How to Publish a Book Readers,

Every once in a while, I get a really, really awesome interview subject, and everything comes together just right. My how to publish a book interview yesterday with Garth Stein was one of those.

You folks will really get a kick out of this one because Garth's novel The Art of Racing in the Rain was just published last week with Harper-Collins. It's his first major book deal, and so he's able to relate to where we're coming from as aspiring writers. Two days ago, The Art of Racing in the Rain hit #22 on the New York Times bestseller list.

One of the most interesting questions in the interview was my last; I asked Garth how he landed his literary agent. His response was so insightful I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since.

Additionally, in this interview, he discusses the craft of writing, and he defines a category difference between the craft (which he states can be learned) and the art (which he says can't be learned).

If you're an aspiring writer, or if you wonder what it takes to get your first book published with a major publisher like Harper-Collins, you won't want to miss this interview.

Enjoy!

Stacey 

How to Publish a Book Readers,

A couple weeks ago, I had the opportunity to interview the new Executive Director of the North Carolina Writers Network, Ed Southern. We talked about how to publish a book, how to find literary agents, and how the North Carolina Writers Network serves the writers in its community. Ed was also able to talk about his work for the Book Publisher John F. Blair Publishers.

This interview also includes a Book Report segment by Natasha Gilliam on Brett Battles's upcoming book The Deceived to be published by Delacorte Press, a division of Random House, Inc.

Stacey 

I was asked yesterday on another forum about my experiences self-publishing my books.

The decision to self-publish a book is one that all of us have to face at one time or another. This was how I responded on the other forum:

Regarding your question about self-publishing, I've been extremely happy with everything I've managed to accomplish with a self-published book.

To date, I've sold around 500 books total, done more than 100 bookstore and library events, now have an author-interview TV show, am currently putting together a mini-national workshop tour in conjunction with Lulu and Borders, and have a major publisher contracting me to lead workshops at colleges this fall. I have two audiobooks, know how books sell and are distributed, know how to design an online marketing campaign, know how to speak at writers conferences, etc.

None of this would have gotten going had I not originally self-published my books.

I do recommend trying extremely hard to find a traditional publisher first, but if that fails, don't do nothing with your book. Get it out there and learn as much as you can from the experience!

A lot of this holds true. The fact remains that the business of publishing, marketing, and selling books is not an easy one to learn. There really is no way to learn how books are produced, distributed, marketed, and sold unless you jump right into it.

The problem with traditional publishing is that it may take years (even decades) to get your first book published (if ever). I guess the way I looked at it was that I didn't want to waste my life (professionally speaking) waiting for a traditional publisher to see the value in my writing. I took the approach that I would enter into self-publishing to learn everything that I could about the publishing process.

And I guess, now that I'm on the other side of four years after having decided to do it the first time, I have learned so much about how books are published, distributed, marketed, and sold that I'm amazed.

What I think happens to some writers, though, is that they are forced to self-publish. When they do so, they run into the harsh reality that may come with only selling a few dozen books. Then, discouraged that their book didn't become a bestseller, they give up.

A better approach to take, I feel, is that of realizing that with every book, you learn a little bit more and a little bit more. By staying in the game, keeping a positive attitude, and sincerely trying to learn as much as you possibly can about this business, you really can carve out a career for yourself as a writer.

It just takes a tremendous amount of self discipline to hang in there when the times are tough.

Stacey

How to Publish a Book Readers,

This week I interviewed New York Times bestselling author Bart Ehrman about his books God's Problem and Misquoting Jesus. Bart has published nineteen books, and he makes an interesting distinction between his scholarly books published and his more mainstream books published with Harper One.

Dr. Ehrman has been on The Colbert Report and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and has been featured on The History Channel, CNN, NPR, and other top media outlets. In addition to publishing his books, Dr. Ehmran is the James A. Gray distinguished professor of Religious Studies at UNC Chapel Hill. His scholarly research focuses on early Christianity and the life of Jesus Christ. More specifically, he has focused on Proto-Orthodox Christianity, turning textual criticism around to show how the early scribes altered the Bible.

On a personal level, this was one of the most interesting interviews I've ever done. I found it completely fascinating, and I highly recommend God's Problem.

Stacey