Our “daddy” guest today is author Adam Woodworth, whose first book The Rantings of a 33-Year-Old Father of Two was published in 2005. He followed this with More Rantings of a 33-Year-Old Father of Two.
Our “mommy” guest is author Bethany Hiitola. According to her website, “If she’s not mothering, scheduling, grumping, working, sleeping, or drinking coffee, she’s usually writing.”
Both authors are members of the Chicago Writers Association.
Cheryl: Adam, let’s start with you. I’d like to know a little about your family situation and how it led to a book of rants, then another book.
Adam: Adam: I am married, with 2 children ages 11 and 5. My 11-year-old has cerebral palsy and a form of epilepsy. The first book I wrote was a children’s book based on a real-life story about him that is yet to be published (but I am working on it).
The Rantings books came as a result of a stand-up comedy routine I was working on. I had wanted to try my hand at it. However, my work situation and having 2 kids at home really didn’t make me a candidate for a happily married comic so I never tried. Instead, I put it in a book. The Rantings books are really my rants on society and I discuss the need to protect my children from a variety of people.
Cheryl: Beth, tell us a little about your family situation and how it led to a mommy lit book.
Beth: I’ve always written fiction–though it has been in the darkest corner of my house. I had a problem with sharing my work with others. And with having the dream of publication. I knew it was a hard road to follow with a low probability of success in the traditional routes. So I let that deter my writing efforts for years (I have the hard gig [size] space of book starts to prove it).
However, once my son was born things changed a bit. I was working at home full time with an infant. And what was once long days (10 hours or so)–turned into long never-ending days (who can keep up with deadlines with an infant around?). And I started feeling a bit deflated and isolated. Not to mention I was juggling too much at the time.
Near the holidays my hours got cut back to about half time (this isn’t completely uncommon in consulting) and I took advantage of what felt like extra moments in my day. I started writing again. Though this time, instead of plain women’s contemporary fiction, I played with the idea of Mommy Lit. Focusing on real women (my case suburban women) with children and the madness called parenting. As luck would have it, I also found a bit of comedy and paranormal elements to throw into the equation as well! I mean, who can resist a genie in the dish soap helping distraught mothers?
Still new to motherhood the writing while mothering thing didn’t come easy (still). I wrote in 10 - 15 minute chunks for about 9 months (maybe a year) and finished a novel. Then I revised and started query agents immediately (I didn’t want to lose my confidence). To my amazement, I was getting requests for partials. And after a couple revisions more (based on feedback), I finally landed my current agent a year later. Now we are submitting.
But that trick of writing in 15 minute chunks? Well it was what Oprah calls a light bulb moment–and one that I still use today! It is the only way I could write novels, have a day job, be married, and have children. Basically it has saved my career and I still try to write that way!
Cheryl: Adam, who do you think buys your books? I’m guessing more women buy books about being a mommy than men buy books about being a dad. Did this slow you up or simply challenge you?
Adam: This is a good question and from book signings I’ve narrowed it down to two people: Women and teenagers. Not for themselves, but for their husbands/fathers. I have a blog that gets a lot of traffic. I don’t ask for demographic information but as people e-mail and I find out more about them, I’m seeing a real cross-section of men and women from high school age to their late 60’s.
I had initially thought that dads would buy the book but I didn’t specifically market to dads. Having a background in marketing, I knew that women are the ones making the majority of the purchasing decision in the home; therefore, I started fairly broad with my marketing to see if that held true for my book… and it has.
Cheryl: Who do you think will buy your books once your published, Beth?
Beth: I would like to think when I finally do publish a book that it would be women just like me. The ones who shop at Target, balance life with motherhood, and are looking to be entertained while reading a book. My books aren’t meant to be the finest literature of our time–they are purely for fun. That is why I write them. So I hope that is why they get read!
Honestly, I think the whole women versus men buying and reading books is a bigger thing. In general, women BUY more books than men as a whole anyway. So of course, they are going to read more books then men. It might not really be the genre issue. If you look at my bookshelves, I read everything for historical non-fiction, to chic lit, to the classics, to contemporary literature of all types. Any avid reader probably has a similar eclectic taste. Or I’d like to think so anyway!
Cheryl: Okay, let’s explore this issue of marketing. Adam, how hard was it/is it to sell the daddy books?
Adam: The month leading up to Father’s Day does okay for me as long as I do some things to promote the book. Unless you have a powerful marketing firm or publishing house behind you, I think it is hard to sell any book.
Cheryl: Have you done anything you think has been particularly effective? (t-shirt, blog, etc.)
Adam: My blog, http://murder.booklocker.com/www.therantings.com/blog does particularly well for me. I write as a hobby and have a column in a local newspaper and that exposure has helped. I’m also expanding my writing to focus on philanthropy, specifically in the area of how businesses can partner with charitable organizations to stretch their marketing dollars.
I do have an on-line store at CafePress.com. I can’t say that it’s done amazing things for me, but I’ve generated a few extra dollars and there a few cars in the country with a “Back Off Moron!” license plate frame that also carries my website address.
I thought anything I could do to promote the books would be beneficial and a friend had introduced me to CafePress. I did do bookmarks and distributed them to a variety of places. I can’t really say how effective that was as I have no way to track it. However, I don’t believe that there is one silver bullet for marketing a book and what works for one person may not work for another.
Cheryl: Beth, any thoughts on marketing?
Beth: Again, I haven’t published anything yet. But I will say that I wasn’t afraid to have a presence on the web or blog about my writing process, my life as a women, a mother, and offer up some free writing on the web.
I published a short story, “Postpartum Euphoria,” that I posted as a PDF on my web site, and I do know my agent took a gander at that book after I queried her about my novel. So, as a package, it all helped. So much so, I know editors have also stopped by the web site as well. At least to take a look at how I am presenting myself and my work now (presale). All of which I think will help me EVENTUALLY sell a book. But maybe I am still wishful thinking!
Cheryl: I’d like to thank both my guests for taking part.
M. D. Abrams
Peter McGinn
Susan Waller Miccio
Cheryl Hagedorn
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