by SB Sarah • Thursday, October 30, 2008 at 01:10 AM
While I was wandering around at RWA National in San Francisco this year, I ended up helping set up one of the lunches and placing books on chairs for the free giveaway. After the many, many mini piles of books were distributed, I found myself chatting with The Super Secret Behind The Scenes Staff of RWA National. You might have recognized them by their really spiffy teal blue cardigans, or by the tired and somewhat exhausted expressions some wore at the end (conferences are hard to manage, y’all. I’ve been there, done that, and have much empathy).
One of the most interesting conversations I had at RWA this year was with Carol Ritter, who kicks ass and takes names. Literally. That’s her job. So I begged for an interview.
All those who say that RWA doesn’t do enough for authors and those aspiring to be so, please take note of Carol Ritter. Srsly.
Can you tell me a bit about your job at RWA, the responsibilities involved, and the more challenging aspects?
Carol: I am the Professional Relations Manager at RWA. At the moment my job responsibilities include reviewing contracts submitted by Publishing companies and Literary Agents, gathering monthly market updates from same and maintaining updated information on RWA’s website and RWR magazine. Adding new Publishers and Agents to the RWA Recognized Agent list, RWA Eligible Publisher and RWA non-Subsidy, non-Vanity list. Prior to adding any new company or agent to the list I review contracts, company information, etc. I apply RWA’s definitions for recognized agent, eligible publisher and non-Subsidy, non-Vanity publishers to the company to determine if they should be on the list. I also check our files for any previous history that might preclude a company or agent from being on the list.
I process formal complaints submitted by RWA members. Formal complaints must be within RWA’s purview. For example we can handle a complaint filed against a publishing company that is not paying royalties correctly, but cannot handle complaints against a company that is allowing less than professional behavior to occur, like name calling, etc. We would hope that authors and industry professionals conduct their business in a professional manner, but it is not RWA’s role to police those relationships. We only process complaints that involve contract violations.
At the moment I report the complaints we have processed (in general terms) with interested members, but our plan is to add a column to our Market Update sections on the website that will indicate if a complaint has been filed against a company, with a clickable link that will then open a window that will explain the basic nature of the complaint and if the company resolved the complaint or not. We are not going to say “don’t do business with this company”, but we will give the member more information to consider before they engage in a relationship with a company.
I also review applications for the PAN (Published Author’s Network) membership. I manage the anti-piracy program at RWA. This involves reviewing websites, locating contact information and adding the site to the RWA list on our website. And finally, I am the 2009 RITA and Golden Heart Contest coordinator.
When we spoke in San Francisco and you were telling me some of your war stories, I was really impressed with your laid back but utterly pugnacious attitude when defending author rights in contracts. You told me then that you come from the Better Business Bureau - how has your experience there helped you in dealing with publishing houses?
Carol: I worked for the Better Business Bureau of Metropolitan Houston for 9 years. As the Vice-President of Operations and Bureau Standards I was responsible for the Dispute Resolution department. The Houston BBB handled about 25,000 complaints per year. The complaints had to be vetted against the BBB’s standards. The BBB could not handle complaints against private individuals, or labor issues, malpractice, etc.
This background in complaint resolution has been helpful at preparing for my job at RWA. It taught me to remain neutral and ask the next question, to gain all of the facts of a situation prior to processing a complaint. I learned at the BBB to remove all of the passion and anger from a complaint and to consider the facts.
Understanding the nuances of a contract is especially helpful. I learned early on that a contract is a roadmap for a relationship. It spells out the expectations and requirements. At RWA I review publishing contracts both for new publishing companies that want to be on our lists and contracts in complaints. At the BBB I also learned how to dig for information and this has been helpful in dealing with anti-piracy.
If you could give advice to authors and aspiring writers dealing with a publisher or contract from a publisher, what would it be?
Carol: First and foremost READ the contract. Every word of it! If there are parts of the contract you do not understand then ask for help. Find a literary attorney, invest in their services for a couple of hours and ask for a review of the contract and explanations for anything you don’t understand. Do not sign anything that you do not understand or makes you uncomfortable. Hopefully you will have an agent to help negotiate a contract. The agent should be looking out for you.
Be careful in how much you grant in rights to your work. Read the option clause and make sure it is specific and does not bind you or your future works forever. You should not be expected to pay for editing, production or promotion of your work.
I learned a long time ago to do my homework prior to any major purchase. Yes, I’m one of those people that read Consumer Reports before I buy a car (or washer and dryer). I check the BBB to see if a company has complaints. I go to the Internet and read as much as possible before buying or signing a contract. I think that aspiring writers and authors should do the same before submitting their work. Research the company. If it is a publishing company that you are not familiar purchase a book from them. Was the book delivered in a timely manger, how did the book look? Pay attention to the editing. If you are a member of an RWA chapter ask your fellow members what they know about a company. Research is a good thing.
What changes would you like to see in the publishing world?
Carol: I would like to see the publishing industry go after the file-sharing or pirate sites in a big way. When you go to the movies they play an anti-theft commercial for movies industry. It would be great if they included something about books. I honestly think that many of the people who are making books available on line for free (or the people downloading the books) do not realize they are breaking the law. I think that they see it as different from the illegal downloads of music, movies or games. So education should be a big part of whatever the publishing industry does.
Thank you very much to Carol for taking the time to answer my nosy questions, and for the kicking of ass and taking of names. Good on you.
by SB Sarah • Saturday, July 26, 2008 at 01:28 AM
By the power of Greyskull, the Random Integer Generator hooked me up with some righteous digits. Behold, the winners in The Accidental Demon Slayer giveaway:
1: Kimberly D
17: jenifer
50: Dorilys
82: Christine J
106: KristenMary
Congratulations to the winners! And thanks to Angie Fox and Dorchester (known as “The Dorch” in my house) for a spiffy interview and spiffy prizes!
by SB Sarah • Thursday, July 24, 2008 at 02:53 AM
Angie Fox won an Smart Bitch Interview in the Brenda Novak Diabetes auction, prompting me to freak the hell out because dude, I don’t know of a single question that would adequately measure up to the bid she made to fight diabetes and be interviewed by yours truly. So first and foremost, thanks to Angie for supporting a great cause, and giving me an inferiority complex that is barely contained by my undershorts. Onward to the interview!
Sarah: Ok, the obvious part! Pimp your book in a handful of words!
Angie:Newly anointed with demon-fighting powers and suddenly able to hear the thoughts of her hilarious Jack Russell terrier, a preschool teacher finds a whole new world of dark and dangerous, including a sexy shape-shifting griffin she’s not entirely sure she can trust.
Sarah: If your book were a food, which one would it be?
Angie: If the book were a food, I’d have to say it’s like hot apple pie right out of the oven - sweet, warm and a bit flaky.
Sarah: In your initial email to me, you mentioned that you’d written three serious mysteries before you “relaxed and found your voice.” Nosy Sarah says, “Moar pls?”
Angie: I spent a lot of years as a writer thinking that in order to connect with my readers or to say something with my books, I had to take things very seriously. I outlined (more than any one person should), I made charts, I filled out stacks of colored note cards. Basically, I took every bit of advice I’d ever heard on writing and incorporated them all. Because eighteen methods are better than one, right?
Well the result was that I wrote three mysteries that didn’t sell. A few of my rejections said the mysteries were “too funny,” so I was trying my darndest to be serious. At all costs. But my natural voice is lighter and I had to fight every instinct I had in order to make my stories ultra dark.
That kind of thing will wear you out after awhile. So I said the heck with it. I decided to write what I wanted to write. And one night, I started thinking about what would happen if a preschool teacher who wants nothing more than to be normal, learns she’s a demon slayer. And what if she has no idea how to fulfill her destiny and has to learn along the way? And what if, to escape the demons out to get her before she’s ready, she’s forced to run off with her long-lost Grandma’s gang of geriatric biker witches? It amused me. I’ve always been a sucker for a reluctant heroine (and I think I watched too many episodes of The Greatest American Hero as a kid).
I chucked the note cards, started writing, and the story unfolded from there. Instead of ending my writing sessions thinking, “I hope an editor will like this,” I ended them thinking. “No. I did not just write that. I did not just make my character defend herself with a toilet brush and a can of Purple Prairie Cover air freshener.” I couldn’t wait to get back to the keyboard every day and finished the book in just under five months. It felt right, natural. And before I had a chance to think about it too hard, The Accidental Demon Slayer sold (less than a week after I finished it). When I told my editor how much fun I had with the story, she said, “I can tell. That’s why I bought it.”
Even more important, I learned that you can indeed write a lighthearted book with a serious side. The Accidental Demon Slayer is about finding out who you really are. It’s about the strength you find when you have the courage to forgive. And most of all, it illustrates something that’s all too easy to forget - that while loving yourself (and your family) can take work, it’s worth every bit of the battle.
Sarah: What is this about biker dogs in your quest for research?
Angie: There is a gang of geriatric biker witches in my book, and I ended up doing research with a lot of real-life Harley riders. Then there’s also a dog character in the book, yet I had to get him on a Harley. I ended up meeting all kinds of Harleyriders who ride with their dogs. It’s the wildest thing. You should see how excited they get when they know they’re going to ride. It’s like doggie heaven - wind in your face all the time.
Before this, I thought research meant talking to experts, reading books or surfing the internet. I found myself on the back of a coal black Harley, behind a guy named Stone, with my helmet on backwards and an Irish Setter in tow. The dog’s name was Frankie and I can tell you right now, Frankie knew a lot more about motorcycles than I did.
It was my fault, really. When I sat down to write The Accidental Demon Slayer, I had no notes about dogs on motorcycles. But in the second chapter, when my heroine learns she’s a demon slayer and all hell is after her, she takes comfort in her dog. It was a sweet moment. And as I wrote it, I thought, ‘How do I throw her off?’
I made Pirate, the dog, say something to my heroine. Nothing big. After all, he’s only after the fettuccine from last week. And he knows exactly where she can find it (back of the fridge, to the left of the lettuce crisper, behind the mustard). It amused me, so I did it. Thanks to her unholy powers, Lizzie can now understand her smart-mouthed Jack Russell Terrier. I ended up having a ball with it, and I fell in love with Pirate the dog. Then I realized I was writing about motorcycle riding biker witches.
How do you get a dog on a motorcycle?
Well, I went online and learned that there is a nationwide club of Harley bikers who ride with their dogs. So my heroine could have her pink Harley, and her Jack Russell Terrier too.
And of course I had to meet these Harley riding dog lovers. I called up a few of the members of the Biker Dogs Motorcycle Club and the adventure began. They invited me into their homes, introduced me to their dogs and, like my heroine, the bikers hoisted me up on the back of a Harley, with a dog in tow.
Stone, the biker who spent the most time making sure I didn’t fall off his hog, showed me how to ride, invited me to some biker rallies (note to self: don’t wear pink next time), and helped make The Accidental Demon Slayer as real as it can be (for a book about a somewhat sheltered preschool teacher turned demon slayer).
So just when I thought I was writing fiction, it seemed my made-up characters from The Accidental Demon Slayer weren’t so imaginary after all. One of the bikers I met even has a wife who is a biker witch. I’m wondering if she, like my heroine’s biker witch grandma, wears a “kiss my asphalt” t-shirt and carries a carpet bag full of Smuckers jars filled with magic. I like to tell people that maybe I’ll find out on my next adventure
Has all this interviewing madness made you curious? I’ve got five copies of The Accidental Demon Slayer to give away. How to win? Leave a comment. And for extra more gooder fun, visit Angie’s website and find out your Your Biker Witch Name, and let us know what it is.
Mine, for the record, is Fast Frankie Pothole Jumper. But you can call me “PJ” for short.
But wait, there’s more! So long as your anointing yourself with a biker name, head on over to Angie’s site for a contest wherein, if you art the winner, you get a role in her next book, The Dangerous Book for Demon Slayers
by SB Sarah • Tuesday, June 17, 2008 at 03:28 AM
If you take a look at the Yahoo: Books and Publishing News Page, you’ll see a particular byline frequently: that of Hillel Italie, who is the AP National Writer who covers All Things Book.
Some people stalk their favorite authors. Some people stalk Fabio. Me, I start wondering about the job responsibilities of AP book beat reporters. I was rather fascinated by the idea of a reporter whose responsibilities include publishing, books, bestsellers, news, gossip, events, and trends - I mean, dude. How cool is that? So, being the nosy woman I am, I asked Hillel if he’d be willing to be interviewed, and whether he’d tolerate a few nebby questions.
Behold, Sarah chases down an AP reporter and makes him answer questions instead of asking them. Whee!
Note: I asked Hillel for a photograph, and his response is included below. Enjoy.
How did you get started covering all things book? What is the scope of your responsibilities for the AP?
Hillel: Basically, I started covering books (around 15 years ago) because they were there, piles of them, begging to be written about. My scope is as big as the industry, and that is many, many piles of books.
What conventions or conferences do you look forward to? You coming to RWA National in San Fran this year? (If so, I shall buy you drinks. Many of them.)
I love attending BookExpo America, which - judging from the one that just ended - is apparently more fun for reporters than it is for publishers. I have never covered an RWA convention, although the AP has. But thanks to your generous offer, I will put in a request, for medicinal purposes only.
If RWA gives you a press pass and you go to San Fran, I will be so excited I will spin around and buy you martinis until you cannot stand up. Seriously, it would be a real treat to meet you and talk books and coverage.
This sounds like gushing. You promised no gushing.
What do you personally think of some of the more dire predictions at the BEA as pertains to booksales, ebooks, and the decrease of consumer spending on books? For example, I’d think that in a depressed economy, books become cheap entertainment. Instead of a $10 movie, a $7 paperback lasts longer. Hardbacks, understandably, are a luxe item but books across the board? What’s your call?
It wouldn’t be a booksellers convention without dire predictions, kind of like a political convention without balloons. But there is plenty to be worried about. Publishing has consolidated a lot over the past decade and isn’t nearly as “recession proof” as once believed. More books keep getting released, but more people are not buying them. The world accelerates, but reading doesn’t. And if, a real `if,’ e-books ever take off, anything is possible.
But there remains a deep, and wide, affection for books. Millions of kids didn’t line up at midnight for “Harry Potter” because their parents, or some marketer, or their parents, told them to. The well-told story never goes out of fashion, and it works beautifully on paper.
What author do you want to stalk and go through their garbage until you get arrested? Anyone? Nobody? Ok, then, what authors do you really, really dig, but not in the going-through-the-trash sense?
I don’t have to stalk authors, thank goodness, I just request an interview. I don’t have to stalk authors, thank goodness, I just ask for an interview. And since I don’t drive I find authors who do. So, thanks for the lift, Russell Banks, Joseph Ellis, Louise Erdrich, S.E. Hinton, Richard Wilbur ....
Are you exclusively a reporter of bookishness or do you also write fiction, longer prose, or, poetry or LOLCats?
I remain exclusively a reporter of bookishness, but I should pay more attention to LOLCats, the great art form of the 21st century.
If you had an ebook reader (do you?) which book(s) would live on it permanently? And if you say Chicago Manual of Style or Struncks or the Times or something, I’ll bang my head on my desk.
I’ve seen, held, but never owned an e-book reader. There’s some talk among publishers about sending advance copies of books in digital form to journalists; that would interest me.
Thank you, Hillel, for answering my nebby questions. And yes, oh yes, if the publishers in the world wanted to send advance copies in digital form, I’d be so full of glee you’d hear me in Australia.
by SB Sarah • Friday, February 15, 2008 at 08:30 AM
Whilst I total up the Texas Kitty votes, enjoy a brief interview with Sebastian Stuart.
Who is Sebastian Stuart? He’s the author of a few books, most notably Charm!
, as the ghostwriter behind Kendall Hart’s fast-track novel from All My Children. When Mr. Stuart left a comment here in the original entry about the book, I contacted him because, well, as usual, I’m a curious, nosy woman.
Sebastian was kind enough to answer my questions about the writing process, and told me that as of this coming Sunday Charm!will be on the New York Times bestseller list.
Did you have to take a crash course in the plot (or plots!) of All My Children?
Sebastian Stuart: I did have to take a bit of a crash course in AMC. I watched it, I met with Megan McTavish, who was then the headwriter, and I spoke with some fans of the show. But the plot is all mine. In truth, I found the show a bit confusing—there is just SO MUCH going on, and I had a hard time figuring who was who, who had slept with who, and who was related to who. So I tried to put myself in Kendall’s shoes (not literally!) and write what I thought was her emotional truth. I had a great time writing the book—my primary goal is always to entertain.
As a writer, and, judging from your initial comment, you appear to be one who pays attention to the craft of writing quite closely, is it more or less difficult to write a fictional work based on characters and story threads that are not of your creation?
Sebastian Stuart: Writing is never easy, for me at least. I consider it my job to adapt to the demands of a specific assignment, to be flexible and responsive. Charm! was a first for me in that it was related to a TV show. Once I had watched the show long enough to capture its “feel” and get a sense of who Kendall was, I sat down and wrote Charm! as stand-alone entertainment. I’ll let the show’s fans ponder the parallels between the book and the show – and I hope they have a lot of fun doing so!’
Many of our readers are writers with multiple pseudonyms writing in multiple genres, and some have talked about pieces of clothing or pieces of music they use to tap into the writing voice of their different identities. Writing as Kendall Hart, did you have a process to “get into her head” or invoke her voice?
Sebastian Stuart: What a terrific question! What helped me most was talking to a couple of Kendall’s fans and hearing their subjective impressions of her. What came across most strongly were her drive, her moxie, and her cunning. This is a woman who goes after what she wants. I just kept that in my mind – and in my gut—at all times as I wrote.
Have you ghost written before?
Sebastian Stuart: I’ve done a lot of ghostwriting, and my last novel—24-Karat Kids 
—was co-written with Park Avenue pediatrician Dr. Judy Goldstein. I’ve ghostwritten business books, political books, self-help books – you name. I’ve always written plays and screenplays. My first novel was a psychological thriller, The Mentor
. I’ve just finished a mystery set in New York State’s fascinating and beautiful Hudson Valley.
You’ve written previously about affluent microcosms in society; was a soap opera family that much of a stretch from the Upper East Side?
Sebastian Stuart: I set Charm! in Manhattan because I grew up there and I have an instinctive feel for the city. Once I started writing, I concentrated on Avery Wilkins and her struggles and romances. The drive for wealth and success is more interesting and dramatic then wealth itself. The same is true of romance – a happy couple is a lot less interesting and dramatic than a conflicted one. You see a lot of the same dynamics on the Upper East Side as you do in Pine Valley.
You mentioned that you interviewed the former head writer of the show and the fans, and that you watched a good amount of AMC. Which worked for you in terms of understanding the characters you were writing?
Sebastian Stuart: Talking to the fans was the most helpful. The show has a long and complicated history and I just didn’t have enough time to get up to speed on everyone. The headwriter at the time, Megan McTavish, is a fascinating gal who truly understands what soap fans want, and talking to her was very helpful. I hope fans of the show enjoy the book, but I also hope it’s fun for folks who’ve never watched. It’s filled with bad behavior, sex, drugs, betrayal—and perfume!
Thanks to Mr. Stuart for answering my nebby questions. As I wrote in my reply to his email, I’m fascinated by ghost writing, and by the idea of creating a work of fiction from the voice of a fictional character created by an entirely different team of writers. Thank you very, very much. It’s refreshing to talk with a writer who so enjoys and respects the pure craft of writing, and doesn’t judge any one type as greater or lesser than another.
