Amber Lynn Natusch On Building Your Fan Base

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 Amber Lynn Natusch author of the bestselling Caged series for adults. Dare You to Lie is her debut YA novel with Tor Teen.

Are you a Planner or Pantster?

Pantser. Hands down. I couldn’t control my characters long enough to even begin plotting a story.

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

It’s taken as little as a month (with two young kids and a day job). It’s taken as long as a year. For me, it depends on the story and whether or not my characters are talking to me. Sometimes they bugger off 😉

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

I try to but that generally doesn’t happen. At minimum, I’m writing one while editing another.

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

Nope. I was too ignorant to be afraid. If I knew then what I know now, I’m not sure I ever would have. Ignorance really CAN be bliss.

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

Never!!! I don’t do quitting. It’s a rule. I have had to completely overhaul novels before, but once I’m invested, there’s just no room for quitting.

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

The amazing Jess Watterson from the Sandra Dijkstra Lit Agency is my agent. She reached out to me in 2013, and asked if we could discuss possibly working together. She’d read my women’s lit novel, Undertow, and loved it so much she knew she wanted to represent me, if I wanted to consider a traditional publishing career (which I did). It took about a year and an offer from another major agency before I decided on Jess. I just had a good feeling about her, and I’m a go-with-your-gut kinda girl. So far, it’s worked out.

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

Oof. I don’t have much other than to research successful queries, have others read and critique yours, and do your best to sell what’s unique and special about your story.

How much input do you have on cover art?

Little to none. With my self-published works I have full control, so giving that up was a STRUGGLE for me. Thankfully, I have an editor who tries to keep me happy and make me see the strategy behind certain things.

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

How everything moves fast until it doesn’t, then it slams into you like a freight train and doesn’t relent.

How much of your own marketing do you? 

A LOT, but that’s the indie in me. I’m my own publishing house with a lot of my work, so I learned the value of grassroots marketing early on. It’s a huge reason why I was successful on my own. I think Instagram and Facebook are my favorites. I do still have a blog that I write on occasionally. My newsletter has also been a great way to reach fans. I shy away from videos—it’s really just better for everyone that I do.

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

I don’t know from personal experience, but I do know that friends of mine who debuted this year were working to build their platforms for quite a while. I think once agented is reasonable… possibly even before.

Do you think social media helps build your readership?

I do, though changes in algorithms can make it a challenge. I like to be conversational with my fans. I think that’s partially why I have a strong fan base.

Writing In English When It's Not Your Native Language

On today's episode of the podcast I address a question from a listener about tackling the difficulties of writing in your non-native language. Listen in, or if you prefer, read below.

I received an email from a listener who is struggling to move forward with her work in progress. Part of the reason for this is that English is not her native language. “Just the idea of me writing a book feels laughable, like a huge cosmic joke.” However, she states, “I mainly only read in English, therefore it feels natural to daydream and put words on paper in that language.”

While this has never been an issue for me – I am, sadly, a monolingual Midwesterner – I can empathize with the struggle of writing – not to mention publishing – being compounded by the problem of not creating in your native language. It’s an interesting question, and one I took to Twitter for some answers.

But first, I want to add that the idea of you – or anyone else – writing a novel is not laughable. The drive is within you, therefore it is a real possibility. Also, the fact that you are naturally daydreaming in English and bringing words to paper in that language is a good sign. The current state of publishing in the United States does for the most part require that your manuscript be in English.

Now, for some more specific advice, I’ll take you to some of the responses that came from bi-lingual authors on Twitter, as well as a translator.

A native French speaker who prefers to read fantasy and SciFi in English and therefore – as noted by my listener as well – chooses to write in that same language. A German speaker on Twitter agreed, saying, “short stories are fine, but my attempt to write an English novel turned out to be quite hard. The language is missing a variety and a certain deepness. Also, progress is much slower than usual.” He adds that the specific struggles when writing in his non-native language are “word order, common expressions to native speakers, and odd rhythm from your own language.”

The French writer adds, “my grammatical writing is much better in French, but the English language is more malleable.” Adding, “also, the audience is larger in English. Odds are, if one can write a good book in English that the book will reach a wider audience than in French.”

And that’s the rub, isn’t it? Books in English are going to reach a wider audience, and – if you’re trying to publish in the United States – many agents only accept manuscripts in English.

Which brought me to the question of translation. Can a writer go the route of writing in their original language, and have it translated before attempting publication? Or, is too much of the original nuance, voice, and meaning lost in that move?

Janet Sumner Johnson, a MG author and translator addressed this saying, “I do my best to maintain voice when I translate, but inevitably, some of that is lost, and some of my voice seeps in.” She adds, “if you can reasonably hack the English, I would go that direction.”

The French writer adds, “Nuances and choice of words are lost during translation."

Through the course of this conversation on Twitter, YA author and native Russian speaker Katya de Becerra shared with me an article she wrote for YA Interrobang titled, “How Do Bilingual Authors Choose to Write Their Stories?” which I will be quoting from below and linking to in the episode credits.

Katya says, “Every aspect of my writing is influenced by my bilingualism; the way I structure sentences, how I describe things, metaphors I’m more likely to use, etc. Even thematically, in my novel What the Woods Keep the theme of a lost / forgotten language emerged as a sub-theme of its own, and totally unexpected.”

Katya continues in her article, noting a “deep seated worry that I’d somehow be “outed” as a fraud, once agents and publishers discovered that English wasn’t my first language. While this didn’t happen, my editors did comment on my at times unusual uses of language—things like sentence structuring or odd adjective choices—which made me wonder for the first time exactly how my bilingualism influenced my process.”

Katya brought this question to her fellow bilingual and multi-lingual 2018 debuts, among them Kristina Perez, author of Sweet Black Waves who grew up speaking three languages and as an adult added another six. Kristina says, “I also imbue my characters with own experience of switching between languages and how that affects their personalities and relationships. We articulate our identities through language and as languages change, so do we.”

Kelly Yang, author of Front Desk, is an English – Chinese speaker who states in Katya’s article that, “One of the things I struggled with as a bilingual writer is this fear that I may not be as good in either language. I wrote Front Desk to try to dispel this fear. I hope that when bilingual kids see more examples of writers making it in their adopted language that they’ll feel empowered to embrace their bilingualism and not be ashamed of it, because to know more languages is a beautiful thing!”

I hope these perspectives help lend some confidence to my bi-lingual listeners. Check out Katya de Becerra’s article How Do Bilingual Authors Choose to Write Their Stories? On YA Interrobang for more quotes and advice from authors writing in their non-native language.

As always, if you have a suggestion for something you’d like me to address dealing with writing, publishing, or questions for me in general – feel free to ask! Email me at Mindy@MindyMcGinnis.com or ask me on Twitter!

Lish McBride On the Stress of Sophomore Novels

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 Lish McBride author of funny and creepy Young Adult books such as Hold Me Closer, Necromancer; Necromancing the Stone; Firebug; and Pyromantic. Lish got her BFA in creative writing from Seattle University and her MFA from University of New Orleans. Lish is also currently a bookseller and event host at Third Place Books, a giant thriving indie bookstore just outside of Seattle.

Are you a Planner or Pantster?

I am, at heart, a Pantser. I know certain things I’m aiming for, but I often don’t know a lot of the in between stuff until I let the characters come out to play. That being said, occasionally planning is helpful. I’m doing a full rewrite right now, and we have an outline for that. (It’s a co-written book, so an outline is super helpful.)

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

Oh, man. If left to my own devices, I’d probably have a full draft in 2-3 months. That being said, I’m never left to my own devices. Right now I have a day job, two kids—one of whom is three so…yeah. It’s hard to write when someone is screaming at you for snacks and keeps trying to take your laptop. Ha! I also do a lot of freelance stuff, so things have been more molasses-like around here.

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

I’m a multitasker, partially by necessity (those bills aren’t going to pay themselves) and partially because of training. I have an MFA, and while I was getting that I had to write pieces for several classes at once, so I was often working on a story, a screenplay, and then sometimes an essay or my thesis (my first novel) on top of that. I got used to jumping around.

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

The very first time? No, because I was in kindergarten and I didn’t know what I was getting into. My picture book, which made zero sense, won the young writers thing my school was doing, which was great, but no one will ever see it. First, because it made no sense, and second because I think it was one of the many things that my mother still had of mine that hurricane Katrina ate.

When I started my first novel there wasn’t any fear because my first novel was my thesis to graduate my MFA, so I didn’t think it would really go anywhere. Certainly no one was going to read the thing. The pressure wasn’t there.

Now, if you want to talk about when I sat down to write my follow up novel, Necromancing the Stone, then yes. SO MUCH FEAR. People think that when you get published, all of that doubt goes away. For many of us, it seems to double down. You have all of your original doubts, but now you have a fresh crop to go with them. What if that first book was a fluke? What if you can’t write another one? What if everyone hates it? Whatifwhatifwhatitwhatif—until your head explodes.

Suddenly there is pressure and expectations heaped onto your writing, and it’s scary. On top of that, you’re getting constant feedback on the book that just came out. I had to turn off my alerts early and stop reading reviews. If the review was good, I panicked that I wouldn’t be able to repeat my performance. If it was bad, I questioned my skill set. Neither response was helpful to me, so I ignore them now and leave the reviews for the readers.

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

I didn’t have any, which is weird. I actually wish I’d had a few. Some more experience would have been nice, for sure. Hold Me Closer, Necromancer was my first attempt at a novel. It’s not like I’ve escaped the experience, though. I’ve just had to shelve my current YA project. Whether or not it stays trunked forever, we’ll see. It’s super discouraging. I have a nice support system of authors and friends who can help me keep my chin up on the hard days. The people who remind me that I don’t, in fact, want to chuck my laptop and become a goat farmer. Those people are worth their weight in gold, and many of them are readers. Thanks, team!

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

I don’t think it’s a permanent quit, but my last YA novel and I are definitely on a break. My agent had to tell me it was time. We just couldn’t get it to a spot where he felt it was ready to send out. It was heart breaking.

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

My agent is Jason Anthony from MMQLIT (Massie & McQuilkin Literary Agents). He’s been my agent from the get-go, and it was a bit of a fluke. I wrote Hold Me Closer, Necromancer as my thesis to graduate my MFA program at the University of New Orleans. My thesis director was pretty suspicious of genre fiction, because her heart belongs to literary fiction. We had to have a lot of discussions about why on earth I wanted to write about zombies. Ha!

Anyway, she mentioned to her agent that I was writing a book and she loved it despite the zombies and werewolves, and she asked if he knew anyone who handled such projects. Her agent passed my draft off to Jason Anthony (my current agent). It was a mess—I would never have sent it out as a proper query. If Jason hadn’t offered to see it knowing it was a really rough draft, I wouldn’t have shown it to anyone. He read it and called me two days later. We had a long discussion about what he loved, but mostly about what needed to be fixed. We spent about three months revising it, and then he sent it out. So not your typical journey. I’ve never actually had to write a query letter. The timeline went from me sending it to Jason about April/May 2008 when I was about to graduate to selling it to Henry Holt in October.

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

I know it sounds simple and you’ve likely heard it, but just keep trying. Even though my query process was nonexistent, I’d dealt with plenty of rejection before that. Rejection from MFA programs, rejected short stories, and so on. You have to learn to listen to the feedback you get, discard what doesn’t work, apply what does, revise and just keep trying. If you’re not putting yourself out there, there is zero chance of you getting published. I went to school with some amazingly talented folks. Some of the main reasons I got published before them wasn’t because I was a better writer. It was because I finished a novel first and sent it out. Don’t take the rejections personally. Just keep sending out the best book you can.

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

Surreal. It still feels that way when I see them on a shelf. It sort of feels like a really long, elaborate practical joke and that someone will eventually yell, “Just kidding!” and take it all away.

How much input do you have on cover art?

Very, very little. They mostly show me mock ups and ask what I think…but I think they just do what they want, really. I’ve been amazingly lucky so far that I’ve been paired with great artists and have had some really stunning covers.

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

How very little I knew going in. I didn’t know anything about how writers got paid, how little control we have over a lot of it, basically a lot of ignorance to the business end. I also wasn’t prepared for the stress of book two. So now when friends get published, I congratulate them, take them to lunch, and we have a long talk about what’s coming. It helps to know that you’re not alone.

How much of your own marketing do you?  

I do most of it. I’m on my…eighth? Ninth?...publicist, and it’s hard to get any sort of consistency between books when that happens. Also, your publisher is putting out a lot of books in a season, and unless your book is the one they’re really pushing, you basically get lost in the shuffle. So I have a newsletter, twitter, facebook, instagram, Patreon and blog. I make my own bookmarks (which means I pay an artist to design them and then pay to have them printed), buttons, flyers, and stickers. Most writers have to make their own book swag. It’s great when the publisher handles things, because you can’t beat that amazing juggernaut of support, but I’ve learned that I can’t rely on that, either.

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

I built it post-agent, because again, hadn’t really planned on sending things out yet. I do think building pre-agent is smart. Going online to connect to other authors and learning about the community is really helpful. (You can also learn about all that tricky business stuff.) I also know that for young adult, publishers do look at that sort of thing. I should have done mine much sooner than I did. Bottom line, though? Book comes first. If you don’t have a good book to send out, it won’t matter how many Twitter followers you have.

Do you think social media helps build your readership?

I do. Social media has helped me meet new readers. It’s also helped me get closer to librarians, teachers, readers and other authors, who help spread the word. On top of that, it helps me let readers know about books, stories or other content that they might not have known about. I know that when I finish a book that I love, I immediately go to the author’s site or social media so I can see what else they’ve done. I also check out their feeds to see if they have any authors or books that they love, because I’m always looking for MOAR, you know? Books forever!