. Conversational Reading and Buzz, Balls, and Hype are my two other favorites.

Ron:

Hello, loyal reader!

EWN:

Well I hope one of those links to this, Ben, so you can read it :-)

Brad:

I read a lot of lit-blogs, too.  I've gotten hooked in the last year or two as well.  The blogosphere, it is ever-pervasive.

Marcy:

I learned about a lot of good books, and I think I learned alot.

Benjamin:

I've bought books, I've reviewed books, I've avoided books, because of blogs. They're part of my daily fix.

Felicia:

Lately, I’ve been writing articles for this savvy, fun travel website, Girls Guide to City Life, that receives 60K visitors/day, or some such large number, and it's been sort of liberating to seek out a whole new audience of folks that might possibly be interested in my work.

Marcy:

That 's interesting about the travel site.

Felicia:

It's been a blast and the community is amazing.

Marcy:

I write for a film website, http://worldfilm.about.com, and I'm hoping a lot of people who read my movie reviews will be interested in the book.

EWN:

Brad, can you explain a bit more about MySpace?

Brad:

Yeah. This guy named Tom started it. He's a musician, and he started the site as a way for people to basically set up their own web pages and connect with each other, and he wanted to provide a forum for bands to get their music out to people (Tom, incidentally is about 29 years old, and he just sold the company to Rupert Murdoch, of all people [Jeeeeeeesus Christ] for about half a billion dollars. I shit you not.). Like I said, this kind of site levels the playing field. There are 27,000,000 people in the MySpace network, and most of them are 15-40 years old.

EWN:

Are many other art forms co-opting the site in a similar manner to yourself?

Brad:

Yeah, there are some people using the site to let people know about their art---be it painting or writing or whatever.  And I definitely recommend that writers check it out and use it as a way to get the word out.

EWN:

When looking at doing some form of publicity on an independent level, do you confirm with the publisher publicist first?

Marcy:

I pretty much always doublecheck everything I do with the publisher/publicist first.  I don't always trust myself. And I never want to get into trouble.

Brad:

I let 'em know, certainly, but basically it feels like I'm operating as my own publicist in my mind.  They're doing their stuff, and I'm doing mine.  And hopefully the combination of the two will wind up working out. 

Felicia:

I think it's worthy to not completely rely on book-blogs (although they can be quite helpful) to get the word out. Creative ways to target potential people based on your obsessions, loves and interests, broadens your exposure.

Brad:

Yes.  Be creative. And be aggressive, in the best possible way. Get out there and get your hands dirty.

Felicia:

Absolutely! I'm starting an online eco-friendly/organic magazine and it's been amazing how many people I've met online who were intrigued about my book based on my newfound activism towards green living.

Benjamin:

With a larger press, with a bigger purse, I would think it wise. My buddy Dean Bakopoulos was going to pay for a plane ticket to a book festival and when he told Harcourt about it they took on the bill.

Ron:

I keep them informed, so we don't overlap, and in case I can get money like Dean did.

Marcy:

That's definitely true. Once you start asking for things, possibilities open up that weren't offered.

EWN:

I think that pretty much covers the list of topics I planned on bringing up. You've all done a great job coming from different experiences and viewpoints in describing the first book process - thank you.

Contributors:

Richard Nash is Publisher at Soft Skull Press. This Fall, Soft Skull publishes one debut novel—Manstealing for Fat Girls by Michelle Embree—and four collections of debut poetry.

Benjamin Percy works as a visiting assistant professor at Marquette University.  His stories appear, or are forthcoming, in The Chicago Tribune (2002 Nelson Algren Awards), Rosebud, Amazing Stories, Idaho Review (2004 Editor’s Prize), Hayden’s Ferry Review, Swink, Greensboro Review, and many other places.  His collection of Oregon stories, The Language of Elk, is forthcoming this fall from Carnegie Mellon University Press.

Brad Listi is a graduate of the MFA program at the University of Southern California.  He lives in Los Angeles and teaches creative writing at Santa Monica College.

Marcy Dermansky’s debut novel TWINS was released by William Morrow on September 6.  Marcy is a MacDowell Fellow and the winner of the 2002 Smallmouth Press Andre Dubus Novella Award.  Her fiction has been published in numerous literary journals including McSweeneys, Alaska Quarterly Review, and Indiana Review.

Ron Hogan is a freelance writer and frequent book reviewer. His visual history of 1970s cinema, The Stewardess Is Flying the Plane, is scheduled for a fall 2005 release by Bulfinch Press. In the meantime, he posts daily commentary on literature and the publishing industry at Beatrice.

Felicia C. Sullivan is a New York based writer with an MFA from Columbia University. A two-time Pushcart Prize nominee, her work has been published in Swink, Post Road Magazine, Mississippi Review, Publisher’s Weekly, among other publications. Work is forthcoming in the anthologies, Homewrecker – An Atlas of Illicit Loves (Soft Skull Press, 2005), Money Changes Everything (Doubleday, 2006), and Pindeldyboz (Issue #6). Algonquin Books will publish her memoir in 2006. She is the founder of the literary journal, Small Spiral Notebook, and is also the co-founder of the Non-Fiction series at KGB Bar in NYC.

Lauren Cerand is an independent public relations representative, consultant and freelance writer based in New York. Her clients are a mix of creative professionals that includes a bestselling nonfiction author, award-winning novelists, and a director featured at the Sundance film festival. Lauren specializes in generating initial buzz and building sustained attention for projects and individuals. She writes about art, politics and style at LuxLotus.com.

Dan Wickett runs the Emerging Writers Network and the EWN Blog.

Comments

[Steve]

I'm also on myspace, and I've used it to promote my writing. I've found it's an excellent tool to get people to read me, whereas if I email them a link, they don't bother. Worth noting, however, is that my group of 70 friends or so are not readers by nature. If they seem something on myspace, they're wiling to read it. The main difference is this: they're already there. They don't need to put forth the extra effort to seek me out.

[David Thayer]

Dan,
Great panel of people poised for greatness.

[Bud Parr]

Dan, this is excellent all around and I like the new format - and congrats to the writers!

[Caprice]

Hey there! I'm Caprice and my first novel "Stupid And Contagious" will be out on Warner Books in April. I'd love to talk to some other first time authors so come visit my website and say hi, leave your email so I can keep you updated, enter my contest, ask my dog for advice...the possibilities are endless! Look forward to making new friends!

[Katina]

I have just completed my first book, a memoir. It is still in the revision stages. I am literally petrified in sending it out just yet due to the editing that still needs done.

Any advice would be helpful in this process. The book was very hard to write due to the events I wrote about.

I am just not sure of myself. Sounds bad, I know.

I am in college (an older student) I should have my BA in English by the end of summer.
I just do not know if I have written the book correctly and there are other issues like memory loss. I am afraid of messing up dates and events due to referring to records for 2yrs of info during my lapse in memory.

SOS, just need a writing pal I guess.

Thanks for any help,
Katina

[email protected]
My work is on Storywrite and Allpoetry under
katina

:)

[ademola ononuga]

i am impressed by your letter. kindy let me know the publishing services you offer. thank you