AURIA CORTES

I often say that my work with Mija is the only fiction writing I’ve ever done. After thinking about it, that isn’t the case. When I was 24, I wrote two children’s books – The Cobalt Treasure is one and Prickly Pete is another. I usually forget about these two books because each was my first crack at writing. And let’s just say that the books need help. Lots of it. 

At the time, I worked in a safe house for battered women. I wrote the books with the children in the safe house in mind. And I’ll admit that I also wrote the books because I thought that writing for children is easy. Hey, I was young. I quickly realized that isn’t the case.  

For more information on Adrienne Kress, visit her website and her blog. And oh yeah, to purchase Alex and the Ironic Gentleman click here. I purchased two copies for my nephews.  

Now, let’s move forward with the interview.  

Why did you choose to write for a younger market? 

I get this question a lot understandably, why do I write for children - and it wasn’t until people asked me that that I thought, “Hmm I guess I write for children!”  I love kids, anyone who knows me knows this, and I love going to schools and doing readings.  But I also love this kind of fiction simply as a reader.  I love Harry Potter, A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Phantom Tollbooth etc and such classics like Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan as well as anything Roald Dahl.  I also have quite a nice collection of picture books.  I love the writing, the imagination, and the pure adventure of it all.  I also love how dark these novels are, though as a kid often you don’t notice.  It’s only when you read any Roald Dahl for example, that as an adult you’re like, “Woah, his parents were killed by a charging rhinoceros?  That’s actually rather terrible!” 

So my point is, I just like the genre.  I never set out to write for children, but rather to write the kind of book that I love to read.  I have always written many different kinds of fiction because I like many different kinds of fiction.  I have a couple of plays that are very much not meant for young people.   

Now that isn’t to say that there definitely isn’t the awesome side effect of writing in this genre – that of kids reading your stuff and liking your stuff.  I am just thrilled to hear from my audience, because kids don’t pull their punches, if they don’t like something, they’ll tell you.  So to get a good review from them is a serious honour.    

What events inspired you to write Alex and the Ironic Gentleman? 

I was initially inspired to write Alex when I taking weekend break in the town of Bath, England.  I’ve always had something on the go writing wise, but I had never considered writing a children’s book before. I’m not sure if it was Bath that made me want to write that kind of book, or just the getting away from the city and having a chance to be alone with my thoughts. But suddenly the decision to write a children’s book just sort of happened while I was there as I was doing a lot of walking and thinking and stuff.   

As I already stated, I love children’s literature, have read many great books in the genre.  And I suddenly thought to myself, “Well I bet I could write one of these books.”  Not because it was easy, but because I knew the genre so well. 

Well whatever inspired the initial decision, it was definitely Bath that inspired so many particular details about the book.  The doorknob shop was based on a doorknob shop I passed on my walk, the bridge that Alex and her uncle live on is based on the bridge in Bath with all the shops on it (which in turn is based on the Ponte Vecchio in Florence Italy) and so on.  

Then, as I thought more about the structure of the novel, I decided that Alex was going to be a love letter, an homage, to all my favourite children’s books.  So the first Act, up until Alex leaves on her adventure, I consider very Roald Dahl (to me the Daughters of the Founding Fathers’ Preservation Society totally typify the sort grotesque characters he liked to write).  Then Alex’s journey to Port Cullis is Alice in Wonderland, where she meets some interesting characters and has miniature adventures where she needs to solve problems before moving on.  Lewis Carroll made fun of the world of his time in Alice, and I try to do something similar with this section.  Lord Poppinjay, for example, is a composite of all the bosses I had as a temp - these people who expected you to practically read their minds – well in this case Alex actually has to read his mind.  The third Act, Port Cullis and onwards, is Peter Pan, at least the part with the pirates.  It also owes a lot to Treasure Island.  There are other authors I reference as well throughout the book: the chapters all begin with “In which . . .” which is a reference to A A Milne for example.  I just really love these books, they were a huge influence on me growing up, and I kind of wanted to say thank you to them with Alex.  

Is there any advice you have for aspiring authors in the children’s market? 

Well first of all I would say know your genre.  Read what’s out there.  Seems obvious, but here’s the thing, a lot of children’s writers read certain books when they were kids, so they are familiar with the works from their childhood, but they don’t necessarily know what’s out there now.  I have been asked by many writers if what they are writing is “acceptable” for whatever age they are writing, and those questions could be so easily answered by reading one or two books currently available.   

Secondly, respect your audience.  Kids are awesome.  But they aren’t just “kids”.  They are also people.  They have opinions and hopes and dreams and fears.  Being a kid is very complicated, and not all sugar and spice and everything nice.  Try to remember what it was like when you were younger.  I can definitely recall one year when all my friends decided they didn’t like me anymore, and so chose to ignore me.  The pain of that experience was profound.  Remember too that while of course you want your books to appeal to kids who might not normally read, the fact is that the kids who love books tend to be pretty precocious and smart and you can’t trick them into liking what you’ve written.  They can tell when you are trying to “teach a lesson” or are being condescending.   

Lastly I think the children’s market is one of the biggest ones where people want to write to order.  They want to write at a certain reading level, so they submit their work to an online quiz that let’s them know they’ve written something at a certain grade level.  And they make sure to include morals, and what teachers like, and what librarians like, and what parents like, and what “kids today” like.  They see Harry Potter, “Ah magic is in!”  They see Eragon, “Dragons all the way!”  They see Spiderwick, “Does anyone know a fantastic artist?”  It becomes writing by numbers.  And if there is anything that takes away the magic and wonder from a children’s book, it’s writing by numbers. 

Children’s literature, in the end, is the same as every other genre of literature.  Each genre has its own particular challenges, but in the end, they are always best overcome by writing a fantastic story. Yes you have to keep age range in mind.  Swearing in a picture book would be ill advised.  But in the end it comes down to: write what you want to write.  Don’t try to please everyone.  You can’t.  

Since many writers visit my blog, they will be interested on how you became published. Please tell us about your journey. 

Well I’ve been writing stories and stuff from a young age, and in university I got really into playwrighting.  But what happened with Alex was as close to an accident as is possible in the writing world.  That is to say, you can’t just walk down the street and suddenly find you have a completed novel in your hands, but still . . .Alex was a total surprise.  

As I have already said several times, I am a big fan of children’s literature.  I’ve been reading it my whole life, heck even in my last year of highschool I wrote a thesis comparing Alice in Wonderland to Peter Pan.  But I had never really considered writing a children’s novel before.  I was much more focused on writing plays, and always had some detective mystery in the works on my computer.  

I was living in England at the time, working as an actress and a temp in London.  Then, as I already said, I went to Bath, had that revelation, and I started writing a children’s novel.  I put in everything I like, pirates, art deco party trains caught in time loops, those sorts of things.  I had never had any intention of publishing it, but as the months passed I realised that I hadn’t given up on the story yet.  I’d never finished a novel before this one you see.   

In the end Alex took just under a year to write.  But I wasn’t doing it full time.  I started it in February of 2005, and then in the summer I was in the middle of doing a play, so I basically just stopped writing for that time period.  But for some reason I kept coming back to it.  I kept writing, worked through the tough bits, and then one day I was like, “Well I wonder how one goes about getting published.”  

As an actress, I am used to the concept of agents, and more importantly, of rejection.  And I didn’t consider it would be that much of a risk looking into a literary agent.   Worst thing they could do was say no.  So I did a fair amount of research, perfected my submission packages (which in the UK consist of a cover letter, synopsis and first three chapters) and in January of 2006, having not yet completed the manuscript but under the impression it would take at least 4 - 6 weeks for the agents to get back to me, I sent them off. 

The next day an agent called for the full thing.  I was very polite, said I would get it to them by the end of the week.  Hung up the phone and started to panic.  I still hadn’t finished the book yet!  Let this be a lesson to everyone to only submit to agents after you have a completed manuscript!   

There was no two ways about it, I sat down at my computer and wrote like a crazy person (well like a crazy person with correct grammar and a story to bring to its logical and natural conclusion).  And I finished the last 30 000 words or so in three days. I like to say it took me eleven months and three days to complete the book. 

Two months later I heard back from the agent who liked Alex, but wanted me to cut around 10 000 words (at the time it was close to 97 000 words).  I gave myself two weeks.  I refused to cut scenes, but instead chose to cut words and paragraphs within the existing structure.  And I did it.  And my book was so much better for it.  And you couldn’t really tell what I had cut, I am just that long winded. 

The next weekend the agent called again, wanted to meet, so we did.  For five hours.  In the end she agreed to represent me.  Her name is Julia Churchill with the Darley Anderson Literary Agency in London, and she totally rocks.  

Four weeks later Scholastic made an offer.  Over the summer the book was sold to various countries in Europe, and then in the fall it was fortunate enough to go to auction in the states, where Weinstein Books (formerly Miramax) was the winner. 

All this happened very quickly.  The time from initially mailing out my submissions to Scholastic’s offer was five months.  And I know I am very lucky and still cannot get over how much my life has changed in the last two years.  It’s been a wonderful adventure so far, and I look forward to what’s coming down the road.  

What’s your take on the perception that children and YA agents and publishers will only sign established authors?

To be honest I didn’t actually know such a perception existed.  In fact I would say that if there was any time in the history of writing to write for children, it would be now.  Like her or not (and I for one adore her), J K Rowling showed the world that writing for children could be a profitable business.  Publishers took note, and now the industry is a formidable one. 

The fact is, every author was once unpublished.  If new authors didn’t get signed and published then we’d never have any new books.  It’s as simple as that.  Fact also is, I am a new writer and I got signed.  And I have several friends who have also just recently signed with agents/publishers in this market as well.  So it obviously must happen. 

Some say the children’s market (and I include YA in this) is the hardest market to publish in.  I can’t say if it is or isn’t.  I have no figures or statistics to look at.  I’ll just say that like any other artistic pursuit, it’s not easy.  But if you have the drive, the focus, the ability the listen, learn and change, are professional and can take a lot of rejection, you can get there. Have faith in yourself, but respect the business as well.  Please do your research and be humble.  Know that even the best of authors still have editors correcting their work.   

In the end, it isn’t some impossible dream.  And you know what?  There is really no point in looking at the odds.  Yes they’re huge.  Yes it’s going to be hard.  We get it.  Whatever.  

You can still do it.   

Is there anything else you want to add? 

I guess I’ll just add that the sequel to Alex, Timothy and the Dragon’s Gate, will be available in August 2008 with Weinstein Books, and sometime in the fall in Canada with Scholastic.  It’s about a boy named Timothy Freshwater who begrudgingly helps out a dragon trapped as a human return to China so that it can become a dragon again.  Two thirds of the way through the narrative, Timothy comes across the end of Alex’s story from her book, and they share the rest of his adventure together.  If that makes sense.  Well it will when you read it.  I hope.  

Click HERE to buy Alex and the Ironic Gentleman

Click HERE to visit Adrienne’s website

Click HERE to visit her blog

Click HERE for past interviews I’ve conducted.

Posted below is an interview with Lynn Price who is the editorial director for an independent commercial publisher, Behler Publications. She has done a beautiful job providing her perspective on the publishing industry and how writers can pique the interest of publishers.  

(twiddling thumbs)

Your back? Great. 

That post is one of the reasons I frequent their blog. The sense of humor and personal feel I get when reading Price’s posts is immeasurable. To me it demonstrates the personal attention an independent commercial book publisher can offer writers. 

What is the difference between an independent book publisher and a print on demand/vanity publisher?  

 I’ll make one slight correction: the terminology is independent commercial publisher.  This is an extremely loaded question and one I could (and do) talk/debate about ‘til the cows come home due to its explosive controversy and surrounding confusion. For the sake of brevity, I’ll attempt to keep this answer just to the facts. 

Print On Demand actually has two definitions because one begat the other. See? Already it gets confusing. 

Printing: Print On Demand is a printing process – more accurately called Digital Printing. This process allows for very small, quality print runs from 1 – 900 at an affordable price.  This is handy for printing up advanced reader galleys that go to trade magazine reviewers or for back list titles that still have demand but not enough to warrant a full web-based (offset) run. In the beginning, the quality was pretty horrible, but nowadays it’s difficult to tell the difference between the web based (offset) runs. One can tell because the ink is shiny on a digital book if you slant it toward the light. This technology begat the Print On Demand business plan. 

Print On Demand Business Plan: As with everything in life, money determines the business modality. This new ability to print tiny runs opened up brand new opportunities to become a publisher with very little capital. When one considers the costs of editing, cover art, interior design, marketing, sending books out to reviewers, distribution, and print runs, it’s easy to see that being a publisher is hideously expensive, and the publisher must do a lot of marketing so they don’t take a financial bath on their investment.  

The Print On Demand business plan is free from these worries because they don’t have the money at the outset, and their smaller budgets rule what they can afford. The first to go was paying advances. Out went hiring a talented and experienced editing team. So long to the $2500 cover art, bye bye to $1500 interior design, and most of all, sayonara 5,000 unit print runs (on average), and marketing. As with any business, when you crimp on quality and effort, you produce an inferior product. The publishing industry immediately saw the lack of quality and refused to review or stock these poorly edited, often unmarketable storylines, and poorly designed works.  

Because they only print a few books at a time, the publishers can’t gain any kind of national distribution for several reasons:

• The genre buyers know the books don’t have enough demand because they don’t have any marketing plans in place and can’t get them reviewed by the trade magazines.
• The retail prices are invariably higher than market because digital printing is more costly than doing a 5,000 unit offset run.
• PODs have a very tough time accepting returns because it eats into their budget. Books get printed and they have to be paid for regardless of whether they’re returned or not. PODs don’t have the capital to withstand those returns.

With these factors at play, they attract authors who, for whatever reason, are unwilling to go the route of submitting to commercial presses or agents, or have been rejected by every agent and editor in the industry. Since the POD business plan publisher has very little cash outlay, all the burden for marketing is exclusively shouldered by the authors.   

From a logical standpoint, one has to ask themselves why a company would spend what little money they have producing a product only to make another party responsible for the selling of the product. The answer is that writers love their books, and writers will work very hard to get their books into readers’ hands. The author is an unwitting, unpaid sales force, and POD publishers depend on them to make money, and it’s a very dicey way to do business. If every author refused to shoulder the responsibility for selling his book, that would be the end of the POD business plan. For that reason, many, many POD business plan companies have gone belly up. 

I have a more detailed and revealing discussion about the Print On Demand paradigm on our blog: http://behlerblog.blogspot.com/2007/12/pod-print-on-dime.html  

Vanity: This is pay to play publication, and the fees to play can be astronomical. Like the POD business plan, all marketing is done by the author, they have zero distribution other than the online databases, zero shelf space in the bookstores, their editing and cover art tends to be inferior, and the books aren’t returnable in many cases. The upside is that the author has total control over their book, which is risky because authors don’t understand the marketplace.   

What is the difference between an independent (commercial publisher and say Penguin Group or Random House?

If you’re talking about a small indie commercial press like us, I’d say about sixteen less zeroes in our bottom line and thousands of pounds lighter in terms of the weight we throw around within the industry. There are many indie commercial publishers that are making a huge impact on the industry, and on readers. In terms of clout, however, the power remains with the large houses. 

Numbers: The large houses’ size requires that they buy manuscripts that will sell at least 50,000 (and higher) units in order to stay on top. The smaller indie commercial presses don’t  require those huge sell-through numbers to stay afloat – but we would do the joy joy dance if we did.  

Marketing and Distribution: Since the large houses have a larger checkbook, they are able to buy end caps, shelf face-outs, advertising in magazines and television – costing thousands. The fallacy is that authors think they’ll get this kind of treatment, and the truth of the matter is that they won’t. These big advertising dollars are spent on the big money authors. They do, however have great distribution, but, as with all publishing these days, it’s still up to the author to get out there and create demand.  

Likewise, the savvy indie commercial presses will sign with a good independent distributor who has a sales team pitching their titles to the genre buyers at the corporate and local levels in all states. They’ll also pitch to the libraries and indie bookstores.  

Any author investigating a publisher should always, always, always ask who their distributor is. If they say Ingram or Baker & Taylor, be aware that these are not distributors that have a sales force. They are centralized warehouse distributors who sell to the bookstores when an order is placed. 

Genre: The large houses publish all genres, and this allows/requires them to hire editors of all genres. The indie commercial press has a specific genre that they publish, and the editors are specialized at editing that particular genre. It’s all very niche and very cozy. Because we’re small and publish in a narrow field, we buy some extremely great work that the large houses may pass on because they don’t feel it will have a large sell through in the hundreds of thousands.   

Questions about Behler Publications  

Behler Publications accepts unagented manuscripts. Do unagented scripts receive the same consideration as agented one’s?

It depends upon the manuscript and the agent. I have some agents for whom I will clear the desk because they submit consistently good work, they’re prepared, and write great proposals. Because agents know my tastes and are better prepared, they receive heavier consideration. Having said this, I have, on numerous occasions, cleared the decks for a well written query from an author. However, the cases where we sign unagented authors are growing smaller as more agents submit to us.  

Once a manuscript has been submitted, what can authors expect from the process?

I read their first 30 pages. If I’m wild about it, I’ll ask to see a full book proposal that includes title comparisons, PR plan, and completed manuscript. If I’m still wild about it, I’ll talk with the author on the phone to get a better picture of their personality, their intent for their book, and give them a chance to ask me any questions they may have. Then I take it to my submissions committee that is comprised of our distributor, sales teams, and editors, where it’s kicked around until it’s black and blue around the edges. If it survives this, I sit and think on it for another week before offering a contract.  

Is there a particular voice and/or genre that Behler Publications publishes most?

We’re leaning very heavily toward the nonfiction genre these days. I haven’t accepted fiction in ages. I look for the personal journey that knocks me out of my socks and makes me think for days after I finish reading the work. I like controversy. I like to get people talking and thinking about social issues that permeate themselves in the human condition – things like health, aging, death, illness, disabilities, etc. Most of all, I love to laugh and be surprised. Those are the elements that keep readers engaged.  

Advice for writers 

Writing a query that piques the interest of a publisher isn’t easy. What advice do you have for writers in regards to writing compelling query letters?

Writing a query or cover letter is agonizing. I speak at seminars that deal with this very issue, so it’s nearly impossible to answer this in a paragraph. The most important thing is to pitch your story to me in a single paragraph, and here’s what I look for: 

A)          Intro the characters

B)          Intro dilemma

C)          Present teasers or resolutions  Secondly, I need a word count and genre.  

Lastly, tell me why you’re the best person to have written this book. What special qualifications do you have that give you a great platform? Are you the doc who practices alternative medicine in your practice? Are you the mom of a child whose bipolar disorder is the worst case doctors have ever seen? Are you the broadcast journalist who broke one of the most riveting stories in the country? Are you the caretaker of a disabled Hollywood mogul? 

While it’s true that every editor is looking for a great book, we have to look for a great platform as well in order to create demand for the book.  The trick is to keep this cover letter to a page. If you’ve piqued our interest, we’ll ask for more.  

Submitting proposal after proposal and receiving rejection after rejection can be a blow to a writer’s self-esteem. What can writers do to keep from jumping off a ledge?

Wear a seat belt? Okay that was flip. But I say that because I’ve been there. I’m a writer, and I’ve experienced every bit of angst and frustration. If a writer has received roughly 100 rejections, then it’s time to consider that the work could be flawed. Many writers are working with independent editors these days because the competition is so rough. Writers should be members of good, solid writing groups – either online or in person. These are goldmines in terms of getting honest feedback and help with writing query letters.  

Attend writer’s conferences and network. Contrary to what people say, editors and agents aren’t really harbingers of evil that had their hearts genetically removed in utero. We love talking to fellow writers, and the best place to do this is at conferences. Get appointments with editors and agents and have your work critiqued. For instance, I’ll be speaking at the SDSU Writer’s Conference in San Diego next week, and I received six submissions to critique. These aren’t submissions to our company, but simply honest feedback from myself, other editors, and agents. You just can’t get that kind of feedback anywhere else.  

Lastly, the biggest solace I found when making the submissions rounds was to write another book. 

The following two posts offer a quick glance at the books recently published by Behler Publications. To review addtional titles click here and here.  

Click HERE to read more industry interviews.  

KTLA’s News At 10:
Sixty Years with Stan Chambers
by Stan Chambers, with Lynn Price

In 1947 Stan caught a wave just as KTLA Channel 5, Los Angeles, was becoming the first commercial television station this side of the Mississippi. This wave has taken Stan on an unimaginable journey covering TV news that has been going strong for sixty years. He shares his life with an engaging style that merges storyline with a broad spectrum of television history and events that includes:

* Technical achievements in television, (e.g., KTLA engineered the first ever news Telecopter)
* The Bobby Kennedy Assassination (1968)
* Breaking of the Rodney King Beating story
* The Baldwin Hills Dam Disaster
* The Watts Riots (1965) and the Los Angeles Riots (1992)
* The Kathy Fiscus Story (the “little girl” who fell into the well in 1947)
* Live coverage of the A-Bomb test in the Nevada prove-up grounds (1951)
* Southern California earthquakes, Malibu fires, and everything in between.

Stan is also involved with the Stan Chambers Journalism Awards, an annual essay competition that awards senior high school students interested in journalism careers with cash awards.

Other honors include several Emmy and Golden Mike awards, the Sigma Delta Chi Broadcaster of the Year award, the Governor’s Award from the Television Academy, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Professional Journalists, an L.A. Press Club Award, L.A. City and County proclamations, and from his alma mater, the USC Alumni Association Award. The Associated Press Television-Radio Association of California-Nevada also annually presents the Stan Chambers Lifetime Achievement Award.

He’s still out there, over 22,000 stories later, with mic in hand. As Chambers puts it, “When you report news in Los Angeles, you are broadcasting to the biggest hometown in America.” Click here to view a video. In addition, this link provides reviews and accolades..

What were the circumstances that allowed you to be published for the first time at the age of seventy-five? 

Perseverance and some good luck are what caused my first novel to be published at age 75. Although I had written two non-fiction books as a with and was paid for my writing in Hollywood, I viewed myself only as a writer and not an author until A GATHERING OF VULTURES was published. 

Did your experience in Hollywood increase your chances of getting published? If so, how? 

My experiences in Hollywood neither hindered nor helped my chances of having my novels published. I wrote in both screenplay/treatment and novel formats and was more fortunate in the former at that time. 

What’s the premise of your first book, A Gathering of Vultures? 

A GATHERING OF VULTURES, my first published novel, is a suspense/thriller that ends with horror elements. It is based on our experiences living in Florianópolis, Brazil, on the island of Santa Catarina, where black vultures are aplenty. My M.C.s are husband and wife professional ballroom dancers who hope to take DanceSport to popularity beyond that of Dancing with the Stars where it is equal to other professional sports for prize money and endorsements. My Brazilian born wife and I did a bit of amateur ballroom dancing 

Describe the process you went through to get signed with DarkHart Press (i.e. through an agent or querying directly). 

I did not use an agent when I sent the manuscript of A GATHERING OF VULTURES to DarkHart, which I discovered in the NEW section on P&E. It was verbally accepted within hours of being read, the royalty-paying contract soon following. I had sent many queries, partials, and fulls without success to agents and other publishers.  

Your forthcoming novel, Rocamora, will be published by Lightning Rider Press. Some authors stay with their publisher for the duration of their career, you’ve taken a different route. What advice do you have for writers when it comes to selecting the right publisher for their project?  

Lightning Rider, which will release later this year my historical novel, ROCAMORA, set in 17th century Spain, is owned by the same publishers as DarkHart, which specializes only in dark horror novels and anthologies. Selecting the right publisher is always one of hope. Even those who have signed with the big houses have told many stories of their frustration with promotion, distribution, and cover design. Agents often say they must feel a passion for any project they take on. A publisher must also express at least that much enthusiasm. 

What advice do you have for writers who feel nervous and disenchanted about their road to getting published?  

Learn more:Gathering with Vultures

 Click HERE for more industry interviews.

Writing is lonely work. Sure, friends humor me from time-to-time and allow me to go on and on about my book. But in the end, sometimes I want more than just a shoulder to cry on. I want expert advice. Yes, sometimes I need guidance. There, I said it.  

When I heard Andrew Zack started Author Coach™, I was intrigue. Is this the type of service I’ve been looking for? Is this the type of service other writers are looking for? To find out, I asked Zack a few questions.  

His responses are pasted below. Zack offers advice on author coaching as well as general publishing advice. You can find out more about Author Coach™ by visiting www.authorcoach.com.   

Quotable quote 

“A desperate, insecure writer is far more likely to fall prey to a scam than a confident, educated writer who takes the time to perform due diligence and treat the search like a business project and less like trying to find a pretty girl (or boy) to take to the dance.” – Andrew Zack 

Let’s start with the basics so my readers understand the Author Coach™ business model. Explain the premise of how your company works. 

It’s a very simple concept:  Author Coach provides “one-stop shopping” for authors looking for editorial guidance, coaching, and input.  Because Author Coach has many coaches, authors of many different genres and subject areas will find their needs met by this one firm. 

Further, Author Coach is not elitist or snobby in the way some book doctors or free-lance editors are.  I’ve heard from more than a few editors that they have so much business that they can’t take on anyone who needs too much attention or whose project needs too much work.  Author Coach believes that any author can benefit from having a coach and we are happy to work with authors at all levels of experience. 

Finally, Author Coach is not just about “editing” or “doctoring” books.  It’s about coaching, so that we’re not about simply taking your manuscript and editing or rewriting it.  We want the authors themselves to become better writers.  Hence, an author coach may help an author stay on track by calling to see how many pages he or she has written that week.  A coach may recommend that an author read various books, or suggest that the author write a short story or two in first-person before writing an entire novel.  An author coach may help an author write a query letter or put together a submission list to agents or editors.  We are more than pencil-pushers; we are coaches who motivate, educate, and help writers achieve their publishing goals. 

As a successful, well-respected agent I’m sure agenting keeps you pretty busy. What events inspired you to launch Author Coach™? 

I actually came up the publishing ladder in editorial.  I very much enjoy the editorial process.  Talking to various free-lance editors and book doctors, I came to realize what a difficult challenge it must be for most authors to get advice and editorial work they can trust.  Looking at writers’ sites like AbsoluteWrite.com, I realized how much incredibly bad information there is out there, confusing writers.  I have a couple of friends who are life coaches and it occurred to me that there is a need for more than editors who just mark up the manuscript and then toss you back into the sea of agents and publishers.  Sure, you might have a better boat, but what good is that without a compass, a sense of direction, and the knowledge of how best to sail that boat?  I realized that what a lot of writers seemed to need was as much advice on how to pursue their publishing dreams as they did editorial help.  They needed a life coach for their writing life.  Hence, Author Coach was born. 

And while I am busy as an agent, of course, so many of my skills developed starting and running my own agency could be applied to Author Coach that it did not seem that much of a challenge to start a second, separate company.  Once I did and started talking to other free-lance editors and book doctors about coming on board, I was nearly overwhelmed by the positive response.  The concept had a strong appeal, as did the idea of having someone else to tackle back-office operations, advertising, and marketing.  I fully expect that within the next year or so, AuthorCoach.com will be the number one destination website for authors seeking free-lance editorial assistance and coaching. 

Critics point out there is an inherent conflict of interest between your literary agency, The Zack Company, and Author Coach™. What’s your take on their assessment? 

Well, obviously, I think they are wrong!  They are separate companies entirely, beyond ownership.  They serve separate, though obviously complementary, markets.  They do not refer to each other.  Frankly, unless you were familiar with my background or read my biography on the AuthorCoach.com website, you would never be aware that I also have a literary agency. 

Obviously I anticipated that some authors would claim there was a conflict.  It seems to be inevitable that whenever an agent chooses to venture into areas beyond simple representation there is a great hue and cry from some authors who believe that agents should only do business one way: the way those authors say.  But the reality is that there is no conflict.  The Zack Company is not sending out letters to rejected authors telling them to seek the services of Author Coach.  And Author Coach is not recommending The Zack Company as an agency. 

More importantly, I have, from the start, been completely transparent about having started this second company.  Why?  Because not to have been would have implied that I was trying to hide something.  And certainly I am not.  I recognized a need in the marketplace and decided to start another company that would meet that need.  It’s really as simple as that. 

Next I may design the perfect manuscript box for authors to submit their material in.  If I start to sell those off a new website, would that be a conflict?  I’m kidding, of course, because I’m not in the office-supply business, but I hope the analogy comes through. 

What qualifications should a writer look for in an author coach? 

First and foremost, experience in the area in which you are writing.  There are many free-lance editors out there, but if you are writing romance, you really want someone who has worked on publishing romance novels.  If you are writing self-help, you want someone who has experience in that area.  Author Coach has many different author coaches available and covers an extremely wide range of genres and subject areas.  That’s what makes AuthorCoach.com one-stop shopping for authors in search of editorial assistance, guidance, and services. 

What are the commitments a writer is required to make to ensure the author-coach relationship is successful? 

The relationship between an author coach and his or her client may be only partly editor/author.  It may also be part mentor/mentee or part teacher/student.  The relationship can be very organic and grow over time.  If an author enters into the relationship, how successful it will be depends a lot on the author’s willingness to take editorial input and incorporate it into their work, to recognize that an author coach with several years of experience working inside a publishing house knows more than their friend who had their first novel published last year.  Being open to constructive criticism and not defensive is probably the most important commitment an author can make to have a successful experience with an author coach. 

What are the commitments a writer should expect from their author coach? 
That he or she will read material by the deadlines agreed upon; that he or she will provide the kind of detailed feedback the writer seeks; that he or she will help the writer feel more knowledgeable and more empowered to pursue his or her publishing goals. 

At what point in the writing stage should a writer consider working with a coach? 
I don’t think there’s a bad time to start working with a coach, but it makes sense that an author should have some idea of what they want to accomplish when they start working with the coach.  Theoretically, an author could come to me and say, “I’ve always wanted to write a book, but I haven’t written a word,” and the relationship could start there.  But I’m not sure that most authors would find that to be the most beneficial and, yes, cost-effective, way to start out.  Better would be to at least have a few chapters, if not a full manuscript, or a proposal. 

With a few chapters or a proposal, an author coach would have a sense of the author’s writing abilities, style, and direction, and could therefore give more specific coaching and advice. 

In their quest to become published, writers (especially newbies) are susceptible to scams. Last summer, I contacted a book coach who indicated that along with the monthly coaching fees, I was required to sign away 20% of all future earnings should my book be published. Needless to say, I told him where he could go. So that writers are aware, what are the standard coaching fees they should expect to pay?<o:p> 

Our rates are published on the AuthorCoach.com website.  There are hourly and monthly options.  Currently those rates are $125/hour or $2,500/month.  They are subject to change, of course, so an interested author should check the site for the latest rates. 

The Author Coach engagement letter specifically says that we have no interest in any finished work.  That said, I don’t know that the situation you describe is a “scam.”  If an experienced editor said they would work with you for a very reasonable fee, .e.g., $25/hour, but you had to agree that the editor then had an ownership interest in the copyright of the resulting work, is that a scam?  Or is it simply a sweat-equity deal?  Often “editors” become nearly or actually “co-authors,” and in such cases should they not have an interest in the work?  I don’t know the specifics of the offer you received, but based on the little you’ve offered, it’s not “glaringly” a scam. 

At the risk of being virtually tarred-and-feathered on several writers’ sites, I have to say that I think writers in general are a bit too afraid of being “scammed.”  I think what happens more often than not is that writers don’t do their due diligence.  They don’t check references before submitting, and they give too much power to agents or publishing-house editors.  You can look at nearly any literary agent’s website and see whom they represent and who published those authors’ books.  You can then look at the publishers’ websites and learn more about them.  When you find an agent representing the kind of book you are writing, and whose clients are being published by publishers you recognize, e.g., Simon & Schuster, Random House, etc., then odds are you’ve found a reputable agent. 

But if you just go to the library and start leafing through the Literary Marketplace (LMP) or one of the many guides to editors and agents out there and sending out queries based solely on those books, then you are simply not doing your due diligence and run the risk of finding someone who may not be the best choice. 

Also, keep in mind that there are always two sides to every story. For every author out there knocking an agent, is an agent who believes that author is mistaken, was wrong, was disloyal, or is just nuts! Before you believe in one rant on one website, do some more research. 

For additional information, visit the Author Coach™ website.  

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