Pop Quiz

Today I speak with a young Chicago literary legend-in-the making. He is the author of the books Hairstyles of the Damned, Bluebirds Used to Croon in the Choir, How the Hula Girl Sings, and Tender as Hellfire. He was the winner of the 2003 Nelson Algren Award for short fiction and is a professor of creative writing at Columbia College Chicago. He has a new book out, called The Boy Detective Fails, published by Akashic Books, who calls him “the hottest indie author in America.” He also asked me to mention for my Chicago readers that October 19, he will be doing a reading at the Book Cellar, so mark your calendars.
You’ve had good experiences with a smaller press. How do you advise writers discern whether a small press will do right by them?
I think whether you work with a small or corporate press, the important thing is to have realistic expectations, in terms of sales, promotion, and the work you have to do as an author promoting your novel. Most novels, put out by small or corporate presses, don’t really sell that well, usually a thousand copies or so. Working with a small press, you have to be willing to book reading tours, plan events, make contacts with other small press authors, and find new ways of getting word about your new work out there. For me, it comes down to wanting to be in control of the process. As an author on a corporate press, you have a lot less control over the finished product. I figure if I spend a couple years writing something, I want to be able to decide what the cover looks like and how it’s going to be presented.

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A few years ago I saw today’s interviewee speak at the Chicago Magazine Writers Conference and I still remember how great it was to hear from somebody for whom freelancing was a real job–and who treated it as such. It’s a job she likes, yes, but it’s not a mystical magical wordsmithing. It can be a pain in the butt but it’s a better pain in the butt than any other gig. She has been a freelance magazine and newspaper writer for the past 20 years. Currently, she writes frequently for Time and Woman’s Day, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has appeared in Marie Claire, This Old House, Parade, Ladies Home Journal and Delta SKY, among others. A former writing teacher at the University of Colorado and the University of Denver, Stich also teaches writers’ seminars all over the country.
You will be moderating a panel for ASJA’s annual conference on Ethics and Etiquette this year. What do you think is the biggest lapse in etiquette that most freelancers suffer from?
I think the biggest lapse in etiquette come from freelancers who forget that, in sales, you don;t piss off the customer.(You either give them what they want or you say politely, “I’m sorry, I can;t do what you want.”) We writers tend to think that we are selling something so precious, so valuable that the rules of good business don’t apply.(And rudeness is NEVER a good rule of business.) Are there customers who are a pain in the ass? You bet. But you don;t have to work for them. That notion seems to be missing from a lot of freelancers business sense. Instead, many writers get combative or attitudinal, thinking, “I’ll show you who’s boss.” Editors talk amongst themselves. Rudeness will be remembered long after the incident takes place–no matter how justified you felt at the moment.

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Today I chat with an author who spent ten years in the publishing industry before she started writing books herself like Animal Husbandry and Dating Big Bird. Her new book, Piece of Work, is about a woman who’s been a stay-at-home mom for ten years, but when her husband is laid off from his job, she’s forced to go back to work as a celebrity publicist and resurrect a screen legend’s career. And apparently some of this is not-NOT-autobiographical.
Did your experience working on publishing give you any insight or upper hand when you wrote your books?
I guess the main part of working in publishing that helped me write my books is the material it gave me — mainly for this new book, Piece of Work. Not only is Mary Ford, the has-been celebrity who is looking for a comeback, based on many of the celebrity authors I came in contact with over the years (or heard about through similarly abusedpublicist-friends), but Julia, the main character, is a publicist. No one, I don’t think, except other publicists, can ever truly understand what it’s like to be one — imagine waitressing without the tips, and you begin to approach the what’s-in-it-for-me? part. Which is ironic, given the fascination people have with celebrities now. People have this idea that celebrities are wonderful fabulous people and oh my god, most of them (except Nia Vardalos and Hugh Jackman — see below) are just awful. Sometimes I’ll be watching Entertainment Tonight and I’ll see an actor or actress doing a sit-down interview for their new movie and something about them makes me suddenly know deep in my bones that they are one of the awful-est ones. I’ll usually have a frightening realistic flashback then and have to turn the TV off (or climb under a table) in order to calm myself down.

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Today’s interviewee and I frequent the same writers message board, and I knew her as the editor of the helpful and witty Renegade Writer blog. She is quite the Renaissance freelancer on top of this, as a published author, active freelancer and writing teacher amongst other things.
I’ll be teaching a course on blogging for mb in a few weeks and I’ve never taught a seminar on my own before. Any advice on how to be a good teacher in general, and how to be a good teacher in this subject?
I think part of the reason that my students like me is that I spend wayyy more time on the course than I should given how much I charge! I give well thought-out critiques of ideas and queries, I help students brainstorm markets to target, I try to think up motivational tactics that will work for them, and I also remember my students when I’m at the bookstore reading magazines. For example, this week I was reading Body + Soul and saw that they ran an article similar to an idea that one of my students is working on, so I zapped her an e-mail telling her to check it out. I even do this for former students; if I discover a new magazine that might be a good market for one of my former students, I’ll send her a note about it.
Another tip about teaching that you can use: Before each session, I ask every student to send me information on their writing background, their interests, what writing challenges they face, etc. That way as the course progresses I can keep each student’s details in mind as I answer their questions and critique their work. For example, if a student tells me that his challenge is dealing with rejection or that he wants to break into parenting magazines but has no clips, I can tailor my advice accordingly.
A course on blogging, eh? I don’t know much about blogging (Diana set up our blog) so I can’t think of what the best way to teach it would be. I have success with my course setup, but I’ve heard of other teachers who set up Yahoo groups or similar groups so that students can interact with one another. Also, maybe it would be helpful to have a list of links to blogs you think do it well — and to some you think DON’T do it well?

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I saw today’s freelancer speak at a conference a few years ago and was impressed by her success but also the fact that she was fun to listen to, who made freelancing sound fun and funny and not a perilous existence. She is a longtime freelancer and author, former contributing editor at Self and Allure, and co-host of the public-radio show about language, A Way with Words produced by KPBS in San Diego.
What’s your advice for freelancers on finding time to write books when they’re working on articles as well?
That’s a really tough one. I tend to focus in like a laser on one thing at a time, so I usually end up working madly to finish paying work, so I can buy myself some time to concentrate solely on a book project for a while. A dear friend of mine, a theologian named Wayne Oates, wrote 57 books and a zillion articles before his death at the age of 82 – and all that in addition to a career in teaching and counseling. Dr. Oates once told me that his secret of productivity was to “rest with your labors,” rather than “rest from them.” For him, alternating between two projects provided its own kind of rest and mental restoration – a kind of cross-training in which each activity enhanced the other. Then again, Dr. Oates is credited with coining the word “workaholic,” so go figure. (You can look it up in the Oxford English Dictionary!)
I tried to take his advice, but I find that hard to do. I think the biggest key is to keep reminding yourself what you’re really passionate about. Don’t ever lose sight of that. It’s too easy to get caught up in the paying work and let your passions slide.
And I can’t emphasize this enough: Listen to those passions of yours, and find ways to pursue them, no matter what. It’s funny: The two most counter-intuitive things I did in my career turned out to be precisely what got me the dream job I have now. First, I left a good job in newspapering to go off and study ancient Greek, of all things. Couldn’t explain why, except that I really wanted to learn it and was willing to sacrifice to do so. The other thing was that for years, I played in a rock-and-roll band. Again, it was simply something I was passionate about, but made no sense career-wise. As it turned out, both the background in ancient Greek and the performing experience were key to my getting a job discussing word origins on the radio.

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As a creative director at Young & Rubicam advertising in New York, today’s interviewee developed brand advertising and award-winning commercials for some of the world’s leading companies, an experience that led to his new novel, The Futurist. The first chapter of said book appeared in The Virginia Quarterly Review and was named a finalist for the National Magazine Award in Fiction.
Has your outing as a ‘soulless ad guy’ turned off some of the literati? I used to think that that was outdated–that journalists and novelists think you’re useless if you’re in advertising or pr–but maybe that’s not the case.I’m sure it has turned off some people. Or maybe it’s led some to believe I woke up one day and decided, Instead of writing about yogurt today, I’m going to write a novel. Yeah, a novel! It’s probably my just being overly sensitive to the whole thing. I mean, even though I got an MFA in writing from NYU and have been writing (but not necessarily publishing) fiction for more than 20 years, I did work in advertising for a long time. Having a soul-challenged protagonist who works on the perifery of advertising and touting my former job in my book jacket bio may be contributing factors as well. And the truth is, the ex ad-guy angle probably got me a lot more press, because the middle-aged white guy writes a book angle isn’t the most differentiating way to position a supposedly literary novel. Then again, I guess the best way to deflect attention from my advertising past would be to do what Don DeLillo did: write a bunch of brilliant novels.

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Today I’m chatting with a colleague of mine who I met after we both realized we’d contribued How to Pitch pieces for mediabistro. She’s written for and edited a plethora of publications, including ElleGirl, Rosie and Glamour. Currently, she’s working on a young adult novel and giving full-time writing a shot after the untimely demise of ElleGirl, where she was features editor.

How is freelancing full-time comparing to having a full-time magazine job?
I like setting my own schedule and sometimes working
in my pajamas (I even get back into them after the gym). I dislike buying stamps, upgrading my phone plan to allow for more daytime minutes, and only having contact with the mailman (he comes around 2:17pm every day) until I go out at night to meet the working world for drinks.
What do you find more enjoyable, writing or editing?
I really love both, but now that I don’t do much editing, I miss it. I’m sure the opposite would be true if I were only editing and not writing.
You’re working on a Young Adult book right now–did working for ElleGirl prepare you at all for writing for that age group?
ELLEgirl had me thinking about that age group almost 24/7, so it surely helped the idea grow. But I’ve been trying to write a teen novel since I was about 8. That one was about an overweight high school junior who really, really wanted a date for the prom. No lie.
You’ve worked for a few publications that folded while you were working for them. Can freelancers/employees sniff out what pubs might not live long or is it a crapshoot?
I like to think of myself as a loyal person–I’ve never left a job; they’ve all left me. But it’s true. With ROSIE, of course, there was something in the air for months, although at first the venture seemed solid.
ELLEgirl was fantastic, but we never had the staff or the budget we needed, so a perceptive fold-detective could have probably known that it was a pet project for Hachette that may not be a long-term investment.
Based on your experience as an editor, what tended to be the most frequent reason for turning down freelance pitches?
Lots of pitches aren’t targeted enough, or they’re not well thought out. I hate having to package an idea for a writer–they should be packaging it for me! Tailor your idea to a section, following the word counts, sidebar formats, etc. Do the work for the editors (that’s what they all want).
As a stringer, do you have any tips on assembling a well of potential sources/resources to draw from?
I ask all my PR contacts to be on the list, as they have access to their clients, etc and are generally glad to be included. Otherwise, I’ve just built a list of around 700 women through friends and friends-of-friends-of-friends. every year or so I send out a “want off this list? know anyone who might want ON this list?” email to get new blood in and let people opt out guilt free.

Today I chat with the proprietress of Freelance Success, one of the most helpful resources for freelancers out there. For 10 years she was the top editor of daily newspapers, including seven years working for Gannett Co. Inc., and currently freelances for such publications as Television Week, Health Day and Newsweek International.
Based on your experience as a newspaper editor, what’s the biggest mistake freelancers tend to make when pitching to them?
In the last few years, I’ve worked as a freelance project manager for several companies and commissioned freelancers. When I get responses to ads, I think the thing that surprises me the most is that the letters of application often don’t persuade me that the person can do the work.
For instance, I was recently searching for business writers and got lots of responses from people who sent me clips and lists of publications for which they had written that were wholly unrelated to business. I guess their thinking is that if you can write about one thing you can write about anything. But so much of the available work these days is specialized and to ask an editor to take a huge leap of faith about your credentials is asking a lot.
How did you come to found Freelance Success?
I didn’t start Freelance Success — it was begun as a print newsletter 12 years ago. I took it over in 2000 when it was partly e-mail. Since then, I’ve emphasized its virtual community aspects and eliminated the paper.
I personally came in contact with Freelance Success about eight years ago when I had been freelancing a couple of years and felt isolated and a little stymied about what I could do next. Business-wise I was doing OK – I was paying the bills – but I wanted more interesting work and I wanted to make enough money to go on vacation. Someone online pointed me toward Freelance Success and I became a convert. I credit the people there – some of whom are still with me – with showing me how to make this business really work for me.
I decided to give owning Freelance Success a try when the previous owner decided to give it up. It’s never going to make me a wealthy woman, but it’s satisfying because I still turn to people here for inspiration and advice and I get a huge sense of community, which is practically the only thing I miss about an office job.

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Today I speak with the author of Feeding the Monster, a book about the John Henry-Tom Werner ownership group of the Boston Red Sox. In 2004, he published Hard News, a Washington Post Best Book of the Year. He is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair. In 2002 and 2003, he was a senior writer at Newsweek, where he wrote the media column “Raw Copy” and also covered politics and popular culture. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, New York, The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post Book World, Spin, Slate, Salon, and other publications. He did not take this photo of himself, however: that was done by John Huba.
What plans to you have to promote your new book?
I’ll be doing most of the usual stuff — book tour, lots of radio interviews, some TV stuff, etc. Simon & Schuster and I also have some ideas tailored specifically to this book, like tie-ins at Red Sox-centric sports bars. And I set up my website and began putting up daily entries as well as posting outtakes from interviews done for the book in an effort to get people interested in and talking about it before it comes out. So far, that seems to be working: in the first week the site’s been up, there have been days where I’ve exceeded 20,000 page views, and it looks like pre-sales are pretty healthy as well.

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Today I chat with Caroline Tiger, a successful freelancer who published her latest historical nonfiction book in the fall and who has a new etiquette book coming out in the spring. In addition, she teaches magazine writing, so she pretty much is a font of information on everything writing-related.
What would be your advice to other freelancers about establishing themselves as ‘experts’ within a particular field or genre?
You know, I didn’t even think about this until after my first etiquette book, “How To Behave,” came out in 2003. My publisher, Quirk, didn’t seem to care about platform, so I was lucky enough to be able to use my book to create one. The same went for my second book, “The Long-Distance Relationship Guide,” although I think by that point Quirk and the rest of the publishing world was more wrapped up in acquiring books by credentialed experts and/or people who had built up a following. Still, having experienced two long-distance relationships was enough of a platform to satisfy my editor at the time.
So I guess my advice for non-experts would be to get into situations that have universal appeal and haven’t been written about very much, such as long-distance relationships or saying “yes” to every man who asks you out in the space of a year and hoping that leads to finding your soulmate.
Okay, back to being serious: My advice to a freelancer would be to pitch magazine and newspaper articles about the topic in order to grow a body of work that lends credibility to your book proposal. If you don’t have the clips to convince editors at the national mags to publish you, start smaller and work your way up. (Or make friends with a book editor who works at a publisher you love.)

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