Interview with Elisa Nader

I'm lucky (or cunning) enough to have lured yet another successful writer over to my blog for an SAT - Successful Author Talk. SAT authors have conquered the query, slain the synopsis and attained the pinnacle of published. How'd they do it? Let's ask 'em!

Today's guest for the SAT (Successful Author Talk) is Elisa Nader, author of ESCAPE FROM EDEN, published by Merit Press on August 18th, 2013.

Are you a Planner or Pantster?

Total Pantster. I do know the beginning and the end (mostly) and I sometimes outline a scene before I write it, but I like to see where the writing takes the story. I’ve tried outlining before, and find that the writing is less fun for me, and I worry I may have lost a discovery I would have made if I wasn’t following the outline. 

How long does it typically take you to write a novel, start to finish?

My first novel took ten years. Yep. Ten. The second took three, and the third, the one that actually got published, took a year. I hope the pattern of it taking less and less time continues.  

Do you work on one project at a time, or are you a multi tasker?

My puny brain can only work on one writing project at a time. 

Did you have to overcome any fears that first time you sat down to write?

Not at first, no. Mainly because I was so naive about writing. I just sat down and wrote not knowing anything about craft or plotting, or anything at all really. Once I started learning those things by reading books on writing, then the fear came. All I could think was “I’m doing this wrong!” Well, I had to stop that crazy train before it left the station because I would have never gotten anything written if I thought I had to follow rules to write. 

How many trunked books (if any) did you have before you were agented?

One. I snagged my agent with my second manuscript, and we sold my third manuscript. 

Have you ever quit on an ms, and how did you know it was time?

Oh, girl. I have thrown out so much work! It’s depressing and horrible and evil but it has to be done. There were times where the story wasn’t working, or I found myself not excited about writing it — a sure sign no one is going to be excited about reading it . I just trashed a project a couple of months ago because my agent and I weren’t feeling it. It didn’t have that spark. They say kill your darlings but sometimes you have to murder them in the bloodiest way possible. 

Who is your agent and how did you get that "Yes!" out of them? 

I took a class on writing through Mediabistro. The instructor was an editor at Harper Collins and really liked my manuscript. Her friend was an agent and she told him about my ms. That agent ended up being Michael Stearns. He happened to be at SCBWI NYC conference the year I was attending so I introduced myself and he told me to send it to him. Michael liked the manuscript, but was too busy to take on new clients (he’d just started Upstart Crow Literary right around that time). So he passed it on to his partner at Upstart Crow, Danielle Chiotti and she loved it. 

How long did you query before landing your agent? 

I actually did query while I was waiting for Danielle to decide if she wanted to rep me. I queried a lot. And I got a lot of interest, but once they read the manuscript, they eventually said no. It sucked because I was sure if they said no, Danielle would, too. 

I didn’t figure out why I kept getting rejections until I had my first talk with Danielle. The manuscript wasn’t ready! It was big and bloated and over-written. But Danielle was an editor before she became an agent and she saw its potential. She worked with me to really get it into shape before submission. 

Any advice to aspiring writers out there on conquering query hell?

Make sure your manuscript is ready. Like, really make sure. Have people read it, give feedback - workshop it if you can! 

And once you send it out to agents, do what I did. Drink. 

It’s hell. And it’s hell again once you have an agent and submit to editors. But we all get through it, and you can, too. You are not alone! 

How did it feel the first time you saw your book for sale?

My first book just went on sale and it was weird and exciting and scary.

What's something you learned from the process that surprised you?

That they expect you to write another book! I mean, come on! 

Seriously, though, the hardest part for me has been my expectations vs reality. I thought my release day would come and it would be this huge, exciting thing. But it was just another day, probably because my book was released early by the publisher for whatever reason. 

How much of your own marketing do you?  

I’ve been using Twitter and Facebook since 2006, and Tumblr I think right after it launched. I work in the internet industry, and at that time specifically social media so I had to use those social networks for my job! 

My website is essentially my Tumblr. And I’m on Goodreads because how can you not be? Goodreads is a great place for readers (although kinda scary for authors when a not-so-great review is posted).  

I do a lot of my own marketing because I have to. I mean, you really can’t sit back and expect the publisher to do everything for you! 

When do you build your platform? After an agent? Or should you be working before?

I did build my network before I had an agent. I joined SCBWI, and took classes and made connections that way. Then started following other writers and authors on Twitter, retweeing their stuff, friending them on Facebook, etc. I did this a few years before having an agent.

Do you think social media helps build your readership?

Yes. Especially if you don’t have a big marketing and publicity team helping promote your book. 

This Is What Librarians Do

I've talked before about being a librarian, and how misunderstood the job is. No, we don't sit around and read all day. And I want to say right now that I've never shushed anyone. Being a librarian is a pretty unique job because it's like retail, stocking shelves and being a data analyst all at the same time.

Oh, and some of us are pretty muscular too, because being a librarian sometimes requires heavy lifting.

What? Yeah, it's true.

This past spring and summer I undertook one of the hardest tasks of my life - and yes, I count being published in that estimation. I reconfigured a K-4 library all by myself. It took over 200 hours, some of them unpaid. And I'm not posting about this so you'll tell me how awesome I am - I guarantee you there are many librarians that have done - and would do - exactly this many times over.

Without going into the sad, sad business of public school funding too far, I'll simply say that because of money issues our district lost the full time library position in the elementary building two years ago. The lady whose job this had formerly been was still in the library when classes were in there, but that was the only time. The solution to actually maintaining the library - shelving in particular - was to have high school students do it.

I know anyone reading this who is a librarian is probably cringing right now.

Cringe harder.

At the end of one year of having teenagers manage the shelving the elementary library looked like this.

 I'm guessing I don't need to tell you that Dewey had pretty much gone out the window.

The district librarian and I are located in a different building, so when I went over to this library to do my end of the year report, I ended up saying some very bad words. I said them alone, because that's the proper thing to do, but I said them loudly. 

And then I proceeded to fix it.

First - discarding. This library hadn't been properly weeded in years. I ended up getting rid of about 3000 books that were beyond salvaging. Torn books, books whose spines were completely broken, and some books that were actually growing mold. Don't worry - these weren't dumpster fodder. These 3000 books went home with the children who picked them off the free book table. Even if they only had one more read left in them, they got the chance to prove it.

Second - re-cataloging. Hundreds of books were quite simply, nowhere near the places they needed to be. For example Attack of the Alien Fire Ants was in non-fiction. No idea what happened there.

Third - genre labeling. As many picture books as possible were put into categories - dinosaurs, dogs, holidays, etc - so that the little kids could actually find books that interested them, rather than rummaging through a colossal mess and hoping they hit something good in their allotted library time.

Fourth - putting all that crap back. Yep. This place was such a wreck that the best solution was to empty every single shelf and start from scratch. Obviously this was done one section at a time, but I made a HUGE mess before things got better. 

And lastly - I showed administration these pictures and explained that a library needs to be maintained, not just manned. And they listened. Even though we don't have a librarian in that building full time, we do have a staff member assigned there specifically for shelving and item maintenance, and teachers are handling the checkout process for their own classes -- which is a lot easier now that they can find books on their own. Ahem.

A lot of people have no idea the amount of work that librarians put in on a daily basis just because we want to make sure that people (especially kids) have the books that they want in their hands when they walk out the door.

During the summer when I was working the a/c in this building was turned off. So I'd spend hours covered in sweat and filth, come home sore from moving so many pounds of books around, and still have someone say to me at a party, "Shhhh!!!" when I told them I was a librarian.

And I'm like, "You know what? I think I'm going to punch you in the face."

Dark Days Recap!

I had an amazing time on my debut week as I toured the Southwest with Michelle Gagnon (DON'T LOOK NOW), Rae Carson (THE BITTER KINGDOM), Sherry Thomas (THE BURNING SKY) and Madeleine Roux (ASYLUM). Honestly if more fun would have been had, bail money would've been involved.

Because I live in the middle of nowhere, I had to start my travels by traveling. On the way to the airport hotel for a night of sleeping before flying, I stopped by the local Barnes & Noble to see my book "in the wild," as we say. One of my oldest friends met me there, and we showed off our mutual babies - (hers real, mine a book baby).

I think me stuffing a book up my shirt is what drew the attention of the sales clerk, but when I established that I'm allowed to rub NOT A DROP TO DRINK on my navel because I'm it's book mommy she was cool with it. And then I signed stock, which was pretty darn fun.

An obscenely early hour found me on the way to the airport to fly to our first stop - Las Vegas! I sat next to a very nice lady on the plane who was shocked that I'd been writing for ten years, since I "look like I'm twelve." I wasn't sure on the compliment rank on that one, but I still appreciated the sentiment.

Rae Carson and I arrived in Las Vegas with head colds from hell, but it didn't seem to bother the Vegas folk, mostly because none of them were awake at that hour. We ended up in fancy-pants hotel and I think the front desk must have noticed our virus level because they put is in a tower that was... pretty empty. Nothing as surreal as walking through a vacant 5 star hotel.

I told Rae they obviously built it just for us.

She agreed.

Maddie, Sherry and Michelle all arrived as Vegas started to awaken and we bustled off to our first signing at a Barnes & Noble. The bookstore owner had made mini-chocolates with the Dark Days logo and our covers, so Maddie and I decided that obviously those should not be left to their own devices post-signing, and filled our purses.

I'm really not sure why I thought having 30 mini-chocolates in my purse was a good idea. I bet the people manning the X-ray machines at the various airports we trundled through were curious as well.

We spent the night in Vegas and hopped over to Denver, where we signed at The Tattered Cover - a fantastic indie that I would like to go live in. Some of my in real life friends popped up there, including 2014 debut author Tara Dairman, and a couple of gals that I wish I lived nearer to!

You can spot round silver signed-by-the-author labels in this photo from The Tattered Cover. Sherry Thomas made personalized sheets of those for every one of the Dark Days girls. Mine has a vicious looking drop of water on it - go figure.

The next day was rather insane - we woke up in Denver and flew to Houston where we had hotel rooms reserved simply for us to pee in, as we would be flying back OUT to Austin after our book signing at Blue Willow Books. I've never peed in a nicer setting.

Before leaving Denver we decided we should re-enact the opening of Reservoir Dogs, as one does.

We shot out of Blue Willow and headed straight for the airport to catch a midnight flight to Austin to get ready for Austin Teen Book Festival! In our first appearance we went head to head with the Fierce Reads girls (Marissa Meyer, Leila Sales, Alexandra Coutts and SA Bodeen), much to the enjoyment of the crowd. I think the kids got a kick out of it, and I have to add that Rae and I kickass at her making me guess what's behind me on a screen.

Also usually they only let professionals into the green room, but exceptions were allowed in our case.

Shortly thereafter we had our second panel, (moderated by REBOOT author Amy Tintera), where we answered questions about writing and our books. Also, I sang a Weird Al song, Maddie talked about sacrificing lambs, Sherry shared Costco shopping secrets, Rae mentioned magical naval bling and Michelle casually clued us in to the fact that she used to dance in a Russian club.

Yes, we're that kind of fun.

Then we signed and great fun was had by all. In fact, a bit too much fun as the festival ran about forty minutes over allotted time and we were all kicked out by security. Except for Sherry Thomas who literally hid behind her stack of books and kept signing.

It was an amazing time. I had a TON of fun. In case you can't tell from the videos, we got along pretty well.