Preparing for a Media Interview

It’s easy to spend so much time focusing on how to land media coverage that how to handle the interview itself is not given much consideration. That is a mistake. You don’t want to squander an opportunity after working so hard to secure it.

The following is a checklist to review before any media interview. Some tips are TV-specific, but even those can be useful to keep in mind during radio or phone interviews since you can use those as practice for future on-camera opportunities.

Interview Prep Checklist

And, congratulations on the interview.

An Interview with Erik Hane of Red Sofa Literary

Erik Hane is an associate literary agent at Red Sofa Literary, and is a co-host of Print Run, a publishing podcast. He has previously worked on the editorial staffs at The Overlook Press and Oxford University Press. He also works as a freelance writer and editor.

Erik shared his thoughts and advice on writing, the pitfalls of chasing trends, and the publishing world’s main problem.

 

What initially drew you to the world of words and books?
Such a broad question! Tons of reasons, but mostly for me it's this: writing, and especially books, is how the world talks to itself. Working in that field feels like a chance to help take part in that conversation, to work with people who are saying and writing things that matter and help them get their work the audience it deserves.

When did you start working in the literary field?
I graduated college in summer of 2012, and was interning at Oxford University Press by that fall.

Tell me a bit about your work at Overlook Press.
Overlook was a really valuable and formative experience for me because it's a small press that relies on moving quickly to keep up with larger houses. So, lots of responsibility across a variety of departments in publishing, at a pretty breakneck pace. I got a chance to work on both fiction and nonfiction and the experience directly informs nearly everything I do in my current role as an agent.

You’re now at Red Sofa Literary. How would you define Red Sofa?
Red Sofa is an agency that has worked hard to position itself as a place for writers of all sorts--novels, nonfiction, YA lit, specific cultural stuff that other agencies might find too niche. It wants to take creative chances, and that's been a blast to be a part of.

What type of writers are you generally looking for?
I work with mostly nonfiction authors who can present expertise on a given topic in an engaging way for the non-expert. I love narrative history, science, political writing, cultural commentary. On the fiction side, I really like ambitious novels that try something new.

What are some of the major pitfalls you’d warn writers against?
Don't write your book to trends, because trends change quickly. Write the book as you see it in your head, and if you want to tweak based on current marketplace, do that in editing. But let yourself write the book you want to write.

What do you see as some of the major trends you see in the literary world?
From the nonfiction side of things, I'm seeing a lot of immediate reactions to our political moment in book form, which is tricky. Immediacy and timeliness sells books but I think the ones we'll remember from this period will be the ones that are slower to develop. In fiction, a lot of books are crossing into multiple genres, and as such I think what we call "literary" is broadening. This is good, because too often "literary" becomes bad shorthand for "worthwhile," so it's important that that designation change in popular perception.

Some say the 20th Century was the apex for novelists—what are your thoughts?
I dunno, I feel like there's some pretty good work being put out there right now that simply hasn't been canonized in the way the lasting projects from the twentieth century have. This will be an era full of really great fiction too. It already is. Critical examination just takes some time for the immediate dust to settle.

What advice would you give to a writer who has a finished manuscript and is trying to decide whether to take that long often dead-end journey to look for a publisher, or self-publish and go it alone?
Self-publishing becomes more and more of a viable option all the time. A big question is whether you feel you have the tools yourself to get your book to its readers. That's what a traditional publishing process does: it helps you not only make the book, but also navigate the many steps in cultivating a platform so that readers can find you. If you can do that yourself (and it's very hard to do), self-publishing is a great choice. Otherwise, there's no harm in sending some queries to agents.

The literary world has changed quite a bit in the last few years. If you had a magic wand, what direction would you steer the industry in?
You'll hear this a lot, but publishing has a real problem with representation, both in terms of those getting published and those working in houses. It's very hard to work in publishing if you don't come from privilege, because NYC is expensive and it often takes low-paying internships just to break in. I want to see that pushed against more, because it would open the field up more widely to the many necessary and essential perspectives that should be fueling an industry that is presumably based on ideas.

Follow Erik on Twitter at @erikhane, or at his site erikhane.com.

Self-Published Books & Consignment Deals

How does a burgeoning author get his or her latest book out there for public consumption?

Having copies available for sale online is one thing, but physical presence in bookstores has a number of crucial benefits: in-store stock establishes legitimacy, ups the chances of exposure by virtue of the fact that the people frequenting bookstores are guaranteed readers (versus the general population of visitors to Amazon, for example), and--often overlooked--in-store presence offers the author a chance to establish a relationship with that bookstore that can be leveraged into readings and/or signings.

If you’re an author backed by a publishing house that’s setting up local or national distribution deals, this may not be an issue for you. But for self-published and/or burgeoning authors, it might seem challenging to figure out how to convince your local bookstores to carry your work.

Thankfully, many bookstores have consignment deals.

What’s a consignment deal?

In the book world, a consignment deal is a paid agreement between author and bookstore in which the author pays a fixed amount to the store in exchange for copies of his/her book being carried in that store for a given amount of time, during which point the author will receive some percentage of any sales therein; depending on the package (there are often tiers), the author may have display and promotional opportunities. At the end of the established time frame, the unsold books will be returned to the author.

The specifics of the deal vary from store to store--some will allow you to pay more for a guaranteed reading event, display timeframes might range from five weeks to three months; some stores may offer inclusion in an e-newsletter or online, or a limited-time display in the front of the store.

How do you choose the best deal?

As an author, it’s important that you do your homework, come up with a marketing budget, clearly define your audience and outline your goals are for the book in question. Things to consider include how much promotion you get for a given price, the location and/or reputation of the bookstore, what kind of people it attracts, and the specifics of the consignment deal package--are you looking for a store that guarantees you a reading event, or one that advertises your book in a biweekly e-newsletter for a couple months?

The Bottom Line

Consignment deals can help boost sales and reputation, and open an industry network that will help you take the next steps as an author. An easy way to get started is to just pick up the phone and call your favorite local bookstore and ask them what they offer!

 

Still looking for some guidance? Shoot me an email at analise@prforwriters, and I’m happy to discuss your needs.     

Publishing & PR

You’ve written a book. Better yet, it’s getting published! (Congratulations).

Fact: Your journey is just beginning.

Many authors, particularly those new to the industry, make the mistake of conflating their publisher with a public relations team. Unfortunately, those two roles have key differences, and misunderstanding the distinction can lead to frustration and missed opportunities. Let’s clarify some of this!

Your publisher will likely assign a rep to your book, someone who is responsible for sending out an initial press release and ARCs (advanced reading copies) to potentially interested parties. Your publisher will also keep track of performance and sales, and handle inquiries as they come in.

What you can’t expect your publisher to do, however, is proactively and consistently seek out media opportunities for you, promote you as an author outside of this particular book, and consider the paths you could take as a burgeoning creative professional. It’s not that PR isn’t part of publishers’ job description--it is, particularly with the larger houses. But the reality is that books, particularly those by new authors, don’t get the push authors are expecting, or that they deserve. It’s often not the publisher’s fault--they generally just don’t have the wo/man power to do the work.  

If you want exposure and continued promotion as an author beyond the launch date of a book, you need PR.

In PR we use your work to promote you as a professional--the scope of your success and media magnetism extends well beyond one book, and we help you identify what makes you unique as a news piece--your story--and we share that with maximum effectiveness with the public.

We aren’t necessarily pitching your book to TV networks for adaptations, or handling second printings when you have a smash hit, but we do make everyone aware of those potentials so that they’re interested in your book now, and what you’re doing next.

Many authors think they’re getting a personal PR agent in a publisher, someone who will advocate for them and seek out interviews and reviews, but in fact the publisher’s role is largely diminished once the book is out--a few review copies, and pre-release coverage and then it’s up to you to keep that momentum going, and that’s when you’ll want a PR team in place.

The last thing you want to do is lose that momentum: if you’re getting close to publishing, or have published a book--you need PR. Give us a call, we’ll walk you through the next steps.

Write on, writers!

Podcasting, Fandom, and Media Specialization

Media placement is one of the core tenets of public relations, if not the main goal: we build clients into Brands through their exposure across a variety of outlets until they hit the threshold of public interest and become relevant (and then the real PR fun begins).

The endless evolution of media is one of the ever-changing trends that we have to be very aware of in PR; particularly since the 2000s, news and pop culture consumption has changed radically (and continues to). For example, the last five years have seen an abundance of articles bemoaning the “death of journalism” in the face of social media ubiquity and a pervasive click-bait-as-business mentality. Leading national newspapers continue to increase print subscription fees as consumers turn to the Internet, and even that online presence is constantly challenged by the instant accessibility of in-your-face Facebook algorithms that bring the news to you via right rails and friends.

In that same vein, we no longer turn to radio as much as we used to in booking exposure for clients. Radio shows used to be a default go-to, but as with the rest of media consumerism in 2017, the variety show model has largely been eclipsed by outlets that are tailored to specific interests and which are easy to digest on the go with a smartphone.

Enter the Podcast. A portmanteau of “pod” (iPod) and “broadcast” coined in 2004 by BBC journalist Ben Hammersley, podcasts snuck into the scene and enjoyed moderate interest among key early adopters until an explosion in the 2010s that cemented them as a popular medium, challenging traditional radio business practices. Of course broadcast radio is still prevalent: it’s an easy habit to flip on FM while driving to work in the a.m., and if we're talking local traffic, national news, and current hits, you're set.

But, so many of our clients—especially our authors and filmmakers who are just starting to take off—don’t have stories that fit immediately into that general news mold. Podcasts offer an hyper-accessible channel with the advantage of highly particular subject matter, if so desired. The host-guest(s) conversational structure that features in so many podcasts also means authentic connection and the chance to build lasting and mutually beneficial professional relationships. Plus, podcast audiences are already primed to be interested in show guests.

Why is that so important if the audience is just a niche community? Because if we can successfully identify appropriate channels, we win guaranteed exposure for clients in communities that will champion them, and amplify their presence enthusiastically and organically. In eternal HBO hit Sex and the City, leading lady Samantha Jones is a PR pro who pushes her then boyfriend Jerry “Smith” Jerrod to commercial success as an actor, gleefully noting of his confusion at the path his burgeoning career is taking, “First come the gays, then the girls!” Sure enough, his career takes off right on schedule.

Now we’re not that particular market here, nor would we perhaps be quite so flippant, but the wisdom holds: in this new age of Comic-Con as a media mogul instead of just a nerd haven, and Harry Styles as a critically acclaimed musical talent beyond a pre-teen dream*, we embrace and rely on fandom more than ever.

In 2017, fandom is not frivolous, it’s what comes first.

What we’re saying: if you’re an author or a filmmaker, don’t shy away from appealing to niche audiences, or starting off with exposure in smaller, more specific outlets (and if you’re working with your PR team, trust us, there’s a plan). Podcasts in particular are your friend! Find the communities that love what you’re doing and want to champion you, so that when it comes time to pitch yourself to bigger fish, those mainstream outlets will care because a quick Google search will show that everyone else already does.
*If you're dubious about One Direction's main man, check out NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour or Panoply's Switched on Pop for more on Mr. Styles...speaking of podcasts.

An Interview with Red Hen’s Keaton Maddox

*This post originally appeared on Anthony Mora's blog, Notes from the Salon. 

I met Keaton Maddox (if that was not a writer’s name, someone would invent it) when he was a guest speaker at a writer’s conference. My wife and I also had the good fortune of sitting next to him at lunch. His passion for literature, particularly poetry, was palpable. It had been quite a while since I had heard someone talk with such zeal about poems and poets. It did my heart good.

Keaton is the Associate Editor of Red Hen Press, as well as the Assistant Managing Editor of the Los Angeles Review and Senior Editor of Write Bloody Publishing. Books he has edited have received reviews or feature coverage in the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Slate, Poets & Writers, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Kirkus, and the Los Angeles Review of Books, among others. He is a graduate of the George Mason University creative writing program and his writing and scholarship have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. Keaton graciously took the time to answer some questions about writing, reading, publishing and offered some tips on a writer’s roadmap.

What first drew you to writing?
I first became interested in writing poetry for the very reason you would expect a pubescent pre-teen boy would become interested in poetry: to swoon a girl. I was in middle school and my seventh grade English teacher assigned us to write 25 poems of all different forms as part of our unit on verse. At the time there was a girl I sat with at lunch I had a crush on who loved horses. So I wrote a 25 poem collection all about horses (I remember only one distinctly—a concrete poem that I laid out on Microsoft Word to be in the shape of a galloping horse). The girl also wrote her collection about horses and that gave us all of 10 minutes of something to talk about. I don’t think she ever even read one of my poems. But the seed was sowed. If I could churn out 25 poems about something I hardly knew anything about, what if I wrote about something I actually enjoyed? It took me a few years to find what that was, but that was the jumpstart I needed to begin seeing myself as a writer.

Who are three writers that have influenced you the most?
This is a really hard one. There are so many, but let’s go with Ted Berrigan, Maggie Nelson, and Brendan Constantine.

Berrigan’s The Sonnets was the first really astonishing book of contemporary American poetry I read in a college classroom. On a first read, the poems make no sense—intentionally! —but by the end you start to see lines you’ve read before, but in different arrangements and orders. It’s only after you’ve finished (and mostly likely read the book a second time) that you begin to see how all of the pieces take on new meanings depending on where you locate them. For me at the time, this technique was a revelation, completely different from the confessional poetry the poems of my workshop classmates. A lot of the projects I’m working on now were inspired by Berrigan’s collages, and are attempting to work in a vein similar to Claudia Rankine’s Citizen—bringing real world issues, facts, and personal experiences into juxtaposition to uncover what exists underneath the tension.

Maggie Nelson is one of those writers who’s especially known for her prose writing but is also a brilliant poet. I find a lot of times my favorite prose writers were poets first (see also Ben Lerner’s Leaving the Atocha Station or Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, etc.). Maggie Nelson belongs to the academic school of writers, which means her writing, even in cases of personal narrative, is firmly planted in extensive research and often deals with subjects grounded by scholarly theory. What is especially exciting about Maggie Nelson, though, is that she’s writing for more than an insular circle of esoteric professors. She’s creating public scholarship in the vein of Barthes, but even more accessible and applicable for our times. When you read The Argonauts or Bluets or listen to her speak you spend the whole time thinking “Wow, this woman is a genius.” Yet you aren’t jealous or upset with her at all for it because she totally lacks pretentiousness. She wants to share the truth she’s uncovered and there are few greater privileges than being able to listen into it and learn. Even if you can’t relate at all to her subject matter, she writes with such understanding of the human condition you will feel it as universal truth.

And finally Brendan Constantine, who writes in a very different style than either of these other two, but is still an artist I would place in the category of clever poets. He’s a performer so his poems are designed to be read out loud, by him. He’s a Red Hen authors and every time we bring him in for a reading he sells out every copy of his books. He knows how to work a crowd, but that in no way means that his written word isn’t up to par. He has this way of making you look at a word or phrase you’ve heard or thought of a thousand times, but then twisting it into something entirely new. One of my favorite examples of this is in his new book Dementia, My Darling, which is all about memory and forgetting. In it there’s a narrative poem called “The War on Drugs” in which he describes in all of its absurdities what it would be like if the War was the thing on drugs. It’s surprising at every turn and yet familiar in a way that feels honest.

You have a great passion for poetry, what draws you to that particular form?
There’s a line in the Derrick Brown poem “Sour Mash” that I think sums it up well: “a great line of poetry was a bullet and novels were a long choke.” Finishing a long novel might be the best feeling in the world, but it requires time and commitment and the choice to spend hours investing in an isolated experience instead of doing anything else. We’re in the internet age and our attention spans require more immediate gratification than they used to. Poetry has the ability to grab you by the throat and change your whole worldview in less than thirty seconds. What other form of writing can do that?

It’s difficult enough for any writer to get published, but poets have some challenges that are specific to the genre. What advice do you have for aspiring poets?

Learn the aesthetic of where you’re sending your work before submitting. This does not mean that you should be manipulating your art just so you can be published in a big name journal, but rather that you should be looking for places that champion the type of work you’re doing. So much of the publishing game is about developing a community of supporters, building an audience. With as many different publishers as there are out there, you’re doing yourself a disservice by valuing name recognition over fit.

You are an associate editor at Red Hen Press. How would you describe Red Hen and its mission?
Red Hen Press is a literary nonprofit based in Los Angeles. We are committed to publishing works of literary excellence, supporting diversity, promoting literacy in our local schools, and fostering a community of readers and writers who are actively engaged in the essential human practice known as literature.

More specifically: we publish poetry, literary fiction, and narrative nonfiction, typically between twenty and thirty books a year; run a Writing in the Schools program, which connects local authors with Title-1 schools in Los Angeles to host workshops and encourage student engagement in writing and literature; and put on at least thirty readings and events a year in New York, San Francisco, Washington D.C., and Los Angeles.

It’s a non-profit company, how does that impact your approach to publishing?
Mostly it means we don’t have to publish every book solely for its potential marketability. Of course, we try to take on books that people will buy because they want to read them—any publisher that claims they’re not attempting to do this is missing the point—but we also have the freedom to take risks on unknown authors or experimental works that won’t guarantee high sales.

Has working in the publishing end of the business changed how you view or approach the writing process?
Working in publishing has, more than anything else, exposed me to new possibilities in writing I would never have discovered otherwise. My favorite find of this past year is the lyric essay. This style of writing tends to be a blend personal narrative and research with unique form construction and poetry-reminiscent prose. It doesn’t have nearly the popularity of the other genres—essay collections get passed over in bookstores even more often than short story collections—but because of the current online literary marketplace, this type of writing has found homes in places like target="_blank">The Nervous Breakdown and The Rumpus. In a lot of ways, lyric essays build their structure not dissimilarly from what I like to do with poetry, so I’ve begun to branch out and test its waters, something I never would have done without stumbling upon the form in a submission. This is just one example of many. So often we have a tendency to read only exactly what we know we enjoy for pleasure, but working in publishing has forced me to consider different approaches the writing and opened up my eyes wide to the endless possibilities.

What do you feel are the two biggest misconceptions new writers have about publishing?
If you’re rejected it’s because your writing was bad. There are a whole host of reasons why a particular piece or manuscript might be rejected and often times they’re factors the author has no control over. For example, sometimes an author will send us a manuscript that looks like a perfect fit—they did their research and know this the exact type of book we like to publish—but we may have just accepted a similar book and now we don’t have room in our production schedule to publish something on that same topic again so soon. You can’t take rejections personally.

Once accepted, you will retain complete artistic control over the production of your book, especially in regards to layout and cover design. We try our best to produce a product the author will be happy with—if you hate the way your cover looks, you won’t want to promote it as hard, and that’s bad for us and the book—but ultimately the publisher-author relationship is a collaboration. We work with designers and sales reps who have collective lifetimes figuring out what will make someone pick a book off the shelf. You have to trust that your publisher wants what’s best for your book too, even if it isn’t exactly what you first envisioned.

In many ways the internet has disrupted the old publish model. Where do you see the industry headed in the future?
It certainly has! We’re in the middle of converting our bi-annual print journal The Los Angeles Review to an online format. Disruptive indeed—the internet is both a blessing and a curse for publishing. On the one hand, the increased exposure and accessibility is unprecedented. Never has it been easier to find amazing writing than through the internet. But it also means that what we publish isn’t just in competition with other literature; it’s in competition with everything available online. You have to make an audience pay attention to your work instead of watching YouTube videos or scrolling for hours through their Facebook feeds. The publishers that succeed in this market are doing so because they’re pushing the boundaries of what we can expect and developing a community (see The Offing, Two Dollar Radio, Button Poetry. All of a sudden, networks of people you never would have had access to are able to read and easily share your work. I think we’ve yet to see the full culmination of what this will mean or become, but one thing is for certain: if you can figure out how to adapt, there has never been a more potent time to make a name for yourself in the writing world.

What advice would you give to writers who feel overwhelmed by the changes? Is there still a roadmap? Was there ever?
There’s definitely still a perceived road map—write until you get into an MFA, publish in journals until you achieve name recognition, publish a book, become famous—and this strategy has worked for many writers, but not for everyone. If you get too bogged down by what you’re supposed to be doing, it can end up feeling like a game, and by that point you may end up caring more about publishing than you do about writing.

In my opinion, the only road map that matters is this: 1) Write write write. 2) Promote promote promote. You have to focus on the art and you have to hustle. Tour even if you don’t have a book yet. Cherish the people that love your work and champion the writers that you love. Be as involved with your literary community as you can, either in your area or online. Connect and contribute and work on your art. If this sounds like a sprawling answer, that’s because there is no one path to success. You have to forge what works for you. But if you focus on your writing and support other writers with theirs, the rest will reveal itself.

Many thanks to Keaton, who lives, writes and edits in Los Angeles, for taking the time to share such insightful answers. To learn more about Red Hen Press visit http://redhen.org

An Interview with Katie Hogan of The Altar Collective

I had the pleasure of meeting Katie Hogan last year. A vivacious literature lover, editor, publisher and author.

Katie is the founder, editor-in-chief, and creative director of The Altar Collective. She is a twenty-two-year-old student from the University of Southern California with a BA in creative writing. Katie first fell in love with a piece of paper and a pencil when she was eight years old. Ever since, she has been dedicated to pursuing writing, especially poetry. Katie has spent time in San Francisco, New York City, Paris, and New Orleans on a constant search for the best iced coffee and answers to her cliché quarter-life crisis. She has studied advanced creative writing at Columbia University and has been nationally recognized for her writing by the National Council of Teachers of English. Katie’s poetry has been featured in publications such as Quiet Lightning and The American Library of Poetry, and she has gained editorial experience as an editorial intern at City Lights Booksellers and Publishers in San Francisco, CA. She is currently living in Boston to get her MA in Publishing & Writing from Emerson College. So, with Katie I launch my interview series of writers, editors, publishers, agents and others involved in the literary world.

Tell me a bit about your publishing company.

The Altar Collective is a small press and arts collective based in Los Angeles, CA and Boston, MA. We specialize in publishing poetry, hosting events like open mics and music/art festivals, and uniting the artistic community together.

What was the impetus to start the company?

In 2012, I dropped out of college after my freshman year and decided to take a year off. During my year off, I traveled to Paris and lived in the city for six months in order to learn French and gain new experiences. Paris was nothing like I imagined, though. Prior to leaving America, I believed Paris would be a lovely trip—full of riding bikes to pick up fresh baguettes, meeting nice people who would show me around the city, and basically all those other cliché, overly happy moments you see in movies.

Although I was very grateful for the opportunity to live in a beautiful city and have this experience, it was more difficult than I thought it would be. Fortunately, I stumbled across a weekly bilingual open mic that took place in the basement of a bar. This open mic inspired me more than I can describe—it was where I felt the most comfortable, and it took away all my fears related to the cultural differences. I was not only able to meet many influential people, but I was also able to really understand the power of poetry and writing in general, regardless of language barriers.

That inspiration followed me back to the states and eventually became one of the main reasons I started The Altar Collective. I wanted to provide a stepping stone and platform for writers. I have been way too lucky to be surrounded by such amazing artists, and I wanted their voices to be heard.

Prior to Paris, I helped a friend run a weekly open mic down in Long Beach, CA. That experience plus my year living in San Francisco and being exposed to groups like Quiet Lightning also really pushed me to create my own press.

What is the most interesting aspect of publishing to you?

My favorite part of publishing has been working with artists. Our poetry anthologies have introduced me to so many talented poets. Some poets flew in from Chicago and New Jersey to participate in our monthly open mic/book release shows, and we still keep in touch. Working with our featured writers, like author Kris Kidd and musician Inch Chua, was an amazing experience, as well. I love getting to know each artist we work with; picking their minds and being able to dive into their writing/art is a real honor.

What has surprised you the most?

People love poetry, contrary to what many believe. Before I started The Altar Collective, I kept hearing that poetry didn’t have a market, that it wouldn’t sell. However, I found that there really is an audience for poetry, and that audience is hungry for quality poetry and a community surrounding it.

What are some of the book you’ve published and what was it about those writers that spoke to you?

Years ago, when I was focusing on pursuing photography, I met another photographer/model named Kris Kidd. Kris and I became friends, and over the years, I realized that not only was he a talented photographer, but he was an amazing writer. After starting TAC, I approached him about his writing, and within a few weeks, we had a manuscript of his essays organized and edited. The manuscript, which would become I Can’t Feel My Face, was a collection of essays about Kris growing up in Los Angeles and his struggles losing his father, joining the modeling industry, and growing up in general. Kris was a friend before we worked on this collection, but working with him on I Can’t Feel My Face allowed me to dive deeper into his struggles and his suffering. Although the essays have a very specific tone to them, they really speak out to what it’s like growing up in Los Angeles.

We published his most recent book, Down for Whatever, in June 2016. I loved working with Kris on Down for Whatever because it shows his growth. It is his first poetry collection, but each piece shows strength and vulnerability, and watching him grow up as both an artist and a writer has been an amazing experience.

Another experience I really enjoyed was working with Singaporean musician Inch Chua. Inch went through all her diaries and chose entries from each one, then compiled a new diary of sorts. I loved getting to know her on a deeper level, and her story of traveling from Singapore to America to continue pursuing music was not only inspiring, but a story I felt like every girl should hear. Inch doesn’t let anything get in her way—if she’s passionate about it, she will achieve it, and that is a message I stand by.

Your also currently studying at Emerson College. How do you juggle your various responsibilities and interests?

It has definitely been difficult, but it’s a challenge that I’ve enjoyed so far! I’m currently in graduate school at Emerson College, studying Publishing & Writing. It’s a great program so far and I’ve learned a lot about the publishing industry that has helped me think about the future of The Altar Collective.

I also work at MIT in patent law during the day, and act as managing editor for Write Bloody, another fantastic poetry press that has been a major influence of mine since I was 13. Going to school, working two jobs, and running TAC while living in a new city has been exhausting at times, but I am so happy to be able to have each experience. Each teach me a different lesson and reveal new skills, so it’s nice to be able to dabble in different areas—it keeps me going!

You also write. Tell me a bit about your works?

Writing has been a therapeutic activity for me since I was a little kid. I’ve mostly been writing poetry, and some of my work can be found in Quiet Lightning, The American Library of Poetry, and Nostrovia! Poetry’s Fuck Art, Let’s Dance.
What are your top two pointers for writers looking to publish their works?

If you are seeking out a publisher, I highly advise working with a press that you love and trust. Go for one that makes you feel like family and makes you feel comfortable.

Never, ever, ever let anyone take advantage of you—financially, creatively, etc. The publishing industry is great, but there are a lot of people out there that are just looking to gain profit off of your art. Protect your work, protect your heart, and never let anyone alter or try to change your work against your will.

For more information on Katie and The Alter Collective, visit www.thealtarcollective.com

Happily Ever Appter: Traditional PR Gets Social

There’s no doubt that Public Relations is an art. PR is a unique combination of communications mastery, sincere relationship building, and Jeopardy-level knowledge of current events. For good measure, toss in some tenacity and a sixth sense for what people will find compelling, and how. In PR, we build brands that set trends by capitalizing on the current.

But while PR has always required that we keep our fingers on the pulse of current global culture, what we consider “the media” is now more far-reaching, ubiquitous, and noisy than ever.

So how do we keep up? How do we separate the substance from the fluff, and make sure our own (quality) content stands out? We could easily drive ourselves into the ground trying to shoehorn our original methods into digital-age style, or we can evolve with the industry.

In short, to be successful in PR V.2017, we have to work smart, not just hard. And I do mean that literally—get your smart phone, we’re going mobile.

Okay, not just mobile, but that is a big part of it. These days, we have to optimize our journalism-based storytelling within traditional media outlets for the platforms and apps that drive contemporary consumer connection.

I’m not suggesting we toss our standards to the wind in favor of churning out daily content for ten different platforms in an effort to simply invite the masses to mindlessly “like” us. Quite the contrary, we have to raise our standards for content creation in order to stand out in a sea of contributors, and then we have to employ those same standards in carefully trimming and adapting that content for multiple short-form and visual platforms in a way that not only grabs attention, but keeps it.

When we do all of that successfully, we effectively convert momentary fans into long-term followers who will continue to engage with us through whichever platforms they prefer.

Social media—an incredibly broad term for the multitude of user-based sharing platforms that connect and inundate billions of brains a day—is here to stay. Maybe not in its current forms, for certainly not all of today’s popular platforms will weather the millennial storm, but it is undeniable that social technology has woven itself inextricably into daily human livelihood.

Increasingly, our conversations with clients include strategic approaches to pairing social and traditional media (sometimes even viral marketing), because it’s both what clients are already seeing daily and what we suggest they use to maximize their presence. We also have a much more involved relationship with web developers and analytics experts because we’re constantly monitoring the ways that people ingest interviews and news, and making sure content is accessible to the largest number of people.

What this means: If you are a PR professional, read up on social platforms, mobile news apps, and the digital workspace tools that can help you streamline efficiency and engage with your audiences. If you’re a writer looking to self-promote or hire a PR firm, make sure that you and/or your reps understand thoroughly the critical combination of legitimate news coverage and clever, multi-platform content distribution—that's definitely a conversation to have early on.

O brave new world!

Top image courtesy of Espresso Digital

Interview with the Vampire...Book Author

When author Thomas Hewlett and I began working together, one of the first things he told me was that he took his first drink at age seventeen and promptly blacked out for thirteen years, coming out of a haze at rock bottom with the early idea for a novel—the one that would kick-start his career—scrawled across a mess of notes.

He had my attention. But it wasn’t the shock factor of that surprising opening that kept me, it was the next part: writing saved his life. Writing not only gave Thomas a career, it gave him an outlet into which to pour his struggles and triumphs, and a purpose in helping others who might be facing similar challenges he did. His personal journey is as remarkable as his Twelve Stakes series.

He and I sat down to talk about both.

On your site you state that you took your first drink when you were seventeen, blacked out and woke up thirteen years later, with little to show for your life besides a notebook full of unwritten books. Did those unwritten book help point you to your current path?

Twelve Stakes - Corrected - High Resolution - Book 1Looking back over that trail of unfinished books—and I use “books” loosely, because they’re mostly piles of disjointed paragraphs and hastily scrawled character sketches—I see an active imagination and a lot of scattered potential. But all that writing kept me anchored in the dream-reality that stories come from. It was a way to keep the fires of my creativity burning when the drink and the drugs threatened to snuff it out completely.

And oddly enough, those scribblings were leading me somewhere, though I didn’t know it at the time. The book ideas and the characters in search of stories got more fantastical the further I went, and it kept my mind limber. Those notebooks were laying the foundation for what came later. The vampires, the magic, the darkness. It’s all there in embryo form.

I’ve heard authors say that writing has saved their life. In your case, that seems to be quite literally true. Tell me a bit about that journey.

Not to sound mythic, but it was a journey to Hell and back. I started losing the plot of my life when getting drunk and high became more important than anything else. The jobs I worked got more menial, the apartments I lived in got smaller and shabbier, everything in my life got small and bleak. I kept scribbling ideas for stories here and there as a kind of lifeline (my wife read one my journals from that period and said, “Well at least your writing was improving…”). When I finally had a breakdown and ended up in the mental hospital on suicide watch, stories were the thing that I held on to. I watched and listened to every crazy person I saw in there. I went from the hospital to rehab and that’s where I started writing again. I learned in rehab that we’re all here to pursue a passion or a dream and nothing is stopping any of us from doing that except a decision. A decision to choose ourselves. I decided I was finally going to write a book, no matter what. It became a central part of my recovery, a reason to get clean and stay clean. Finishing a book became a reason to choose my life. Working on that first draft was a struggle but it helped me stay focused on getting better and getting my life together.

What was the genesis for your Twelve Stakes series?

When I was newly sober, I had dinner with a friend of mine one night, a writer named Khanh Ho. He and I were joking about different ways to write about my time in the nuthouse and were spitballing story ideas. Khanh kept suggesting wilder and wilder ideas, like heroin-addicted angels in rehab, and he finally said, “You should write about vampires in A.A.!” I immediately latched onto the idea, knowing instinctively there was a kickass story in there somewhere. Sure enough, when I started unpacking it, the story, the world, and all the characters spilled out almost fully written. The idea of monsters as addicts and blood as addictive as booze seemed perfectly made to tell a noir-style detective story, which is exactly what I was looking for.

Do you think writing was always in the cards for you?

I don’t like to romanticize writing but in this case I do think I couldn’t have been anything other than a writer. It’s what I love and it’s how I look at the world. I see stories and see characters everywhere I go. And the writer’s life has appealed to me since I was a kid. The freedom to let my imagination run wild really put a hook in me. It’s why I when I was young, I rewrote the endings of books I read when I didn’t like the final scene or how the characters ended up.

Some writers plot and outline their book, others jump in and see where their writing lead them. How would you describe your writing process?

I outline for practical purposes, because it makes the writing process faster and smoother. But I keep my outlines vague so I can leave room for surprises. The outline is a map to a place I’ve never been before. So if I make it too rigid, it cuts me off from discovering new plot points or character motivations along the way. And at some point, I have to be willing to let the outline go altogether. No outline survives contact with the story without changing. So I start with a basic thread of the storyline to get it shaped into a rough three-act structure and I give myself a page count to hit every day. After that, it’s just faith. I trust that if I show up and start writing every day, the characters will show up too and show me the way to the final scene.

How important is reading to you as a writer?

All the reading I did before I started writing was extremely important. It gave me a solid education in how stories work. How do you build tension and suspense? How do you show emotion and pain? What makes a reader keep turning pages, desperate to find out what happens next? Reading as much as possible is important because at some point, all of it sinks into your subconscious like groundwater and that’s where your personal stories spring from. I don’t have as much time to read for fun when I’m writing, so when I do I try to read non-fiction so I can absorb more data that might inspire and influence future stories.

Who are some of the writers you feel have most influenced you?

At the top of the list are the mystery and fantasy writers that have melded into my style. Writers like Raymond Chandler, Anne Rice, Michael Connelly, NK Jemisin, Richard Kadrey, Nalo Hopkinson, Charlie Huston have been my guides and inspiration…and are now my competition.
What would you like readers to take away from your writings?

Most of all I want them to strap in and enjoy the ride. I want them to get lost in the world of Twelve Stakes and get so close to the characters they shout and cry along with them. I want my readers to wonder what kind of monster they’d be in my world—are they Werewolves, Vamps, Fae or Witches? The same way people sort themselves into Hogwarts houses. (That’s right, I just compared my books to Harry Potter!) But most of all, I want my readers to see hope in all the darkness and be inspired to keep fighting, addicts or not.

Twelve Stakes is a book series, but are you also thinking beyond books as a way to express your work?

IMG_9307 (1)Yes, I’m going to take Twelve Stakes across a bunch of different platforms. Jack Strayhorn, my Vampire detective character, hints in book one about the 60 or so years he traveled around solving supernatural cases. I’m turning those into a series of graphic novels. I’m also adapting the main series story into a television pilot. Netflix and Amazon are doing some amazing storytelling right now, dark and sexy stuff. My Vamps and Weres will fit right in. On the far horizon is an immersive video game set in the world of Twelves Stakes, especially if virtual reality tech catches up to my imagination.

Having gone through the process a few times now, what advice would you give to writers who are just starting their journey?

The two things I would pass along are commitment and permission. You have to commit to sitting down every day and banging out pages, no matter. Don’t feel inspired? Don’t feel like writing? Too bad. Suck it up and get to work. But while you’re writing every day, give yourself permission to suck at it. Give yourself permission to write a shitty first draft, have days where you hate every sentence you put down, and want to throw the book out the window. Those feelings will pass—as long as you keep showing up every day to write.

Check out the Twelve Stakes series at twelvestakes.com, and pick up Book 1 at The Last Bookstore today. Book 3, "A Devil of Your Own," comes out on August 1.

Skylight Books on Why Bookstores Matter

A conversation with Skylight Books Events Manager Kelsey Nolan

Nestled in Los Feliz, Skylight Books has been a neighborhood staple of the Los Angeles literary scene for more than twenty years. In a time when (to our great chagrin) bookstores are closing left and right, Skylight has expanded its reach, finding new and innovative ways to not only stay relevant, but to lead the charge in proving why reading, progressive thought, and places of learning are more important than ever.

In the last year alone, Skylight hosted events featuring the likes of Elizabeth Warren and Zadie Smith, launched an in-store nonfiction book club, facilitated fundraising for more than half a dozen human rights causes, made the news as an “oasis of dissent,” and partnered with local groups to put on a cross-city, Harry Potter-themed pub crawl that culminated in a midnight book release party. And of course, sold a lot of books. Whew. And that’s just a glimpse.

At PRFW, we’re all writers who represent writers, so for us bookstores are nothing short of sacred (not to mention we’ve all confessed to each other that we’re steadfast devotees of the printed copy). Because we approach writing from a public relations standpoint, we’re constantly looking to better understand the relationship between booksellers, authors, and the general public. See where I’m going with this? Who better to help elucidate the nuances of these relationships than the booksellers themselves.

I had the great pleasure of sitting down with Skylight Events Manager Kelsey Nolan to discuss the store, the role of bookstores in an increasingly politicized climate, and tips for new authors trying to make it.

NewBioPics_3Tell us a little bit about Skylight Books, its history, mission, and place in the Los Feliz and greater LA communities.

Skylight Books opened in 1996 on the site of a former 20-year old bookstore, Chatterton’s. The space has been an active bookstore for 40 years. Due, in part to its location, and in part to the staff it employs and the clientele it serves, Skylight Books is a community space, an advocate for progress and dissent, and an integral part of the Los Angeles literary world.

How do you choose which authors and books you carry: does Skylight’s process differ from other stores, and what factors do you consider when making stock decisions?

Skylight Books, just like Los Angeles, and just like Los Feliz, skews left. We focus on literary fiction and nonfiction, graphic novels and comics, books about politics, Women’s-, Black-, Asian-, Native American- and Latino Studies, and, of course, books about LA. With that in mind, we’ve had the same book buyer for the entirety of Skylight’s lifetime. He has watched Los Angeles and our neighborhood change and grow and, with input from the staff, he has maintained a keen eye for what our customers want, respond to, and like to discover. Plus, he does so much with the limited space we have.

I’ve had a lot of reviewers snub self-published work as not being as legitimate as those backed by a house, but we’re seeing an increasing number of self-published authors—is there a place for them in bookstores?

There is definitely a space for them in bookstores, especially indies. I think the stigma was born because, well, anyone can self-pub—which means not all self-published work is going through an editing process, so there is more potential for lower quality work. However, Skylight Books encourages and represents self-created work, particularly in the underground and DIY scene. We have a huge, carefully curated zine section that emphasizes and highlights marginalized voices, non-white voices, etc.

Do you have any advice for authors/publishers who are trying to see their books carried at Skylight or collaborate for an event?

As long as the work being presented is well done, looks nice, and is “Skylight-y” so to say (weird, thoughtful, beautiful, obscure, LA-oriented), there will probably be an advocate here pushing for it to be carried in the store. The title doesn’t necessarily need to be backed from a publishing house, it just needs to be something our community might want. Something different than what one could find a chain bookstore or online. A good example of that is the zine How to Talk to Your Cat About Gun Safety, which the store carried for many years, and is our single greatest selling item. The anonymous author put together more titles (abstinence, evolution) and eventually landed himself a book deal. Another good example is Yumi Sakugawa, a comic book artist who got her start creating the loveliest zines. She produced a ton of different titles before getting enough exposure that the publishing houses started paying attention to her. She’s local to Los Angeles and we feel very strongly about her work being tied to Skylight’s identity. (Check out her new book about Life Hacks! There is gold foil!) There are many authors and artists whom Skylight Books has supported and carried who have gone on to get large scale recognition, whether it is through book deals, national distribution, etc.

Pitching for events is different than a request to be carried in the store. Authors who are self-promoting have it tough. Often, they don’t get enough guidance from their publishers about whom to reach out to, when to reach out, and what pertinent information needs to be included, if they have a publisher at all. For our store in particular, we book events 2-3 months in advance, so we need at least that much time when considering an event in the store. Also, because of the amount of event requests we receive we tend to prioritize new books, ideally, hosting the event no more than 4-6 weeks after the pub date. For authors, this means having a well-thought out "tour" and reaching out to the ideal stores with plenty of lead-time.

Also, a major factor for us is the type of book. Skylight's audience mostly responds to new, literary fiction and nonfiction and graphic novels so that's what we generally are beholden to. That's not a strict rule, but we like to think of it as our bread and butter. We do host poetry events, as well as events for political and social histories. Events we (almost) never host tend to be self-help books, business books, religion and spirituality books. This is to say that as the author is planning her tour, it's a very good idea to research the bookstores she wants, know what their strengths are and see if her book is right for them. If not, the pitch simply dies on the vine and she will have wasted her time as well as that of the bookstore's.

Again, none of these are strict guidelines. Timing, ability to draw an audience, and type of book are simply the initial aspects we consider when deciding when to host an event. Ultimately, we like to believe that we want to support someone whose book we believe in, and we think has a chance of finding an audience here at the store, especially given our limited space.

Skylight is beloved for its dependability and neighborhood feel, but is also an active proponent of progressive thought—in fact you self-identify as “fiercely independent.” What roles and responsibilities do you feel that bookstores, and Skylight in particular, have given the current political climate?

We feel an immense responsibility to inform the masses, support those who are marginalized, and give voices those who are often underrepresented.

Even before the rise of Donald Trump, Skylight staffers were passionate about dissent, encouraging positive political discourse, and excited about bipartisan, truthful voices. Since the election, Skylight has become even more involved in the community in a way that is truly inspiring. Individually, and on their personal time, staffers work with LA's homeless population, the Women's Center for Creative Work, operate a roving feminist library, edit a feminist nonfiction magazine, and regularly attend protests and marches, donate money to organizations like Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, Southern Poverty Law Center, host gatherings such as phone banking, political dinners, and brainstorming sessions about how to create active resistance, and foster intelligent and productive conversations about how to help the world around them, most recently by launching a nonfiction in-store book club.

Skylight also helped raise funds to help support the organizations resisting the Dakota Access Pipeline by selling postcards and collecting donations at the front register of both stores, and perhaps most seismically, closing the store during the Women's March so that the entire staff could march in support. It's worth noting that the store issued a statement of values to customers and, upon opening the store later that afternoon, we found a half dozen customers who said they came to the store to shop simply to support us and our position.

We regularly hand-sell books to our customers to help educate people about intersectionality, race, poverty, disability, sexuality, abortion, in particular to those who are new to activism, in particular through our store windows, front register display (currently it reads "You Can't Gag A Bookstore" with a number of appropriate book selections) and our Current Events display. Teaching our community how to participate and resist in a thoughtful, meaningful way is ingrained in the fierce DNA of our bookstore.

Skylight Books prides itself as being the sanctuary that hosts, facilitates and fosters hope. We're very grateful and proud to work in an environment like this, at a time like this. Skylight Books feels like a light during a dark time, as it were. According to Amy Goodman, the journalist and host of Democracy Now! “Skylight Books is an oasis of dissent,” and we couldn’t agree more. The more you read, the more you know. The more you know, the better informed you are about your world and the way you move throughout it.

How does Skylight reconcile authors’ right to free speech with its arguably liberal, left-leaning brand?

Skylight Books will order any book in print for any customer because free speech is free speech, and we are the last place that will restrict access to information. However, if we aren’t thought leaders, who will be? And so we are careful to carry books we believe in, that we feel will help inform our customers to the side of decency and inclusion.

We’ve seen a lot of bookstores go under in the past decade, but Skylight is seems to be holding strong—how have you adapted to changing times that increasingly tend towards the digital?

Our community is our cornerstone for success. Because we’re in a walkable neighborhood, we have street traffic other bookstores may not see. Plus, the people in our vicinity find it important to support local businesses, which is vital. And they have responded to what we’ve worked hard to do: support minority voices, expand thoughtful discussion, and get excited about literature they may not otherwise have access to. Plus, e-books sales hit a plateau a few years ago. They’ve remained at roughly 30% which means that digital and print can coexist and the love of holding a book in your hand will never go away.

You put on fantastic events, from a Harry Potter pub crawl culminating in a midnight book release party, to talks by Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. How do you choose your content, and what does it take to coordinate these kinds of massive events?

Well, thank you! It is my great joy. I talked a lot about the right ways to pitch, and what qualifies as “Skylight-y” but in regards to what I like to book, I personally look for the impact in what we produce within our community. Whether it’s a zine that can help someone dealing with depression, an often untold history of the Indigenous People of The United States, a throwback event for adults who never stopped loving Harry Potter, or, of course, an opportunity for Los Angeles to feel brief optimism in the form of our beloved Elizabeth Warren. And, of course, the deep impact that the literary scene is having on Los Angeles is manifesting in the many local authors producing incredible fiction around town, which makes my little writer’s heart sing.

With our Elizabeth Warren event, we blew the single largest event we’d ever produced out of the water in terms of attendees. We are, at the end of the day, still a tiny bookstore, trying to make our footprint as big as possible, and that is a challenge we’re taking in stride. It’s been a labor of love learning the right (and so very wrong) way to operate our events, but the team (David Gonzalez and I) would be nothing without the rest of our staff, who have large hearts and a deep, unmovable passion for literature. And of course, our General Manager, Mary Williams, who gives us room to make these events our own, deserves a shout out. Her faith in us to pull off the impossible is unfailing and for that I’m grateful.

What can we look forward to that Skylight has planned this year—plug away!

What falls RIGHT in line with all this dissent we were discussing is our upcoming event with Naomi Klein! It’s at the Ebell Theatre, mid-city, on June 21st at 7:30pm. She’s been an activist for decades and she wrote a new book about recognizing the dangers of Trump and how best to fight him. She’ll be in conversation with the actress Brit Marling. We’re very excited about it, happy for the opportunity to continue our hard work. Tickets are available on our website.

Learn more about Skylight Books and get tickets to their June 21 event at skylightbooks.com or just swing by at 1818 Vermont Ave.

Kelsey Nolan is editor at Selfish, a biannual feminist zine; check it out at selfishmagazine.com.