Behind the Scenes of The Vespertine: Why Baltimore?

Behind the scenes of my latest novel, THE VESPERTINE, forthcoming in March 2011 from Harcourt Children's Books. Featuring music by Kevin MacLeod

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• vlog
• book trailer

[Narowescape]

Not to get too personal, but does it make you good money?

[slmitchell1973]

@Narowescape Let's put it this way: it's a good thing my husband has a good job. :)

[Narowescape]

I guess my question is this. How did you get to a position where, as soon as you finish a book, you have a publisher? How many, if any at all, books did you write that never got published through an actual company?

[slmitchell1973]

@Narowescape I wrote a book, I got an agent. Then my agent shopped the book until we found an editor who wanted it. But there's no guarantee that the editor will want my next book. I actually only wrote one novel before I sold the second one. But I wrote three between that one and this new one. You never get to the point where an editor is guaranteed to publish your next book. If it's not good, they won't want it!

[Narowescape]

@slmitchell1973

Did you take writing classes in college? Or was writing books for a living something that you didn't plan on doing?

[slmitchell1973]

@Narowescape I didn't go to college. But, I've always written, and my day job for a long time was screenwriting. I wrote my first novel in 2002-- and I got my first novel published in 2007. You have to be tenacious!

[Narowescape]

@gharethsh I feel like publishers just target authors and books that they think will sell the most, regardless of the writer's skill.

[Narowescape]

@slmitchell1973 :( I know this sounds horrible, but i was hoping my age would carry me through. The author of "The adventures of boo" was 16 when she published her book, and sold over 500,000 copies. I read her first chapter and it looked as if it were something i could write easily.

[gharethsh]

@Narowescape Writing books is like playing the lottery.

Almost as profitable, but with more rejection.

[slmitchell1973]

@Narowescape No- my book will be published by Harcourt Children's Books/ Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. It's not easy to get published, but it's definitely worth it to get an agent and to go the traditional route. You can't beat having professional artists creating your cover, professional editors working on the text, and a whole sales team behind the book, reaching out to booksellers and librarians. I wouldn't do it any other way!