Colleen Houck On An Author Being More Than Just A Writer

It’s time for a new interview series… like NOW. No really, actually it’s called NOW (Newly Omniscient Authors). This blog has been publishing since 2011, and some of the earlier posts feel dated. To honor the relaunch of the site, I thought I’d invite some of my past guests to read and ruminate on their answers to questions from oh-so-long-ago to see what’s changed between then and now.

Today’s guest is Colleen Houck, author of the bestselling Tiger’s Curse series. Her latest, The Lantern’s Ember, combines the moodiness of Sleepy Hollow with the romance her fans love her for.

Has how you think (and talk) about writing and publishing changed, further into your career?

You know, it’s an interesting time in the world of publishing. I think it’s harder than it’s ever been to get a book published, even for established authors. I used to think it was just about the writing but in today’s climate an author really needs to be a jack of all trades. If you can’t stay on top of the game or, preferably, ahead of it, you’ll risk falling by the wayside.

Let’s about the balance between the creative versus the business side of the industry. Do you think of yourself as an artiste or are you analyzing every aspect of your story for marketability? Has that changed from your early perspective?

It was easier when I was naïve. Yes, a part of me is always thinking about marketability. Not so much readability. I don’t doubt my material is readable. What I end up doubting is whether or not it’s sellable. That’s not something I can really control. The market changes constantly and that drives editorial purchasing.

The bloom is off the rose… what’s faded for you, this far out from debut?

Sadly, it’s good news. When my agent calls to say we have a nibble on a book or someone is interested in signing up a project for a film, I’m happy but I hold off on celebrating. Each baby step is a step forward but there are a lot of “falling on your bottom” moments when you need to wrestle yourself back to your feet.

Likewise, is there anything you’ve grown to love (or at least accept) that you never thought you would?

I have become slightly more comfortable with the editing process and holding my own. I’ve learned to let go of some things that I clung rigidly to in the past knowing that I can just rework or hold over the material to share with fans at a later date as bonus material. Getting the story out there is the most important thing. I’m not going to be 100% happy with every finished book. It’s just not possible. I guess the bottom line is, I’ve learned not to wince at flaws and past mistakes and see them as steppingstones instead.  

And lastly, what did getting published mean for you and how was it changed (or not changed!) your life? 

My publishing journey has impacted not only my life but every member of my family. We’ve been able to do incredible things and meet so many amazing people because of conferences and book tours. Having said that, I’m fundamentally the same person I’ve always been with the same friends and likes. It’s just drawn my core team closer and empowered us to do some things we otherwise might never have been able to do.

Manuela Velasco of Tessera Editorial On Inclusivity & Diversity Throughout Publishing

Today's guest is Manuela Velasco, the marketing and publicity director, as well as an editor for Tessera Editorial, which was founded on the idea that publishing can and should be an accessible industry to all people. Through myriad diverse voices in the profession, Tessera Editorial hopes to open the world of books to as many readers as possible. Manuela joined me today to talk about the services that Tessera offers as well as why getting people of color into all aspects of publishing, not just as authors, is important for true diversity and inclusivity in the industry.

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Debut Author Kim Long on the Submission Process

If there's one thing that many aspiring writers have few clues about, it's the submission process. There are good reasons for that; authors aren't exactly encouraged to talk in detail about our own submission experiences, and - just like agent hunting - everyone's story is different. I managed to cobble together a few non-specific questions that some debut authors have agreed to answer (bless them). And so I bring you the submission interview series - Submission Hell - It's True. Yes, it's the SHIT.

Today’s guest for the SHIT is Kim Long, author of Lexi Magill and the Teleportation Tournament.

How much did you know about the submission process before you were out on subs yourself?

Very little! I knew there was a pitch letter from my agent and then, if the editor was interested, there would be a request for a full. Well, with my first agent, there was no request—she just emailed the full, which confused me. I would hear from other writers about “editor requests” and meanwhile I’d heard nothing on my end. I finally asked my then-agent, “Do we know if they’re reading?” Lol. I learned quickly (and this was back in 2015 when my first MG went on sub) that agents do things differently. This time around, I asked my agent straight out what her process was, how many editors she did in round one, when she would do a round 2, etc. I knew more, so I was able to ask more.

Did anything about the process surprise you?

Somewhat surprising that some editors wouldn’t respond to my agent’s pitch, even to say, “Not for me, thanks.” 

Did you research the editors you knew had your ms? Do you recommend doing that?

Sort of. I looked on Publisher’s Marketplace to see what they’d bought recently and I looked them up on Twitter, but I didn’t follow them or actively check their twitter feeds other than the first check to see who they were. I’m not sure I’d recommend or not recommend that approach. I like having information, so it was interesting to take a look, but in the end the info I collected wasn’t earth-shattering. 

What was the average amount of time it took to hear back from editors?

With most, we heard if they would read in a week or so, but I can say that there was a good four-to-five week delay before we heard back from the editor who eventually offered (Allison Cohen at Running Press Kids)! Just timing, I suppose. Then, it was about three weeks later she told my agent (they actually met up in New York at Book Expo) she liked it. For editors who passed, I’d say we heard back within a couple weeks to a few months. There were some we did not hear back from, though. 

What do you think is the best way for an author out on submission to deal with the anxiety?

I know it’s cliché, but I’d have to go along with, “Write something else.” I wasn’t very anxious this last time around because I was already invested in another manuscript. I really felt like if this one didn’t sell, it wasn’t a huge letdown because I’d have something new to go out soon. Once it sunk in that it wasn’t an an all-or-nothing and there are other books to sub, the whole submission process was easier for me to handle.

If you had any rejections, how did you deal with that emotionally? How did this kind of rejection compare to query rejections?

I have not had a single mean rejection (yet!). Most were very complimentary. It went to second reads a couple different places, but even with the straight rejects, it was either, “Love the concept, not the voice” or “Love the voice, not enthralled with the concept.” There was nothing to get to bummed out about. It was kind of like querying in that it was a shrug of the shoulder, and that was about it. The one difference was that, with agents, I could revenge query. With sub, I couldn’t, and a no from one editor at an imprint is a no from that imprint. There definitely was more of a feeling of a finite list of editors who could be subbed to, which certainly made me anxious from time to time.

 When you got your YES! how did that feel? How did you find out – email, telephone, smoke signal?

It was a very surreal experience, for sure. My agent met the editor at BEA, and she said she loved it and was going to take it to her team. To me, this sounded a lot like second reads, and well, as I had been down that road before, I was like, “Okay, fine.” Then my agent told me that this was more like acquisitions at this press, not just straight second reads, so I did start feeling a bit jittery. The week of the meeting came and went without us hearing anything . . .  which I actually took as a good sign because if it was a No, that’d be a quick email, right? Right? So the following Monday, I was at work, had a meeting, and when I got back to my office, I had a text from my agent, CALL ME. I grabbed my phone and went down to the building’s lounge area. Sure enough, OFFER!! It didn’t seem real at all!

Did you have to wait a period of time before sharing your big news, because of details being ironed out? Was that difficult?

Nope! Everything happened so, so quickly. The major terms were agreed to in about a week, and my agent said that they wanted to announce ASAP because my publication date would be Fall 2019. (Remember, this is late June, so Fall 2019 was not that far away!) It was funny because whenever I’d hear about books coming out in a year or so, I’d be like, “That’s such a long time from now.” But when I was told Fall 2019, my thought was, “Really, that soon?” Lol. Anyway, we announced maybe a week or two later!

And yes, there are times I still can’t believe it’s true! This was my second manuscript that went out on sub, and it’s actually the second time this manuscript was on sub, as my previous agent had lightly subbed it back in 2016. It’s been a long road, for sure, but I’m glad we didn’t give up on this manuscript and that it found a good home.