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Stranger than fictionWhat works, what doesn't in the harsh world of publishingBy Nan Bialek |
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Authors (from left) Kurt Chandler, Stacey Kannenberg, Sandra Kring and Liam Callanan react to a comment by moderator J.A. Konrath during a panel discussion on the Writing Life held at Redbird Studios on Oct. 6.BayViewNOW.com Photo by Charles Auer |
It wasn't always pretty. Konrath, who has worked as a standup comedian and bartender, said he wrote six books and endured 450 rejections before reaching a stark conclusion: "Obviously, I suck."
His wife, however, would have none of it. She attempted to cheer him up by paying for him to get a tattoo on his arm. Konrath's ink was his own design and reflected his mood at the time. It was one of those round smiley faces with the smile inverted.
Konrath decided to read 100 best-selling books back-to-back "and I got a pretty good feel for what sells," he said.
The rejections became a bit more hopeful with his next three books and finally, Konrath's 10th mystery, "Whiskey Sour," hit pay dirt. Six-figure pay dirt.
Konrath and his wife celebrated with another tattoo. This time, the smiley face was grinning.
"There's a word for a writer who never gives up," Konrath said. "And that word is 'published.' "
Kring, author of "Carry Me Home" and "The Book of Bright Ideas," said she didn't know the tricks of getting published when she first started out as a novelist, nor did she know the barriers to seeing her words in print.
"I thought the secret was you just write a book that was so good (publishers) just can't say no," Kring said.
For Kring, ignorance was bliss. She said she wrote her first book, "Carry Me Home," in six weeks "and all in one breath." It sold the first time she sent it out.
Kring said she writes "by ear," the way a musician plays "by ear." She compared writing a book to the process of a potter throwing clay on a wheel.
"You take away everything that's not a pot, and if you don't edit, your writing won't hold water," she said.
Chandler, author of "Shaving Lessons: A Memoir of Father and Son" and a senior editor at Milwaukee Magazine, said revision is "probably one of the most important elements of writing."
Chandler, who writes nonfiction, said another important step in getting published is submitting a book proposal to a publisher. There are some boilerplate formats for the proposal, he said. It describes the topic of the book, whether there are other books on that or similar topics, "Why you're the only person on Earth who can write it, and why it's going to sell millions and millions of copies."
A couple of sample chapters and the author's biography should be included as well.
If preparing the proposal sounds tedious, Chandler said there is an advantage to completing that process, "It focuses your mind."
Kannenberg, author of "Let's Get Ready for Kindergarten" and the sequel, "Let's Get Ready for First Grade," said she "fell into writing backwards."
"I was very blessed that somebody gave me Judy Bridges' name," Kannenberg said.
Bridges, owner of Redbird Studios, is a writing coach, writing teacher and a woman who knows her way around the publishing world. She advised Kannenberg to find a niche for her book.
Kannenberg, who has a marketing background, found that niche by selling her book to school districts across the country and positioning herself as an expert in helping parents learn what their children are expected to know in early elementary grades.
She now is a go-to person for reporters and television talk show producers working on school-related stories.
Salsini, a former Milwaukee Journal reporter and editor and a journalism instructor at Marquette University, is finding a niche for his novel, "The Cielo: A Novel of Wartime Tuscany" among Italian-Americans and World War II veterans.
The book was inspired by a 2004 trip to Italy, Salsini said, where he stayed in a converted farmhouse once used by villagers hiding from an occupying German army during World War II.
At first, Salsini said, he found it difficult to switch gears from the reporter's insistence on factual writing to the fiction writer's freedom to imagine characters and scenes. Soon, however, his characters took over and, Salsini said, "I felt I was just reporting what they're doing."
Salsini published his novel himself using a print-on-demand Web site and said he would recommend it to other aspiring authors.
Addy, whose latest book is titled "Lucky Jake," said she has learned to recognize that her opinion is not always right.
An author of picture books for children, Addy said she never sees the illustrator's work until the book is complete. On several occasions, she said she nearly pulled her hair out when the illustrations were nothing like she envisioned. The illustrator, she said, is chosen by the book's publisher.
Once the books were favorably reviewed and began selling, Addy had a change of heart.
"I found out I don't know beans about illustrating," she said. "I know about writing. ... The illustrations are looking better and better all the time."
Callanan, a novelist who is an instructor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, has changed his mind on occasion as well. His first novel, "The Cloud Atlas," has a title similar to a book by British author David Mitchell, called "Cloud Atlas."
"This upset me that somebody was using my title, until I realized we were selling a lot of books by mistake," Callanan said.
Callanan, whose latest novel is "All Saints," said he writes because he loves it.
"When I write, I try to reach out and create a community of readers," he said. "To me, this is what civilization is all about."
He noted Redbird Studios is just that - a community of readers and writers.
Nan Bialek can be reached at nbialek@cninow.com or (262) 446-6617.
• "When you're working with a professional editor, always make the changes the editor suggests. Why? Because it's no longer your book, it's 'our book.' The editor will fight for 'our book.' "
- J.A. Konrath
• "I spend about five to six times more time editing (vs. writing)."
- Sandra Kring
• "If you're writing a kids' book, have you read it to any kids?"
- Stacey Kannenberg
• "You should be able to explain your book in 30 seconds or less. Reduce it to that 30-second elevator pitch."
J.A. Konrath
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