TheNextBigWriter's Brown Bag Lunch Series

Author Deborah Jackson Answers Your Questions

We're happy to begin TheNextBigWriter's Brown Bag Lunch Series with author Deborah Jackson.  Deborah's debut novel Ice Tomb has been received with much critical acclaim, the Ottawa Citizen saying: "Ice Tomb is surprising not just for its entirely believable plot and well-crafted suspense, but because it has all the earmarks of a tale written by a sci-fi master."  She is also the author of Time Meddlers the first in a series of time travel novels for children that explore history in a suspenseful, adventurous way.   She worked for many years as an R.N. and dialysis technician before she began writing full time.  She's a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators and SF Canada.

Deborah is excited about answering your questions about her path from being a Registered Nurse to a critically acclaimed author. For more on Deborah Jackson or her novels, please visit her site.  

Author Deborah Jackson Anwers Your Questions

From: SolN

Question: I'm going to ask the first question.  I'd like to know whether she has an agent or if she found a publisher on her own.  I'd also appreciate any insight she has on the subject of getting an agent or going it alone.

Deborah:

Thanks, Sol. I'm happy to join you and I hope that what I have to say will be helpful.

Do I have an agent? The answer is no. I'm just beginning to look now. I know this seems backward, but originally I found it was equally time-consuming to find an agent as a publisher, so I focused my energy on the difficult search for a publisher. Agents can be just as reluctant to consider unpublished writers as publishers, and I took the long road of meeting some editors at conferences and sending work out time and time again. Did this get me published? Eventually. Not the conferences, just my persistence. If you can entice an agent with your work, it may be the faster road, but you'll have to learn to write the slickest query first, I imagine, just to get them to read your material.

From: jediprincess

From Deborah I'd like to know if she ever got discouraged from rejections or was she always confident in her work and convinced that she would one day be published.

Deborah:

I think discouragement comes with the career. My problem was that I couldn't stop writing, regardless of how disappointing the rejections were. I might have become depressed for a period of time, but I was so obsessed with the "story" that I didn't know how to quit. Pretty quickly you learn that not everyone will enjoy what you write-that goes for general readers, reviewers, editors and agents. You just have to hit that one editor who enjoys your witty prose, or eloquent poetic style, or the fast-paced suspense that I tend to spew out, at the one time that he/she is looking for what you have to offer. Pretty nasty odds we're up against, yet we persist.

From: Mike Davis

Deborah - thank you for allowing us this opportunity!

Have you now devoted yourself to a full time writing career and if so, how did you know when to take that tremendous leap? Had your novel already been accepted for publication at that point?

Many thanks

Deborah:

My pleasure, Mike. Yes, I am a full-time, struggling writer. I took the leap when I decided to write Ice Tomb, before I had any contract on the table. This particular novel required so much time and intensive research that I just couldn't find the hours/days/weeks and eventually months to devote to it while I was working. My husband graciously agreed to support me over this trial period. How did I know? I didn't. But I was rewarded for my efforts by instant acceptance for publication from the first publisher I sent it to, instead of the countless rejections I'd received for my other manuscripts. I'm not suggesting that every writer do this. You must have some other means of support. Even after publication you'll be bogged down with promotion expenses.

From: Aingealz

Hi Deborah. Congratulations on your success as a published author.  I would like to know the steps it took for you to get published. Thanks again!

Regards,

Trisha

Deborah:

Thank you, Trisha. Unfortunately, there is no prescribed regimen for getting published. It requires patience and persistence. I wrote for many years on my own before learning of critique groups and organizations that could help me improve my writing. During that time I sent in countless submissions, researching publishers. At first I received the standard rejection forms. After taking some courses to improve, and joining SCBWI (children's writers), and from there, a critique group, my rejection letters came slower after consideration. There were a few major presses who passed my material from editor to editor and then eventually rejected it. Or, a mid-level press encouraged me to approach the larger presses. You know you're getting close when you stop receiving the standard letters, not that you won't still get a number of them from those editors who don't bother with comments. After I wrote Ice Tomb, I noticed a niche publisher on the web, and decided that I would rather send my material over the Internet and get a quicker response than wait the months required to hear back from mail-in publishers. It took about a month for them to respond to the submission package and a few more weeks after reading the manuscript to offer me a contract.

From: mike b

Hi, Deborah.  Congratulations on your writing successes.

Question 1:  Why is there a polar bear on the cover of a book set in Antartica?

Question 2:  Do you attend science fiction/fantasy conventions?  If not, is it because you've tried them and didn't like them, or because you haven't had the opportunity?

Question 3:  I've talked to authors who's agent or publisher gave them grief about writing in more than one genre.  Have you experienced anything like that?

Thanks, Deborah.

Deborah:

Thank you, Mike.

Question 1:  Why is there a polar bear on the cover of a book set in Antarctica?

There shouldn't be. Once you're published, you have little say in the publisher's decision regarding a cover. It was the artist's vision, and I doubt he even read the book. The editor liked the look of the cover, so went with it, despite my protests.

Question 2:  Do you attend science fiction/fantasy conventions?  If not, is it because you've tried them and didn't like them, or because you haven't had the opportunity?

I must admit I've only attended one SF/fantasy convention so far. I usually don't miss the SCBWI cons, but that's because my critique group is composed of primarily children's writers. However, it was at this science fiction convention that I learned the real secret to getting published. Lean closer. Betsy Mitchell, editor-in-chief of Del Rey, says it's "who you know." Big surprise there. So cons are probably worth it to meet editors, pitch to them, and get them familiar with your name and material.

Question 3:  I've talked to authors who's agent or publisher gave them grief about writing in more than one genre.  Have you experienced anything like that?

No grief. I used two different publishers. The publisher of Ice Tomb is a niche publisher-they only release SF or conspiracy theory novels. I knew they wouldn't be interested in a children's book. But once I was published I met a publicist who knew another publisher that would probably be interested in my children's novel. See, it's "who you know."

From: J.L. Denney

Hi, Deborah...thank you so much for affording us this opportunity.

When you were first starting, how did you balance a family, job and the passion of writing?  What did you do to fully utilize those few moments when the computer was yours and silence was the only thing ringing the house?  If procrastination and lack of motivation have a silver-bullet weakness....please, what is it?

Again, thanks.

-jl

Deborah:

Hi J.L. It's very difficult to achieve a balance. I snatched moments, at first. When my daughter was born, I used my maternity leave time, in between naps and feedings, to write. I did the same thing when my son arrived. I soon learned, however, that nursing is a very stressful and draining profession, and sapped my energy too much to allow me to pursue my writing career. That's when I finally decided to chuck the job, at least temporarily. There's no question it is difficult to dedicate yourself to writing rather than to relax or to seek out other forms of amusement. But I still look in amazement at people who say they have no time to read-there are always moments if its something you love to do.

From: Amarie

Hi, Deborah

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer questions for us.

I'd like to know at what pace your first book sold--big bang or slow and steady, for instance. And did you see a difference after you had an established readership/fanbase? Also, did you set a goal to sell a certain number of books when you began marketing?

Thanks,
Amarie

Deborah:

You're welcome, Amarie. My first book sold slowly. It garnered some media attention, but that only translates into a few sales, not a rocket launch. There was a spike after the Romantic Times BOOKclub Magazine gave it a Top Pick review-they review SF and fantasy, not solely romance, although Ice Tomb does have some romantic elements. Certainly, a fanbase does make a difference. "Word of mouth" is the best marketing tool, and there are a few bookstores that continue to sell Ice Tomb on a consistent basis even when it's been close to three years since its release, and that's because I have a following in those areas. I think a goal of selling as many books as you can is more realistic than placing a number on it.

From: Roisin Moriarty

Welcome to TNBW, Deborah, and much appreciation for being willing to take time out of your life to answer our questions. 

I would love to know your story; what got you started writing, how did you feel as the process ground on, what were your moments of elation, your moments of despair, who did you turn to for encouragement to keep going??  What was the process by which you eventually got your first book accepted?  How did you feel about it then?  How do you feel about it now?  What are you presently working on?

Oh, my particular question: what were your most successful marketing techniques?

Thank you so very much.  Roisin

Deborah:

Hi, Roisin. Certainly my pleasure.

As for my story, well . . . I have always loved writing ever since I was a child. There were a few years, my teen years in particular to about 5 or 6 years following university that I didn't write very much. I suppose the ability is genetic-my father is quite the poet, although not published, and I have other ancestors who enjoyed the word craft-but the drive to "become a writer" was my own. I began typing out novels in earnest when my first child was born and couldn't seem to stop. I have to admit, my first few novels were, in a word, garbage. It really is a craft one can develop and improve continually. I think what encouraged me was recognizing significant leaps in my skill, and discovering others who struggled along with me. Perhaps the praise of a writing teacher brought about a sense that my writing had potential and elevated me in dark moments. Of course, there were those moments. Usually they'd occur after yet another rejection letter. But when I learned that the rejection letter with comments usually meant your work was worthy of comment, even one of those could buoy me. It is a difficult profession, no doubt about it. If I didn't possess the drive I never would have made it this far. No one, apart from one teacher in elementary school, and a writing tutor in later years, encouraged me to write. Not family, not friends, not colleagues. It was my own internal need and desire to unleash the stories that were crammed in my head that kept me going.

I was thrilled to have my first book accepted. Now, it feels a bit different. You begin to realize that every publisher, large or small, will have certain flaws. Even though a number of critics lauded Ice Tomb, it could have been so much better with appropriate editing. I have learned to critique and edit other manuscripts in the meantime, so I can improve my own work to a certain extent, but it requires the input of others-critiques from colleagues or editors-to fully reach its potential. I encourage all of you to continue with critiques-helpful, positive critiques-so your work will shine before it reaches an editor's desk. One warning-don't listen to everything! Improving your novel technically doesn't require erasing the art. It is your unique voice and style that will eventually get you published.

To answer your next question, Roisin, at the moment I'm working on an adult thriller/adventure novel called Sinkhole, and a middle grade ghost story-Ghost in the Piano.

Here is a little blurb of Sinkhole:

A team of scientists and cave explorers, while investigating one of the deepest caves in the world, become trapped and must rely on a phobic doctor and a Mayan revolutionary to come to their rescue. In their descent, the rescuers encounter sewer pipe crawlways, chambers drenched in snottites-acidic bacterial clusters that develop in sulfur-rich caves-and toxic gas, thirty-six-story pitches, fast-flowing sumps and crystalline cathedrals... and a mystery that may leave them buried 2000 meters beneath the surface of the earth.

And Ghost in the Piano, which I've been working on for some time, trashing old versions and perfecting:

A troubled girl, a zany medium, a determined reporter and a villainous ghost - these are the main characters in a very bizarre ghost story. Ghost in the Piano is a mystery that will take the reader along with twelve-year-old Jenna from the sleepy little town of Prudence to the ghost-ridden halls of the Tower of London.

I have excerpts posted on my web site. I'll have to change 12-year-old to 14 eventually, since my first-person account sounds too teen for a 12-year-old. I'm also working on the next Time Meddlers book in the series. I tend to write a first draft, let it stew, and work on revising older manuscripts for a while, before I dive into the first draft again. It's the best way to improve your work without getting sick of it.

Okay, to marketing techniques. There is no one ideal method. You have to plug away at them all. I suppose the best technique is to get a sterling review in a newspaper or major magazine, like RT, but in the meantime ads are somewhat effective, Internet reviews on something like SF site or Children's Literature help, appearances at conferences and presentations at schools boost local sales, and creating professional bookmarks and brochures label you as professional (and impress editors, I might add). Another thing is booking signings in bookstores-very tedious unless you have a following in the area-but may result in a viral effect (word of mouth) from the few books that you sell. Of course, interviews on television, radio, and on the Internet help as well. Anything to get your name circulated. There is no magic formula, or everyone would be using it.

From: Sabrina Dalton

Hi, Deborah, and welcome. I think this is a great opportunity, and I'd like to thank you for doing this.
Do you do a lot of our own publicity, or do your publishers take care of that for you?
I'm looking forward to your answer to this question, and everyone else's questions, too!
Sabrina

Deborah:

You're welcome, Sabrina. To answer your question, unfortunately, most publishers insist that authors take care of their own publicity, unless the author is a really big name. I have a publicist who books signings and school presentations for me. For my first book, I set up a launch at a major museum, and that garnered some media attention. Once they'd read my book and were impressed enough to give it a decent review, I'd made some contacts. My publicist and I work together to determine where to place ads and where to send books for review. The publishers will provide a certain number of books to the author for review and will send a few out themselves, but most of this work is left up to the author. I have my own artist/designer who created my web site and designed professional bookmarks and brochures. Lately I've been rather lax with promotion, and consequently sales have slumped, but I'll be back at it with a vengeance in the fall again.

From: R A Keen

Nice of you to share your time and experience with us. Thank you, Deborah.

I've been hearing much, of late, concerning marketing plans...that agents/publishers seem to prefer newbie writers who have an idea of how they will promote their work. Not being a marketing maven, I haven't the faintest, other than "I'll do whatever you require of me as an author to help promote my stuff." I know of markets - young adult, horror, SciFi etc., but what do agents/publishers expect of a new writer, nowadays, other than a good, well written yarn???

Thanks again - R A Keen

Deborah:

Hello R. A. Hmm. Marketing plan. Yes, if you're approaching a publisher, it would certainly help. You have to give them a sense that you're willing to put time and money into your book. Even an exact figure might help. I will spend X amount of dollars on promotion of this book. I'll put ads in certain magazines, or newspapers-name them. List the Internet promotion you intend to do, and if you negotiate free copies, mention you'll use them to send out to reviewers (not to distribute to your friends). Never forget to include a web site of your own, a blog, and your willingness to hire a publicist.

From: sosunny

What do you think counts most in terms of making an internet presence? Are there certain outlets for submitting articles that are more reputable with publishers and is it best to use one's real name or not?

Deborah:

I can't tell you the best Internet sites to use for promotion. All I can say is, the more, the better. I use my real name-for everything, maybe to my detriment-so that my name will become recognizable. It could be a pseudonym, but I think it's best to have only one so your name becomes known. If you're a regular contributor to a newspaper or magazine, it can only help in promoting your writing and getting your name out there. I only write fiction, and don't really enjoy writing articles or short stories, so I don't do much of this. But I probably should. As far as reputable outlets, it all depends on the genre you write for. I write for children, so I have to be very discerning about which publications and sites I will advertise in, or do interviews etc. Back to your first question, what really counts most besides getting your name out there, is having a website and probably a blog. When people hear of you, they need a site to discover more about you, get a taste of your writing, and learn where they can purchase it if they're interested. Try to make it as professional-looking as possible, and I would start before you're published if you have writing material you can post.

That's about it. I hope this helps.

Cheers!

Deborah

Thank You Deborah!

We'd like to thank Deborah for taking the time to answer our questions and for volunteering to be the first Brown Bag Lunch Guest. Thank you! You can discuss these questions and answers and pose more in the TheNextBigWriter's Brown Bag Lunch Forum.

We'll be announcing our next guest shortly.