This interview with Rita Arens, author of “Sleep is for the Weak”, was conducted by Julie Barnes.
How did you come up with your book idea?
I was planning to attend BlogHer (a blogging conference for women) in 2006. I thought it would be cool to print out my favorite blog posts and see if I could get the bloggers to sign them at the conference. Then it occurred to me what a great idea a print blogger parenting anthology would be, and I just went with it.
Are you self published or did you obtain an agent?
I had a fancy NYC agent for a few months. We parted ways after she pitched the book to the biggest publishers as a parenting book, and they thought nobody would want to read bloggers. (I think their opinions have probably changed at this point.) I felt it was more of an edgy humor book, so I took it back on and pitched it to several smaller publishers whose catalogs fit better with my book. That’s how I connected with Chicago Review Press, which published Sleep Is for the Weak in September 2008.
How did you find the publishing process?
I found the publishing process easy and the marketing process hard.
How are you promoting the release of your new book?
I promoted Sleep Is for the Weak on my blog, Surrender, Dorothy, on BlogHer (it’s a BlogHer book) and via blog book tours, a real-life book tour, e-mail — you name it, I’ve tried it, and I continue to try it a year and a half later. The book is very evergreen and still relevant — there have been a lot of babies born since it came out. Even though I’m working on a new book, I haven’t forgotten about the first one.
How do you market yourself in general as an author?
I use my blog as a round-up for all the writing I’ve been doing. I have a section for books and Kindle (I release poems and short stories to Kindle periodically for $1 for a short story or a micro collection of five poems). I have a section for online and periodicals, in which I link to writing I’ve done for magazines and online magazines. I also do a monthly round-up of all the pieces I’ve written on the Web that month on my blog.
Finally, I’m doing more speaking these days. I’ve spoken at the BlogHer conference twice, at the Kansas City Literary Festival, at Chicks Who Click and this year at the Alt Summit design conference in Salt Lake City. Publishers are interested in author platforms, and I do everything I can to use social media tools — mostly my blog, Facebook and Twitter — to help people get to know me in the hopes they’ll be interested in what I write enough to visit my blog and buy my books.
Did you send out copies of your books for review?
I sure did! Sleep Is for the Weak was featured in Redbook,Scholastic Parent & Child, Pregnancy & Newborn and a bunch of others I can’t remember right now. It even made theReader’s Digest list of unique titles. It won a National Parenting Publications gold NAPPA award in 2009.
Are you listed on Amazon?
Yes, here. Sleep Is for the Weak is a collection of stories from 24 women and one man on subjects ranging from diapers, potties and upholstery to rules made by toddlers to adult eating disorders to personal identity crises. And of course, there’s a lot about sleeping.
What is an average writing day like?
I work full-time now for BlogHer as their assignment and syndication editor, so finding time for creative writing is difficult. I squeeze working on my new novel into lunch hours, car rides and late evenings, and I try to post to my blog before noon each weekday. Right now I’m in the first round of revisions for my novel, and I try to revise a chapter each time I sit down. Sometimes I only get three pages before I’m interrupted — but my goal is a chapter each time I sit down, because I don’t know when I’ll be able to sit down again. Hands down, you have to schedule your writing time. There are very few professional authors who don’t do other paid work.
Anything else you would like to add?
Writing is hard. Finding a publisher is hard. Marketing a book is hard. But it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it.
Learn more about Rita Arens and her book at http://surrenderdorothy.typepad.com/
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Julie Barnes is a Freelance Writer focusing on her passions of entrepreneurship, women’s issues, and holistic health and wellness. Julie published “So You Want to Start a Business…Now What?” in December 2009. Julie lives and works in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park, KS with her husband Ron and lovable dog Hank. You can visit her site at http://www.onewhowrites.com.
Copyright © 2010 Julie Barnes and One Who Writes
