KATIE: First of all, for those few who don't know, you are the editor of the very successful newsletter and website Funds
forWriters, one of Writer's Digest's best websites for writers.??Where did you get the idea for FundsforWriters?
HOPE: FundsforWriters was happenstance. At a ladies' writing group in Atlanta, in 1998, I was asked to speak about online writing, and how it differed from print. At the time I was working for the federal government, for an agency that handled grants and loans, but I wanted to write for myself, so I started pitching essays and book reviews to various sites. One of the editors I wrote for asked me to speak in her stead at this meeting, since she was afraid of crowds. Sometime during the presentation, the topic strayed to concern about being unable to afford computers, printers, toner, etc. I started advising them financially, mentioning contests and grants and such, and the emails started flooding in once I returned home. I asked a journalist I knew about how to start a newsletter, which was new territory back then, so I could consolidate my responses to questions, leaving me more time to write for myself. Unbeknownst to me, that was the snowball catalyst needed to start an avalanche, and FundsforWriters took on a life of its own, overtaking my fiction writing with this sudden interest by writers everywhere. After a couple of months, I had almost a thousand writers on board. I accepted fate's nudge, embraced it and went full speed forward.
KATIE: Between the contests, ads, job postings and writing advice, FundsforWriters is full of information. How many hours a week do you dedicate to the upkeep of the information you send out weekly? How do you manage it with your busy schedule?
HOPE: FundsforWriters is a daily effort. I work fulltime as a writer, probably half the time with FundsforWriters, a quarter with promotional efforts and freelance pieces, and a quarter on the novels. My children are grown, but I started this exercise when they were teens. I laid down the law at the time that writing was as important to me as anything on their social agenda. Today they are quite proud of what I've done. I'm also a night owl, so I'm in bed around 2-3 AM each night, and up around 10 AM. That's the clock that works best for me, and now that I'm full-time as a writer, I can manipulate my personal schedule. I put in about 50-60 hours per week, but when I need a day off, I take it. The only glitch is when I'm speaking at conferences and they ask me to speak early in the morning.?
KATIE: Agents and publishers are always looking for a writer's platform. You seem to be the epitome of the platform builder. What advice do you have for new writer's trying to build a platform?
HOPE:?Funny you should ask. I just wrote a freelance piece on that for?Southern Writer Magazine! First, a platform isn't built overnight. I built FundsforWriters over the years, admittedly with a long distance goal of one day using it to promote the fiction. But a platform is nothing more than contacting people, making them like you or your work, and selling your writing to them. When an agent or publisher asks "what is your platform?" you're expected to tell them where these people are, how they came to like you or your work, and how you intend to reach them. Start with who you know. I suggest taking a month to note everyone you come in contact with - much like noting all you eat with a diet. Suddenly you realize your reach. Then add your Christmas card list, friends of friends, friends of relatives, business acquaintances, Facebook friends, Twitter people, and so on. Focus on those groups of larger numbers, like alumni, co-workers, clubs and organizations you belong to. Start a communication with everyone via newsletter, speaking, blog updates, whatever. It's all about who you can court into your circle. Doesn't matter what the subject matter is. It doesn't have to be writing, but you need to be a leader and a reliable, consistent communicator. Relay your slowly accumulating successes to these various groups, too. People love success. Just be patient, though. It's one reader at a time. If you don't have the time to professionally groom and respect the process, forget about it. Unless you're already well-known in some realm, you have to build your platform one piece at a time. FundsforWriters is 14 years old, remember. I just kept at it every single day.
KATIE:?In addition to the website and newsletter, you've managed to write a novel. Tell us a little bit about?Lowcountry Bribe.
HOPE:?Lowcountry Bribe?is my pride and joy! I actually started writing fiction before FundsforWriters. Only after I couldn't sell the novel did I start FundsforWriters. I was hell-bent on becoming a writer, so I figured if I could not make a living as a fiction writer (yet!), I'd freelance. But for years, I started, stopped, threw away, and rewrote this novel. It predates FundsforWriters by about a year.
Carolina Slade is Southern, a by-the-book girl whose life crumbles apart when she's offered a bribe. She calls in the authorities to report the crime, and her world is never the same. I was offered a bribe once upon a time, but my situation wasn't as entertaining or intriguing as Slade's, but that event in my life served as the starting point for this book. I adore mysteries, and I love lyrical prose about the South. I gobble mysteries like butterscotch, and over the years, the osmosis of great works sunk in to the point I was able to sell the story to an agent, then a publisher. The book is set in South Carolina, my home, and the array of characters are pretty three-dimensional, and, I hope, are as fun to read about as they are to write.
KATIE:?On your newsletter you've mentioned book signings and book release parties. How is managing the promotion of a novel different than what you've been doing as a freelance writer?
HOPE:?Oh my gosh, it's hard, hard work! You can't let a day go by without making a connection. Bookstores have to be convinced to stock the book. Today, for instance, I wrote a guest blog, a piece about platform for a writer's magazine, spoke to a reporter in the neighboring town, mailed a review copy of?Lowcountry Bribe?to another reporter for a weekly periodical, and scheduled a radio show for mid-March. Your eyes have to be open, and every opportunity you see, you need to jump on it. ?I also ran to the grocery store and a friend saw me and asked how the book was selling. The guy in front of us asked if I was an author and how to find the book. Then a guy behind us overheard and asked what kind of book. He loved mysteries. I didn't have postcards or business cards (I only went to get two cans of peaches, in my gym pants and T-shirt, no less!). However, my friend went outside, retrieved three cards he had and brought them back to the people in the store.??From now on, I'll have marketing material in my pocket!??But sometimes you wish you had more time to write. Marketing is intensely time consuming, and you are afraid to slow down for fear you'll miss an opportunity to make headway in this hugely competitive business.
KATIE: What got you started in writing? How did you develop as a writer?
HOPE: Teachers told me I could write since . . . I could write. A tenth grade teacher made me join the copywriting staff for the high school yearbook. I eventually became copy editor then editor-in-chief. I always loved hearing my own words come back to me in proper form, and I adored seeing people affected by what I wrote. However, I was also gifted in science, so I refused scholarships in journalism to go to pre-veterinary school. When I made a B, my advisor said to find another major, so I shifted to a degree in agronomy. I worked for two decades for US Department of Agriculture, and those experiences gave me the fodder for my novel series and introduced me to the grant world. Guess everything has its purpose. Writing had a major hand in every promotion I ever received and every venture I ever pursued. Eventually I decided to write for myself and requested an early retirement from my agency - leaving at age 46. Best decision I ever made except for marrying my husband.?
KATIE: With all your writing credits and hugely successful platform was it difficult to find a publisher for your novel? Tell us about your path to publication.
HOPE: Yes, it was difficult. I self-published The Shy Writer: An Introvert's Guide to Writing Success, and while that process wasn't bad, I decided I wanted more for my fiction. So traditionally publishing a mystery series went on my bucket list. Lowcountry Bribe was scrapped and started over three times. It was edited start to finish at least a dozen more times, before I started querying agents. I queried 35 of them, with an 80 percent response rate, before deciding to edit the book again, and after adding a chapter, removing a character and finely honing that story again, I queried another 35+ agents. Number 72 agreed to sign me. It took her another 18 months to land a contract. Along the way, I used the services of two critique groups to make it better. ?I also submitted chapters, sections and the entire manuscript to contests, so I could judge how well I was progressing. When I started placing in contest was when I began pitching agents. I wrote an editorial on using contests for selling a novel for The Writer Magazine, which should be out in April or May. I also write a chapter in Writer's Digest Books' Guide to Literary Agents, about how I researched agents tightly, matching their backgrounds to mine, to capture interest in my work. Every chance I could I spun an editorial, blog or freelance piece from everything I did. I think in the long run, that aided me in developing my platform.
KATIE: You give a lot of advice to new writers in your newsletter. What is your favorite bit of advice?
HOPE: Write hard every day and keep fighting to improve. It's really that simple. Head down, shoulder to the wheel, and keep working. If you are doing this job to publish a book or become famous or make money, your work will show the lack of sincerity. You have to enjoy the process and worship good writing first. Hurrying to produce a commodity because everyone else is self-publishing or throwing out an e-book or penning a story in six weeks, is bastardizing the profession and sullying your good name.??Take your time to do it well.
KATIE: Many of our writer's are taking the self-publishing route these days. Any opinion on self-published vs. trying out the traditional route?
HOPE: Don't self-pub until you understand traditional. Don't self-pub until you understand all the options with self-publishing. To self-pub for the purpose to rush a book into your hands or an e-book on Amazon, without understanding the industry, without realizing the importance of marketing, without deeming yourself an entrepreneur as well as an artist, is a formula destined for failure. I've spoken to hundreds of writers who are self-publishing because they've received a couple dozen rejections, don't want to wait for the vetting process, or think traditional takes too long. ? That's their choice. That also means that their end result is totally in their hands. They make or break their success, and when writers tell me they can't sell books, I tell them to look in the mirror. There lies the problem and the solution. Self-publishing is a phenomenal tool and an open door to success for those who understand the depth of marketing that accompanies the choice. Just don't think it's an easier route. What's easiest at the outset turns out to be harder along the way. Regardless of what bloggers and online pundits say, having a traditional press behind you makes a lot of the process easier. Only when you have a fire in your gut to market hard can you make self-publishing work. Yes, it's doable. No, it's not easier.
KATIE: Tell us a little bit about your schedule. What do you have on the docket for the near future?
HOPE: I'm visiting three venues in NC, providing a day-long seminar in State College, PA, an evening presentation in Bettendorf, Iowa, a four-day conference in Oklahoma City, and various conferences and events in Nashville, maybe Memphis, Myrtle Beach, St. Simons, GA and assorted little events wherever I can find them. In my media blitz in my hometown area of Columbia, SC, I landed a magazine feature about me, a weekly periodical piece, and a one-hour radio talk show. Add to that the fact I'm guest blogging wherever I can, and I'm writing around the clock. All of the above takes me into October. At the same time, I'm putting final edits on the second novel, and finishing the final six chapters of the third. I'm researching for the fourth. My agent wants me to write a nonfiction book, and I swear I just can't find the time to write it!
Thanks, Hope.?
You can find Hope at her website.?
You can find FundsforWriters here.?
You can find Lowcounty Bribe here.?
If you enjoyed this review, you can subscribe to the Underground or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
Source: http://www.undergroundbookreviews.com/3/post/2012/03/interview-with-hope-clark-by-katie-french.html
ice cream sandwich android harry belafonte harry belafonte batman arkham city weather orlando winston churchill winston churchill
কোন মন্তব্য নেই:
একটি মন্তব্য পোস্ট করুন