Writing for Different Genres: Author Interview with Erin Greneaux

Your books have pictures but they're not picture books. They're longer, but they're not a middle grade novel. What made you decide to write in this middle ground? 
My daughters are 2, 4, and 6 years old. As they got older, I noticed that they were ready for more than picture books, but would get distracted during chapter books because of the few illustrations. That's when I decided to write short chapter books packed with meaning that also have full-color illustrations on every page spread. My girls love the story and illustrations. They are easy to break up and read one or two chapters at a time for my younger daughter or read all in one sitting with my older daughter. 

How many rewrites did you do for your series? 

The series currently has two books, but there will be eight in all once completed. The first book I wrote for the series, I ended up tossing entirely and starting over. The new version of book 1 had three major edits. From the beginning idea to the completed project, the first book took 14 months to complete, including illustrations, which took 6 months. I am an active member in hope*writers and love the writing community that I have discovered there. Those authors are a wealth of information and encouragement as well as great critique partners.

 
Your books are written in both English and Spanish. How did you go about putting together a second translation? Are you or a family member bilingual?
I have a degree in Latin American Studies and a minor in Spanish, and have always loved Latin American culture and language. I have a group of ladies at my church who have volunteered to translate the books in this series into Spanish because they believe in the message these books provide for girls. I am so blessed to have them!
 

How did you go about finding an illustrator?
I first discovered my illustrator when a friend of mine posted a painting that a friend of hers had made for her birthday. When I saw the painting, I knew I wanted that artist to be the illustrator on my project. We have worked together on several projects now, and she is amazing! I love how her artistic ability brings the story to life. She is originally from Ukraine, a talented self-taught artist, and works as an architect in Dallas.
 
What was the hardest part of putting together your books?
The hardest part is waiting for the illustrations. I get so excited when the story is finished, but have to wait to share it until the illustrations are complete. And I can't wait to see the artwork, either. It's like waiting for Christmas morning, and every time a new illustration is finished, it's like opening a present!
 
You also wrote a book about a topic that's very personal to you. It's one that deals with miscarriage and infertility. What made you want to open yourself up to write such a personal book?
I wrote the book that I wish I had when going through my miscarriage and infertility. I share the depths of grief and loss in a very personal way in that book to help others know that they aren't alone. But at the same time, I want them to know that this loss is not the end of their story, and that God can bring something beautiful from the darkest of seasons and losses. I hear from so many women about the healing they have found in the pages of that book, and that makes the raw, vulnerable parts of writing worthwhile.
 

What’s the best encouragement you’ve had from readers?
When the first book in this series was only available for preorder, I had shipped out my website orders a little early as a perk. That week at a library storytime, I saw a little girl wearing the necklace that goes with the book (it matches the one that the characters wear). My daughter saw it and went up to the girl and said, "My mommy wrote the book that goes with that necklace." The little girl grabbed her gold feather pendant and said, "This is my Gold Feather Gardener necklace! It means that I belong in the Enchanted Garden!" I had designed the necklace to hold a special symbolism of joining the family of God, but to see a child understand and embrace it so completely was a beautiful moment! 
 
What do you know now about publishing you wished you had known sooner?
It takes a long time to gain an audience and traction. It takes an incredible amount of work to market a book and get it into the hands of readers. Writing a book is the easiest step in the process, and it is only the beginning. If I did it for any reason other than an absolute love of writing hope filled words for others, it wouldn't be worth it.
 
Marketing is the biggest key to getting sales. What is the best marketing source you've used that has produces more sales rather than just clicks?
Word of mouth is always the best marketing. Finding true fans who see the vision for the books, fall in love with them, and share them with others is the key. I spend more time and resources engaging with one person at a time than I do with ads or social media. 
 

What is the best writing advice you’ve received or could give?
I have broken most of the writing rules. I don't "stay in my lane" but write in multiple genres for different audiences. I pour my heart into some projects that I know I'll only break even on. My advice is to write the message that is burning inside you, the one that keeps you awake at night until you pour the words onto the page. If you write that message, the marketing struggles and feedback ups and downs will never cause you to quit. 
 
Are there any other points about writing you would like to add?
Writing is such a gift! I am constantly humbled that I get to do this, that God continues to give me words to share, and that I have incredible people to work with along the way. It is truly a blessing!
 
Tell me about your latest book
I just released two books last month- the first was a devotional, Sunday God Meets Monday Mom: 100 Devotions Connecting Faith and Life. The second was Book 2 in The Gold Feather Gardeners series, The Quill's Secret. It helps kids discover the true power of words to build up or destroy in a way that they can understand and apply. 

Book 3 in the series is in the illustration phase right now and releases in November 2023. It covers humility, and helps children understand the value of putting others ahead of yourself, as well as using gifts and talents to glorify God rather than ourselves. 

That's all for today's interview. If you'd like to learn more about Erin's books, here's how to do that...
Website: https://www.greneauxgardens.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greneauxgardens
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eringreneaux/
Weekly Devotional for Moms: https://eringreneaux.substack.com/

 

And here's a bonus for my readers...Leave a comment on this post and you'll be entered into a drawing to win a PDF of her latest devotional, Sunday God Meets Monday Mom: One winner will be chosen next Tuesday. So write that comment now!

From a Nothing to an Author: Author Interview with E.V. Anderson

Writing a memoir is so different than writing a novel as you are exposing who you are. What made you decide to bring your past into the open for others to scrutinize?

I began writing Tales of a New Jersey Nothing as a form of catharsis. My brother passed away about ten years ago, and I’d never fully processed his death. Truth is, I hated him for most of my life, because he was an alcoholic and a drug addict, and treated me horribly for many years. It wasn’t until right before his death that we reached a sort of understanding—but it was too late. The memoir is ultimately about forgiveness, and moving on. 

 

As far as publishing the book goes, I hadn’t really considered it until a few friends read it and said, “You’ve got to put this out.” I didn’t consider the whole “scrutiny” part until the book came out last month, and people who’d read it said, “Um, Ervin, you sure didn’t hold back, did you?” No, I didn’t. 

 

Why did you think your story would resonate with others? 

As I wrote the book, I began to include other things, like my own issues with drugs, my first love, and my dreams of rising up from a troubled childhood and making something of my life. I think the themes of the book are universal: family, love, loss, so I do believe others can relate. There’s also quite a bit of humor, as well, to balance out the heavy stuff. My life so far has been both tragedy and comedy, so it’s all in there.

How long did it take you to write the first draft? How many rewrites did you do on it? Who helped you with the editing?

The first draft was written very quickly. It took maybe three months. The words just poured out of me. I’ve been tinkering with it every few months for the past five years. I can’t say how many drafts it went through, because I never really stopped working in it—until last month when I released it. As far as the editing goes, I’m very lucky. My amazing girlfriend, Julia Lee, just happens to have a fancy English degree, and did the editing for me. She’s a peach!

Did you try the normal route to find a traditional publisher to handle your book? When did you decide to self-publish?

I was lucky in that I just had my first novel, The Many Lives of Lilith Lane, co-published by Plympton and Amazon Publishing late last year. Plympton publishes only serial fiction at this point, so my memoir wasn’t something they’d handle. I also felt, since this book is so personal, that it would be best to publish it myself. I wanted to maintain full control over it, so I didn’t really pursue any traditional publishers. Having published a novel by traditional means already, and having gained “some” fans, it seemed like the perfect time to release the memoir.

For those who haven’t marketed their own book, how do you actually put it together – ie. layout, cover design, input to various online sources, promotions, etc?

I have a very good writer friend who’d gone through the process already, and she helped me along the way. Once again, when it came to putting the book together—cover, layout, formatting, etc.—my girlfriend Julia was invaluable. I couldn’t have done it without her. And I must say, I think my self-published paperback memoir looks just as good as my traditionally-published novel. 

 

There are, for those who don’t have a brilliant partner to help, many downloadable, cheap books available that explain exactly how to get your work ready for self-publishing.

 

How do you write? Did you do an outline first? 

I’m not big on outlining. I’m with Stephen King in this camp. I start with a general idea, and then see where it takes me, or where the characters take me. Tales of a New Jersey Nothing began as a blog, and I wrote it out of order. One day, I’d write about an incident that happened when I was five. The next day, I’d write about something that happened when I was twenty. Eventually, I put the chapters in order, made sure it all made sense, and voilà, a memoir was born. 

What type of publicity/promotion has worked best for you in generating sales?

Regarding promotion, I don’t know what the heck I’m doing! Seriously. I’m still learning. But the free giveaway of the Kindle version on Amazon certainly brought in a lot of readers for the book, which can result in reviews, word-of-mouth, and good mojo. And, hey, if anyone out there has some great marketing tips of their own, feel free to send them my way!

 

Of course, I use Twitter and Facebook the best I can, and just ran a Goodreads promotion, which certainly helped. I also sent word to many fans of my novel, hoping they’d want to check out the memoir. Ultimately, though, I think Tales of a New Jersey Nothing will live or die by word-of-mouth. And for word-of-mouth to happen, the book has to touch people. I believe it will. Cross your fingers.

What do you know now about writing/publishing now that you wished you had known sooner?

That it’s impossible. Still, even if I’d known that all along, it would not have deterred me. I’m a writer. If I go a day without writing, I feel bad about myself. I can’t help but write. Yes, it’s impossible, but so worth it.

 

What is the best advice you’ve been given about writing or that you’ve learned that you would like to pass along?

Just write, and don’t let rejection stop you. I think the difference between writers who succeed and writers who don’t is, in most cases, simply determination. I’d been writing for more than a decade before having any real success. Some writers give up if they don’t achieve the success they think they deserve within a year or two. If you say you’re a writer, if you believe you’re a writer, just write, and do it for yourself and no one else. Do it because you can’t imagine not writing.

To learn more about Ervin and his writing, here are the links to get you in touch...

Amazon -to buy          Facebook page           Goodreads

 

Baring your Soul in Writing Memoirs, an Interview with Arion Golmakani

Writing a memoir is so different than writing a novel as you are exposing who you are. What made you decide to “bare your soul”?

When I first began to put in words what is now the content of my book, Solacers— my account of growing up in Iran— I did not give much thought as to why, what for, and why now, after all these years, am I writing them? I wasn’t thinking about any great purpose my story was going to serve, who its audience was going to be and how it was going to improve or impact their lives, if any. It wasn’t my intention to avenge or to vilify places and people with my pen, or to help myself find closure, either. And definitely, I did not write this book to save the world. 

I am not into mental regurgitation of unpleasant events. Therefore writing a book about my difficult childhood was the last thing I wanted to do. In 2003, after a complex brain surgery, I lost a good portion of my eyesight and became grounded.  That provided me with an ample opportunity to sit around and think. After a few years of this, one day I began to slowly tap away at my old computer’s keyboard and painstakingly, one word at a time, write. I thought I put my story in a book and throw it out into the ocean of life, so to speak, for anyone who wishes to pick it up and read it. 

How long did it take you to write the first draft?

It took about two years for me to complete the first draft and I wasn’t too happy with the end result. So I decided to rewrite almost the entire manuscript. Not having had to meet any deadlines, together with my snail like typing speed— due to defective eyesight, were to blame for the lengthy writing period. Once the manuscript was done, for the second time, I had a couple of literate friends proofread it, before I hired two professional editors; a general editor and then a copy editor, to polish it up.    

Your book was honored with being a finalist in the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing. How did you hear about that contest? Tell me about the process? I came across the announcement for the William Saroyan Prize on a writers’ related website. The submission process was listed on Stanford University Libraries’ website. In May of 2012, approximately six months after I had submitted Solacers, Stanford News announced the shortlist. Solacers was one of twelve books in the nonfiction category. In August of that year the names of the top three books in each category— fiction and nonfiction; one winner and two finalists, were announced. Solacers was selected as a nonfiction finalist. Offering critique or feedback was not a part of this award program. 

As it had to already be a published book, has this helped increase your sales?

As it is the nature of any awards, there was an immediate and short spike in sales. But more importantly, the award gave Solacers a stamp of approval, so to speak.   

Red Corn Poppy Books is your personal imprint. How did you put it together?

RedCornPoppy Books was formed with the help of a relative of my wife for the sole purpose of publishing Solacers and two other books that I am still working on.

After Solacers’ manuscript was complete, I began planning the publishing process. Plan A was to find and work with an agent. Plan B, go directly to the publishers and plan C; do it myself.  

   

What was your next step?

I compiled a list of literary agents that handled memoirs and began sending them query letters, following their specific submission instructions. After six months of fruitless letter writing, revising my query letter a number of times along the way, I gave up on the agent idea. 

Contrary to the popular belief, the majority of the agents replied back. Of course the answer was always “No.” Two kind ladies even took the time and wrote nice letters, praising my work and saying how they would have represented it had it not been for the fact that the world’s economy was on the verge of collapse. This was a year into the financial crisis that began in 2008. They explained publishers, like most other business at the time, were hesitant to invest in any new project, especially one that involved an unknown author.

So you moved on to finding a publisher?

For plan B, again I put together a list of publishers who were in the business of publishing memoirs and still willing to deal directly with an author. I wrote and submitted some sample chapters to a dozen or so publishers and waited. About six months later I received a couple of offers that I didn’t find all that attractive and declined.   

It was now time for plan C. I did my homework thoroughly and researched all aspects of printing- a- book business. The book’s physical size, offset printing verses digital, UV coating of the cover verses film, paper’s weight and color, font size and type, binding and so on. I have to mention here that I wasn’t interested in taking the POD—print on demand, route. I wanted to publish my book as if it was published by one of the largest and best publishing companies in the world. And that is exactly what I did. 

I had managed businesses with over thirty some million dollars in annual sales, so publishing and managing the affairs of one little book wasn’t all that difficult. Once I decided on what it was that I exactly wanted my book to look and feel like, I found several reputable printing companies that specialized in offset-printing and asked them for price quotes.  Solacers first run of over two thousand copies, was printed by the same folks who printed Harry Potter books for the US market. The result was a beautiful book.

How do you write? Did you do an outline first?

In the case of Solacers it was easy. The story was my childhood. I just needed to decide where to start and how to tell it. Naturally, the opening chapter was very important to me. A book’s first chapter is a lot like the first five minutes of a movie shown on television; if it doesn’t grab people; they’ll change the channel. I decided to open the book with a poignant scene from the middle of the story and then go back and start from the beginning in the ensuing chapters.

For my new book “Welcome to Circuit City,” a romantic comedy novel, I outlined the entire book before I began.   

What type of publicity do you do to promote your book?

Solacers has participated in most major book fairs and festivals in Europe and here at home. We have also run ad campaigns on Google, Facebook, Goodreads and Book Daily, to name a few. Personally I have attended a dozen or so book-singing and speaking events, mostly sponsored by book clubs in and around my hometown. 

What do you know now about writing/publishing now that you wished you had known sooner?

Naturally, I know a lot more now about the business side of writing a book than I did when I first started. It was a learning path that I had to take in order to produce a professional product. Thankfully, because I invested so much time researching and understanding the process, I made fewer expensive mistakes along the way and at the same time, paved the way for my forthcoming books. 

What is the best advice you’ve been given about writing or that you’ve learned that you would like to pass along?

When it comes to writing, like doing anything else that is not mandatory, self-discipline is very important.  You must set a daily goal for yourself; how many pages or words you need to write before you can check your emails, visit your Facebook, text or tweet.  

Writing and publishing a book, self-publishing more specifically, is a lot like opening and running a restaurant. Just knowing how to cook is not enough. Similarly, the ability to write by itself does not translate into success. Understanding book production and manufacturing, marketing, sales, inventory management, distribution and accounting is vital. Of course, there are some POD publishers who would do some of what I just listed for you, should you choose to go that route. But remember that nothing is free. Naturally, publishing an eBook requires a different set of steps, but you still have to market your book and sell it. 

Writing a good book and publishing it is only twenty percent of the work, the other eighty percent is selling it.

If your purpose of writing a book is to get rich, you are going to be disappointed. Whether you are publishing your book yourself or going with a traditional publishing house, chances of “getting rich,” while not improbable, is very unlikely, unless of course you are already rich and famous.  If you are planning on going the traditional way, selling your manuscript to a publisher, your best bet is to catch yourself a good agent. And good agents are not all that easy to catch.  

Thank you, Arion, for this insightful  interview. I especially liked your statement about being able to cook won't make you a successful restauranteur. This equates to putting words on paper will not make you a successful writer.  Too many think "If I write it, they will read it." Of course, we all know that to be true only for people who are already famous and want to keep themselves in the spotlight with a new book - many times written by a ghost writer not themselves. 

To either buy his book or link to more about Arion's writing, click here.