"Small With Big Dreams" at SCBWI-C 2019 Conference

On a spur of the moment I decided to attend a panel discussion with Lisa Kline, Robin Kirk, and Katie Pryle; I was glad that I did! Lisa and Robin are both authors who have been published by Blue Crow Publishing, a traditional small press which Katie co-founded with Lauren Faulkenberry.

Katie Pryal, Lisa Kline, Robin Kirk

LISA KLINE

My blog readers are no strangers to Lisa's work. I was privileged to host her cover reveal of her most recent book, One Week of You, wrote about Summer of the Wolves, and blogged about her first book, Eleanor Hill.

Lisa has published ten books with publishers of varying sizes including Carus Publishing, Delacorte Press, Zondervan, and now Blue Crow. Her books have been both agented and non-agented. She submitted to Blue Crow without an agent and was impressed with their prompt response; an offer of publication followed within weeks of her requested revisions. This was very different than the long wait she had sometimes experienced with the larger publishing houses. 

Lisa said she has enjoyed her personal connection with Katie and Lauren. "Publishers who are writers know what it’s like to write and publish a book. Katie and Lauren’s comments inspired me to make my book better.” 

Lisa acknowledged that when your book is with a smaller publisher it may be more challenging to get reviews. Although all the publishers have given her marketing assistance and submitted her books for awards, the downside of a large publisher is that after six months the publisher sometimes must turn to the next book they need to promote. 

Blue Crow continues to promote One Week of You on their site and at conferences. In addition, they promote whatever she does. Lisa finds that she has to do a good deal of her own marketing, but all authors in today’s publishing atmosphere must market. Lisa received a larger royalty than most publishers offer, but not an advance. 

ROBIN KIRK

Robin Kirk's debut novel The Bond, is a young adult post-apocalyptic story that is much different than the nonfiction titles she has previously published. 

In her presentation, Robin recommended researching all publishing options. Her nonfiction books have been published by Duke University Press, The University of Massachusetts Press, and others. She suggested I consider contacting the Charlotte Historical Society as a potential publisher for HALF-TRUTHS.

She discussed the pros and cons of hybrid publishing which often demands a large investment of time and money. Robin recommended reading what Lyn Miller-Lachmann had to say on the topic if you are interested in pursuing it. Forming a co-op with other authors who publish similar books is another option. Here is an article by Jane Friedman on that. Authors can create a website, form imprints, share resources and even purchase ISBN numbers this way. Here is a link to Jane Friedman's popular chart on different publishing paths. 

Robin also recommended joining the Authors Guild as well as a Facebook group in your writing genre. Finally, she also recommended Zotero, which is a free online bibliography manager that is awesome. Thanks to Robin, my next WIP already has a budding bibliography!

KATIE PRYAL

Katie Rose Guest Pryal is the co-publisher of Blue Crow Publishing. Here were some of her observations:

• She has yet to hear positive experience about hybrid publishing by which she means publishers that require you to pay to get your book published while also requiring you to surrender your rights. On the other hand, she strongly supports self-publishing and author co-op groups.
• Traditional publishing thrives on keeping authors in the dark. She and Lauren founded Blue Crow with the intention of being transparent, honest, and available to their authors. (Check out their mission statement.)
• Blue Crow receives unagented submissions and publishes about five books a year. 
• Referral via one of their authors is the best way to connect with her. 
• The landscape of trade reviews is changing. It is hard for small presses to get picked up by the trades. At the same time, however, book bloggers are becoming more and more important, even more important than trade reviews, when it comes to marketing a book to a wide audience. 

That final note was music to my ears! It reminded me of my experience at Highlights Summer Camp in 2016 when assistant editor, Cherie Matthews, announced that Carol Baldwin's blog was one that she followed--without knowing I was in the audience! Both times I felt validated--all my blogging work is paying off!

Speaking of small with big dreams, I think my friend's son was the smallest attendee at the fall conference. He has been "reading" for months! 

ONE WEEK OF YOU- by Lisa Kline's new YA novel and a Giveaway!

Congratulations to Jo Lynn Worden and Julian Daventry who won copies of DRIVE from last week's blog post. 

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I am always honored when an author asks me to host their cover reveal. So, when Lisa Williams Kline asked if I was interested, of course I said yes! Her latest book, ONE WEEK OF YOU, (Blue Crow Publishing, February 2019) stars 15-year-old Lizzy who has to carry a flour baby for a week for her health class. During that time there are three prank fire drills and evacuations at school. In just one week, Lizzy realizes that adulthood brings complicated responsibilities. 

AUTHOR INTERVIEW

Lisa Williams Kline

Here Lisa shares some of the backstory of the book. 

CAROL: What prompted the story idea?

LISA: This story is fictionalized from two different real events. One year in high school my daughter had to carry a bag of flour for a week in her health class called a “flour baby.” I thought this was an interesting way to address human sexuality that had some comic potential. 

The second event took place several years later when there was a week in which there were three bomb threats in my other daughter’s high school. I was interested in the way the students handled that week. When I started writing this story, I thought, what if there were scary disruptions to the school schedule during the same week the kids had to carry the flour babies. I was partly interested in combining a somewhat comic story thread with one that wasn’t comic at all, and that has been one of the challenges in writing this story. It’s also a story of a first crush, and I based that on a combination of a couple of high school crushes of my own. And I have always been a forgetful person, and I incorporated that character flaw into my main character Lizzy. 

CAROL: Did you interview or research the book in anyway? If so, who did you talk to and how did you research it?

LISA: Yes, for example, part of my story involves student hacking of the school computer system, and I interviewed an IT expert on how the students could do this hacking. I also interviewed a teacher about school evacuations. I also had some teens read it and give me feedback about the voice. 

CAROL: I understand that you put aside the manuscript for awhile and then came back to it. Had the story changed in your mind in the interim? If so, how?

LISA: The story has evolved quite a bit over the time that I have been working on it. I put it away when I was working on the Sisters in All Seasons series. When I took it back out, I thought, hey, I think I can work on this again, there are some good moments here. Various editors and agents have all had suggestions for changes, and the story is quite a bit different than it was starting out. 

CAROL: What is the message you hope your readers will take away?

LISA: I wasn’t really thinking about a message when I wrote this book. I just wanted to tell a story that I hoped would be engaging. Many of my books end up being coming of age stories, and I think this one is too. I guess if there’s any message it would be to be kind to everyone. 

CAROL: Can you share some of your path to publication for ONE WEEK of YOU? 

LISA: While I’ve had an agent in the past, I do not have an agent now. I sent the manuscript directly to the editors at Blue Crow Publishing. www.bluecrowpublishing.com 

I queried Blue Crow Publishing and in a few weeks they asked for the manuscript. Lauren Faulkenberry wrote me about six weeks later, after she’d read it, with a revision request. In that revision, she wanted me to mostly ramp up the tension more and make a change to the ending. I worked on that revision for a little more than a month, sent it back, and after a few weeks she send me a publication offer. I was absolutely thrilled!

Lauren and Katie at Blue Crow have been wonderful to work with. After I signed the contract, Lauren wrote me an editorial letter in which she asked for more changes, such as fleshing out the setting more and describing the characters more fully. I also did another round of revisions for Katie. Blue Crow is an indie press, and the personal attention has been fantastic. I really feel as though Lauren and Katie were one hundred percent behind me and my book. So far it’s been a great experience. 

CAROL: Thanks for sharing all of that, Lisa. It's great to hear of an indie press that's working hard for its authors! And now for the moment you've all been waiting for (unless you cheated and scrolled down)--here is the lovely cover for Lisa's new book!

GIVEAWAY

Leave your name (and email address if I don't have it) to enter the giveaway of an eARC for ONE WEEK OF YOU. Enter soon! Giveaway ends October 18!

The Return of Eleanor Hill-- And a Giveaway!

Congratulations to Linda Phillips who won a copy of last week's giveaway, Turning On a Dime. Stay turned faithful blog followers, I have more books to give away over the next few weeks!

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I met Lisa Kline when she presented a workshop on historical fiction at one of the first SCBWI events I organized in Charlotte. As she shared her process of writing Eleanor Hill and the way she used her family's history and primary documents, I was hooked. I knew after reading her book that this was the genre I wanted to explore. 

Here is a summary of the story from Lisa's website:

Twelve year old Eleanor Hill knows that women in other places do more than hang laundry, tend gardens, and fry fish for dinner. But in Atlantic Grove, her isolated North Carolina village, most girls see nothing more in their futures than marriage to a fisherman and the meager existence that goes with it. Eleanor longs to experience the fast-changing world beyond Atlantic Grove -- she'd like to drive an automobile, see a picture show, and most of all, attend high school. 

At last she has her chance. Without her papa's permission, Eleanor leaves home to live with her aunt and uncle in nearby New Bern. As she discovers the satisfactions of higher education, Eleanor also attracts the attentions of a handsome Italian immigrant boy and a prominent doctor's son. While spending her teenage years in New Bern, Eleanor begins to realize how valuable love and family are in her struggle for self-reliance. Set against the exhilarating backdrop of 1910's America, this engaging novel vividly portrays one girl's search for identity and experiences. 

Eleanor Hill was first published in 1999 by Cricket. In March of 2014, it was newly released. I asked Lisa to share some background about the book as well as the process of bringing it back into print.

CAROL: Where does Eleanor Hill fit into your career as a writer? What did you learn by writing it? 

LISA: This was my first novel. I used my grandmother’s letters and photos from her childhood and young adulthood as the basis for my story. I felt my way along and had absolutely no idea what I was doing. My grandmother’s spirit truly must have been looking over my shoulder as I wrote, because after I sent it out I had two publishers make offers for it. And then it won the North Carolina Juvenile Literature Award.  

CAROL: I know it is based loosely on your grandmother's life. Can you give some details about how you created the story? What about your grandmother's life prompted you to write this book? What did you include? What did you fictionalize? How did other family members react to the book?

LISA: I found out from my mother, the day before my grandmother’s funeral, that she had been one of the first women in New Bern, North Carolina to learn to drive a car. I was fascinated with that. I thought she must have been a spirited and independent young woman. It made me want to know more about her, and perhaps write about her.

Also, when I inherited her letters, I found a number of notes from young men. One said, “Will you company (sic) me to church this Wednesday?” Of course the young men couldn’t call girls up because a small town like Atlantic had very few telephones in 1910. I knew that my grandmother’s love life needed to be part of my story. She also kept her monthly budgets, and so I saw that she used some of her salary to help her family members, and that made me admire her deeply. I fictionalized some of it, borrowed some of it from the letters, and used some of what I’d learned from my mom about my grandfather.

Family members in general seemed pleased. I have a cousin who bought lots of copies for her friends and family members. I did later hear that some people didn’t like the way I’d portrayed some family members, and felt very bad about that. I’d changed everyone’s name, and almost all characters I’d made up since I hadn’t known them. But it opened my eyes to being even more careful about things like that.

CAROL: What was the impetus for bringing it back into print? Whose decision was it? Any challenges with that?

LISA: I was approached by a small press called The Bridge about republishing Eleanor Hill. (www.thebridgebooks.com) A board member had read and loved the book. The press takes on select projects and I was honored to have my book be one of them.  I had gotten the rights back from Cricket many years ago – that’s something writers should always do when a book is taken out of print – and you do that just by writing your publisher a letter requesting that rights be returned to you.

CAROL: Tell us about the cover change. Why and how was that image picked? 

LISA: The cover is a photograph of my real grandmother on a dock in her hometown of Atlantic. My daughter, Kelsey Kline, a graphic designer, designed this cover. I love it. There are two men standing on the dock, both ostensibly ignoring my grandmother but in fact very much noticing her. And much of the book is about my grandmother’s decisions about family and independence and men, so it captures the essence of the book perfectly.

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Here's your chance to win an autographed copy of this outstanding book for a special girl in your life--or just for yourself. Leave me a comment by 7 PM on August 22. Make sure I have your email address too! For every time you post this giveaway on your social media of choice, I'll add your name to the hat an additional time.  

If you don't win, look for Eleanor Hill on Amazon,  Barnes & Noble, Powells, or Indiebound. 

"What Else Do You Have?'" - Part II and a Giveaway

Last week Lisa Kline explained the editorial process behind creating her Sisters in All Seasons series. Today she shares more of that process as well as her own personal adventure writing the books. 

In the past, I have focused on my characters, let their actions and dynamics unfold, and shaped the story as I have gone along. In Write Before Your Eyes, for example, I had the idea of a girl who found a magic journal in which everything she wrote came true, and when I started writing all I knew was that what she wrote would get messed up and cause lots of trouble. I worked out the exact nature of that “trouble” as I wrote. I practically wrote myself into a corner, in fact, and my fearless writing buddies, Chris Woodworth and John J. Bonk, helped me brainstorm my way out of it!

I was not able to work that way on the Sisters in All Seasons series. I simply did not have the luxury of time. Each book had to be written in about seven months, and one I ended up having to write in less than five. I had to write synopses and plan the story ahead of time. I had to know where Stephanie and Diana would be at the end of each book before I started writing. In some series, the characters don’t age, but in mine, they do, so that was a complicating factor. I determined that to finish I would need to write at least two pages a day. On the last book, I wrote three. It was stressful, but also very good training.

Of course, I wasn’t in it alone. I had a lot of help. My editor and I had a great email relationship, and I sent questions to her as I was writing, and she’d always answer promptly. We did quite a bit of brainstorming via email. She was always encouraging and supportive. My agent helped navigate the business part of it. And I was so grateful to have Chris Woodworth, my loyal writing friend, read and comment on each book as I finished it. She came to know my characters really well. I also asked my mentor from Vermont College of Fine Arts, Ellen Howard, to coach me on the last book, and her help was invaluable. Another resource for me was Martha Alderson, who calls herself “The Plot Whisperer.” She has made a series of videos and I watched them over and over as I produced my daily pages.

Working on the series was a real adventure. With each book, I discovered new aspects of my characters – I discovered, for example, more about Stephanie’s difficult relationship with her mother. Stephanie had a telephone conversation with her mother in the first book, but she didn’t appear. She was in only one flashback. However, in a later book, Stephanie’s mother became a more prominent character, and I had a chance to flesh her out more. This was a lot of fun. It was as though I’d had a brief glimpse of her at an earlier time but now had a chance to study her more deeply. It was like walking through a foggy wood and gradually having the fog clear in various places.

While I initially panicked, working on this series ended up being a gift in so many ways. I loved my two characters; each of them was a piece of me, I suppose. I got to send them to my favorite places in North Carolina, and let them have adventures with wildlife that as an animal lover, I’ve always wanted to have. Several young readers have told me how much they love the books, and that has warmed my heart. This series has truly been a labor of love.  

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Lisa is sharing this love by giving away a copy of the fifth book, Season of Change. 

Leave me a comment by Saturday, October 7, and I'll enter your name in this contest. If I don't have your email address, make sure you leave that too!

Guest Blogger: Lisa Kline PLUS A GIVEAWAY - Part II

As promised on last week's blog,  Lisa Kline is giving away her second book in the Sisters in All Seasons series. After she shares her process of writing the series you'll find directions how to win a personally autographed copy of Wild Horse Spring. 

Carol: How did you get the idea for four different locations and four different animals?

Lisa: Zondervan bought my novel Summer of the Wolves and asked me to write three more novels with the same characters. Since the novel takes place when the family takes a vacation, I thought, what if all four novels take place during vacations? And I started toying with ideas about places I’d been, places I had memories I could use for the books. And one of the characters, Diana, has a tremendous affinity for animals, and so I thought, what if some type of animal is featured in each book? My husband is a veterinarian, so I knew I could pick his brain! And then I thought, what if each vacation takes place in a different season of the year? And from there my editor and I brainstormed the Sisters in All Seasons title.

Carol: Can you describe the interaction with Zondervan about creating the series?

Lisa: I wrote up my ideas, sent them to my agent, and we had a couple of interactions before I was ready to send the series synopsis to Zondervan. Caryn Wiseman, my agent, was tremendously helpful.

Carol: What are your thoughts on writing a series? Would you recommend it to other writers?

Lisa: This has been a wonderful experience. To be with your characters for an extended time like this has been such a gift. There is time to get to know them layer by layer, so much more deeply. I am also getting to know them over time as well. When the first book takes place, Stephanie and Diana have just completed 7^th grade. By the 4^th book, they are starting high school.

I will admit that I was intimidated at first by having to develop and write three novels in a year and a half. I wasn’t sure I could do it. I did have to be disciplined. I kept myself to a schedule of about two to three pages a day, a minimum of ten pages a week.

Carol: I love how your characters grew up as you wrote the series and you got to know them better with each book. Can you give us a sneak peak into the third and fourth books?

Lisa: Sure! In the third book, Blue Autumn Cruise (due out in October, 2012) they go on a cruise for Stephanie’s grandmother’s 75^th birthday. This venue gave me a chance to introduce members of the girls’ extended family. It was tricky to get an animal on a cruise ship, though – and I won’t give that part away!  The fourth book, Winter's Tide, (release February 15, 2013) takes place in one of my most favorite places in the world – near Beaufort, North Carolina, close to where my grandmother grew up. I just visited the Duke Marine Lab there for research.

Carol: Every writer always thinks into the future. So, what’s next for you? Do you plan to stay in the inspirational market or write another series?

Lisa: I don’t know what is next. I was working on another novel when this one sold, and I might get back to work on that. But working on a series has been great fun and I would absolutely love to do it again. I feel tremendously blessed to have had the opportunity. 

Thank you so much, Lisa for sharing your experiences with my readers. Now, here are directions for winning a copy of Wild Horse Spring. Lisa will also be autographing books this Saturday, June 30, at Park Road Books. She'll find time to pick this giveaway winner! Contest closes at noon on Saturday--so start tweeting, following, and Facebooking now!

DIRECTIONS:

1. Follow this blog (if you are not following yet), or:
2. If you are already a follower--thank you!--then just post a link on your favorite social network site and,
3. Leave me a comment with your email address indicating which you did.

4. If you do more than one thing (follow and post to a social network site, or post on two different sites) I'll enter your name TWICE!!

Summer Reading & Writing in Charlotte, NC

If you are like me, you try to plan a mixture of summertime events which your children will enjoy as well as profit from. In our latest issue of Talking Story, Joyce Hostetter and I suggested several summer activities which families can enjoy.

Today, an editor from Charlotte Parent wrote and asked me to tell you about an event which they sponsor, the 2010 Young Authors Book Writing Contest. The deadline is not until November 4, but if you are looking for a stimulating activity for your budding K-8th grade author, you can get him or her started on their story this summer.

And, if your 5th-10th grader has 3 or 4 friends who want to really get ready for the contest, I offer writing classes and would be happy to work with a small group of students during the summer. You can email me at cbaldwin6@carolina.rr.com for more information.

If you live in or around Cornelius, a colleague of mine and talented writer, Lisa Williams Kline, is also offering workshops for teen writers. The workshops are at the Warehouse Performing Arts Center; scroll down until you see Teen Writers Loft. For more information, you can email Lisa at lisa73154@aol.com.

And if you need further "proof" that your children should be reading over the summer,  this article will convince you.


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