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Our $uccess blog will feature writing, marketing, and publishing tips we continue to learn since writing our 2009 INDIE Finalist workbook $uccess, Your Path to a Successful Book keeping our readers abreast of the everchanging skills required to write, publish and sell a successful book. We will also have guest commentators. Achieving your goals as a writer is what matters. Anything we can do to help you get there is our goal. We welcome your comments and hope you will sign up for our bi-monthly (or whenever we have enough material) newsletter.

Archive for the ‘Interviews’ Category

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Interview with Sue Richter, Author, Writer and Blogger

Tuesday, September 7th, 2010

Sue Richter, currently residing in California is a published author, writer, blogger with a fascinating background. In addition to visiting all 50 states, she has traveled internationally and been exposed to all levels of communication. Sue also owns a publishing company. It seems to me that she is a great juggler.

Maralyn:  Sue, please tell us a little of your background.

Sue: I was born in Minneapolis, grew up in Southern California and then spent 20 years in Texas. I moved back to California after a round about move to the East Coast, where I did international work for Habitat for Humanity. Habitat was a great career move for me. I was the Communication Director for all the Northeast U.S. and had the opportunity to travel to South Korea and work directly with Jimmy Carter and former President of the Philippines, Corazon Aquino.

I had been in communications for ten years when I took the job with Habitat. I did a lot of writing, newsletters and pitches to media, so I was no stranger to writing. In fact, when I was in junior high school I took a creative writing course and made “As.” That’s when I decided I wanted to pursue writing.

Maralyn: What is your most recent book? Please tell us a bit about it.

Sue: It’s funny, I started a publishing company 14 years ago and only published other people’s books. I finally decided I needed to publish my own book and experience what my clients had been feeling.

The one book topic that kept coming to mind was relationships. I have been married and divorced and now I’m remarried to a wonderful man. We’ve been together for 13 years. My friends have been in and out of relationships and I’ve heard all the horror stories about communication breakdown. Since I’ve been in communications for 20 years, I thought a relationship book would be fun. I wanted to keep the book light and yet interesting so I came up with a fun title; A Guide to Becoming the 60-Second Lover.

The book is about communication, what you are saying and not saying in your relationship. I point out helpful tips that can be done in 60 seconds that promote a ‘dating’ feel to your love life. Keeping your romance alive is important. It doesn’t take much effort to keep a relationship fresh.

Maralyn: What can you share with others as to important tips or suggestions for other writers on writing and publishing?

Sue: My one tip for new writers is to schedule time for your self to write. Put yourself first. It can be as little as one hour three times a week. Lock yourself in a room and write whatever comes to your mind. I don’t like to edit until I’m done with my first draft. It bogs me down and I never get past the first few pages, because I keep trying to make them better and better. It’s too easy to lose focus, if I keep going back to edit. I tell myself, just move on!

Maralyn: How did you get started writing?

Sue: I started writing full time about 2 years ago. I was working at a mortgage company and knew I didn’t want to continue doing that forever. Then the universe nudged me and everyone in my group got laid off. So, I was forced to go after my dream and I did. I wrote A Guide to Becoming the 60 Second Lover and I started a travel column for Examiner.com. Soon I had another travel column with JustSayGo.com and I was contributing work to AA.com/women for American Airlines. Many more opportunities came my way including celebrity interviews. My portfolio just keeps growing.

Maralyn: If you self published, who and why did you decide on who you should use?

Sue: My publishing company is SERA Publishing. I wanted to have creative control over my book, so I published it under my company name. Self-publishing really doesn’t have the stigma it used to have. The series, Chicken Soup, was one of the first one’s to have great success with self-publishing. Actually, several large publishing houses requested publishing contracts with the authors, but they turned down the offers. Today, the brand is still strong. Also, with ebooks on the rise, self-publishing your book is very affordable.

Maralyn: Have you also added an e-book or CD?

Sue: I did create an ebook too and it’s on my website; www.serapublishing.com There’s a preview of the book on the site too, it’s free.

Maralyn: Have you found that to be a successful approach to getting your books sold?

Sue: Ebooks are wonderful. You can be in the middle of the Caribbean enjoying the sun, while selling your book. I would suggest partnering up with a good web hosting company that can offer your customers everything that they need from easy browsing, to ecommerce and data collection.

Maralyn: What is the most difficult part of writing for you?

Sue: The hardest part about writing is turning my brain off long enough to find my writing voice. Once I do that, the words flow out pretty fast.
Maralyn: What is your approach to research?

Sue: I do almost all my research online. However, I do get a lot of information as I’m traveling and even some from TV. I love watching shows like Discover, History Channel, and Animal Planet… anything educational.

Maralyn: Have you learned anything from writing this book? Please describe it.

Sue: Yes, what I have learned is that writing the book is the easy part. Marketing the book is much harder. It’s hard to toot your own horn sometimes. I’ve done radio and talked to newspapers, written my own press releases and marketed my book to bookstores and gift stores. It’s really a full time job marketing your book. The main lesson is not to get discouraged with your marketing efforts and just keep pushing your book.

Maralyn: What are your favorite type of books and authors? What intrigues you about them?

Sue: I don’t read much fiction, as I really like information. I generally gravitate for business books or books that have to do with learning. One of my favorite books to date is Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson. The last book I read was The Marathon Method by Tom Holland. I was training for a half marathon.

Maralyn: Are you working on another book and would you be willing to share a little about it?

Sue: I am working on another book. It’s a book about my travel within the US. I’ve been to all 50 states and it’s amazing the differences between the regions of the US. It’s not just the topography but the views and beliefs of the people are actually different. Yes, we do all have our similarities too and I’ll touch on all those topics. I’m compiling the information and the photos and hope to be done by the end of the year. I may have another publishing company take this one, so I can focus on more writing. I have a couple more books in me plus screenplays.
Maralyn: What are you doing to promote and market your book?

Sue: Promotion is so individualized. I’ve done some basic things like setting up my website and getting a Facebook fan page. I’ve done radio, press releases, I’ve register with Amazon and I’m working with gift stores. There’s a lot more that I could be doing, but I find that I don’t have enough time to do everything. I’m still doing a lot of travel writing, working with clients on the publishing end, plus I’m currently writing a screenplay. So, you can see there are not enough hours in the day to get everything done.

Maralyn: If you are marketing on line, do you find one site more or less helpful than others?

Sue: Quite honestly, I don’t like Amazon. They take a huge amount of your sales, about 60%. They don’t really promote your book either. I would say it’s better to have your own website and forget Amazon.

Maralyn: What has been your biggest Ahha moment/s as a writer?

Sue: Writing the book wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. It’s like running. The first mile is hard, but then it gets easier. The more you run/train, the easier it’s gets….but no mater if you’re a marathon runner or not, that first mile is always the hardest. It’s just like writing the first page is always the hardest.

Maralyn: Where can readers learn more about your book?

Sue:

My website: www.serapublishing.com

SERA Publishing fan page on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Southern-California/SERA-Publishing/116427135052781?ref=ts

My Blog: http://serapublishing.blogspot.com/

Thank you Sue, for a most insightful interview. You are doing it all and seem to be enjoying the ride.

If you would like to be interviewed, please contact mdhill@noralyn.com. Please indicate if you want the Author/writer questions or the Writer/blogger questions.

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Interview with Writer Marilyn McFarlane of Portland, OR

Tuesday, August 31st, 2010

Tododay’s interview is with Marilyn McFarlane from Portland, OR. Interviewing all of these different writers is quite interesting for me. It is always nice to gain insight into another in the same field.

Maralyn: Could you give us some of your background information?

Marilyn: I live in Portland, Oregon, with my husband and 2 fluffy cats. The Pacific Northwest is wonderful, if too wet at times, but the rest of the world constantly beckons, so I write mostly travel.  A plethora of early jobs—not exactly careers—led me to fulltime freelancing 30 years ago.  Secretary, typist, TV news writer, blood drive organizer, library assistant, gift-wrapper (I tied some pretty fancy bows in my day) and Mom, the non-income producing but most important job.  The travel bug bit when I was a 16-year-old exchange student and kept a rhapsodic journal.  An endless curiosity, a reporter’s instincts, an interest in other countries and cultures, a love of nature … these pushed me into travel writing. The field looks a lot different these days, but still is a great place to wander.

Maralyn: What genre of writing do you prefer?

Marilyn:  I focus on world travel, especially offbeat finds, but I look for an interesting angle even in the most famous, well-trodden places.  Somehow my writing manages to always include food and wine.  Chocolate fits in nicely.

Maralyn: Do you have any tips or suggestions for writers?

Marilyn: A writer could eat up every minute in the day researching, marketing, looking for outlets, agonizing over social media.  What we want to do is write, right? It’s hard to maintain that balance. A few tips:  Follow a few helpful websites and blogs; get active in a writers’ organization (or two—not a dozen); put yourself into an online networking group; attend occasional conferences. Practice yoga, take deep breaths.

Maralyn: Do you blog?

Marilyn: I just started my blog this year and would have done it earlier if I’d known it would be so much fun.  I like writing short, personal, breezy pieces with a sense of place and include useful tidbits for other travelers.  I post links I find interesting and plan to add book reviews. Send me travel-related books and I’ll review them and post links.

Maralyn: That is a nice offer for those reading that have travel books.  How were you inspired to blog?

Marilyn: I got into blogging after being on the organizing committee for Travel & Words, the Pacific NW Travel Writers Conference. We did so much online publicity, I felt comfortable branching into my own blog.

Maralyn: How often do you blog?

Marilyn: I aim for 3 posts a week— and I’ll get there eventually. Since I also write for websites, mainly Europe Up Close, it’s a matter of making the time.  (I hear Danielle Steel writes 18 hours a day. Alas, that won’t work for me.)

Maralyn: Have you discovered an effective means of gaining traffic?

Marilyn: Word of mouth, writers’ organizations, professional media groups, referrals that come from I know not where.

Maralyn: Do you query for your assignments?

Marilyn: As a staff writer for Europe Up Close, I write about wherever I go in Europe, no assignment needed. For print media, I’ll send a query before I write the article unless it’s going to be a reprint or quick rewrite.

Maralyn: Do you attend many writers conference and how do you feel about them?

Marilyn: I love conferences for networking, seeing old friends, and making new contacts. If the substance is useful, all the better. Another NW Writers Conference will be held in 2011, and I’m sure it will be excellent. There’s also a one-day seminar in Portland on Oct. 2, and that promises to be terrific, very helpful to writers. I should know, I’m on the committee to set it up. (www.travelandwords.com)

Maralyn: What do you find the most difficult aspect of being a writer?

Marilyn: The same old complaint—so much to do, so little time. One needs to play, after all, and garden and read and sit around with friends and a bottle of wine.

Maralyn: What is your approach to research?

Marilyn: Be observant, talk to strangers, ask a million questions on the road, and Google. Also books, of course. It’s a scattered approach but works.

Maralyn: Do you have any inside tips for those starting out as writers?

Marilyn: Start simple, have a clear, clean site that is easy to navigate. I’m still learning, and am happy to share what I find as I go.

Maralyn: Do you use social networking?

Marilyn: I belong to several professional organizations, online and off, and spread the word there. I follow other blogs and Twitter.  I keep in mind what an SEO expert told me:  80% content, 20% marketing, always. Don’t push it.

Maralyn: Have you written any books?

Marilyn: I’ve written several guidebooks: Best Places to Stay in the Pacific Northwest, Best Places to Stay in California, Quick Escapes in the NW, and others.  A non-travel book that is especially meaningful to me is Sacred Myths: Stories of World Religions. No book plans currently.

Maralyn: Where can readers learn about you?

Marilyn: My website is www.marilynmcfarlane.com, the blog is www.lightheartedtravel.wordpress.com. (I welcome subscribers and comments, and knowing about other writers’ travel blogs.) Many of my travel stories are at www.europeupclose.com.

Thank you Marilyn for your insightful interview. Obviously, I enjoy sharing with others and learning what other writers like. Even though we have so much in common, we also share different insights.

If there are writers out their who would like to be interviewed, please send your e-mail address to mdhill@noralyn.com and say if you want the author/writer questions or writer/blogger questions.  I send these out as quickly as I can and when you respond, you are entered in queue.

Maralyn D. Hill, President
International Food Wine & Travel Writers Association
Books By Hills Success With Writing Where & What in the World
Member: Society of Professional JournalistsFinalist in the Writing and Publishing category of the 2009 Next Generation Indie Book Awards, ”$uccess, Your Path to a Successful Book,”

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Interview with Teresa Bitler of Phoenix on Writing

Saturday, August 28th, 2010

Recently, I had the pleasure of meeting Teresa Bitler at a luncheon at the St. Francis. The gathering was for the International Food Wine & Travel Writers Association and Arizona writers, which was sponsored by the Greater Phoenix Convention and Visitors Bureau. I’m quite pleased that Teresa was willing to be interviewed.

Maralyn: Teresa, can you provide us with some background on how you got started?

Teresa: I always knew I was meant to write. I wrote my first “novel” when I was eight or nine, worked on the school newspaper in high school, and began submitting poems to literary journals. Although I studied journalism in college, life kind of took over. I married a few years after graduation, and we started a family. It wasn’t until my youngest entered kindergarten that I had the opportunity to write freelance articles for a real estate investment magazine.

From there, my career evolved. I branched out and began writing for local magazines on other topics. Now, I write for regional and national publications. I have written a travel guide for Countryman Press, Great Escapes Arizona, and I’m currently working on a second guidebook, Backroads & Byways of Indian Country.

Maralyn: I’ve discovered, many writers do not realize the importance of marketing. Can you share your thoughts on that as well as how to go about getting assignments?

Teresa: You have to market yourself. Introduce yourself to publications. Ask for assignments. Develop relationships with other writers who will encourage and support you. The market is very competitive today, but there is work out there, paying work.

I want to point out that you don’t need to write for free. I’ve run across far too many aspiring writers who are willing to sign up for a “content mill” so they can accumulate “clips.” You don’t need to go that route. Offer to write for a local newspaper or magazine. Pitch the editor story ideas, find sources and go through the editing process. You’ll gain much more valuable experience that way and maybe even collect a small paycheck.

Maralyn: Did you start out writing about your own interests?

Teresa: I know this is cliché, but write about what you know. I got into freelancing because, at the time, my husband and I were investing in real estate. Was I passionate about real estate investing? No, but I understood it in a way that other, even more experienced writers could not. I approached the publisher and began compiling clips. You don’t have to have a talent for or burning interest in a particular field. You just have to know about it.

Maralyn: Do you have a preference for what type of writing you prefer?

Teresa: Although I write on a variety of topics, including real estate investing, I prefer to write about travel. I’ve always loved traveling. In my mind, who wouldn’t want to be a travel writer? But, I never really thought I could be a travel writer. I thought it was too competitive. I stumbled into travel writing, really. I saw a post (on Craigslist of all places!) requesting book proposals for Arizona travel. I’ve been hooked every since.

Maralyn: Do you write on speculation or query for assignments?

Teresa: I never write an article without an assignment. You don’t know for sure what your word count will be, what sources the publication may want you to include, or what angle they may want you to take. Chances are you’ll end up rewriting or revising an already completed article.

Maralyn: What part of a writer’s life do you find the most difficult?

Teresa: For me, the most difficult part of my job is staying motivated. Rejection is not easy. Some days, I feel like giving up. What really helps is having the support of other writers who know what I’m going through and who encourage me to “get back on the horse.” You just need to realize that this is part of the game. You can’t get assignments if you don’t repeatedly put yourself and your ideas out there.

Maralyn: Do you have any tips for aspiring writers or those venturing into new areas?

Teresa: I’m not sure there are tips to pass along. Freelancing and nonfiction writing is about hard work. You get what you put into it. If you want the assignment or the book contract, you have to put in the effort to make it happen. Study the magazine or the publisher’s books to get a sense of what they’re buying, and then pitch them ideas. Attend writers’ conferences so you can meet editors, publishers and literary agents. Network and give up on the notion of being “discovered.”

Maralyn: Teresa, where can our readers learn more about you?

Teresa Bitler — Writer / Author / Adventurer

Author of Great Escapes Arizona

PHOTO BLOG: http://queencreekdailyphoto.blogspot.com/

TRAVEL BLOG: www.arizonatravelandadventure.com

FOLLOW ME: www.twitter.com/TheAZTraveler

FRIEND ME: www.facebook.com/teresa.bitler

CONNECT WITH ME: www.linkedin.com/teresa.bitler

Thank you Teresa for the insightful interview. I looking forward to seeing Backroads & Byways of Indian Country and would be happy to review it when it is available.

Authors, writers, bloggers, if you would like to be interviewed, please send me an e-mail to mdhill@noralyn.com and list Author/Writer, Writer/Blogger in the subject line.

Maralyn D. Hill, President
International Food Wine & Travel Writers Association
Books By Hills Success With Writing Where & What in the World
Member: Society of Professional Journalists

Finalist in the Writing and Publishing category of the 2009 Next Generation Indie Book Awards, ”$uccess, Your Path to a Successful Book,”

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