In my previous post, I provided a link to an interview in which an author told how he had self-published a photo-intensive book on the 1970s Punk music era by means of a surprisingly successful Kickstarter campaign. He went that way because commercial publishers wanted things done their way -- not his way.
Today I am providing a link to a different interview in which an author of a novel about teenagers describes her ultimately successful experience dealing with "Big Book" -- the conventional publishing industry.
Toward the end of her interview with "Electric Lit," Northern California novelist Lindsey Lee Johnson is asked what the publishing process was like for her book, entitled "The Most Dangerous Place on Earth." (One wonders just when, with marketing no doubt in mind, did that title emerge?)
She talks about the importance of finding a very good agent to represent her and a two-year process during which the book when through four or five drafts and extensive edits.
Most interesting, perhaps, was her advice to aspiring writers:
"The publishing world will tell you a lot about what your book should or shouldn’t be or what it is or isn’t," she said. Emerging writers, Johnson said, need to hold on to what they want to say when all that comes at them. "I knew that I wanted to write a literary novel about teenagers for adult readers. That was a weird concept for the marketplace to grasp."
But ultimately she was happy with what emerged.
It is perhaps slightly curious that "Electric Lit" chose to interview Johnson because the first sentence of it's mission statement reads: "Electric Literature is a non-profit dedicated to amplifying the power of storytelling through digital innovation."
Digital innovation? Johnson went the route of conventional, hard-copy publishing.
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