DIY MFA Radio

Hey there word nerds!

Today I have the pleasure of interview award-winning author Sebastian Barry, about his latest book Days Without End.

Sebastian Barry is the author of seven novels, including A Long Long Way and The Secret Scripture (now a major motion picture starring Rooney Mara and Vanessa Redgrave). He has won the Costa Book of the Year Award, the Hughes & Hughes Irish Novel of the Year Award, and the Walter Scott Prize. His work has twice been short-listed for the Man Booker Prize. He lives in Ireland.

Days Without End is a historical novel set during the Indian Wars in the American west, and the Civil War, about two young men who are brothers in arms and also lovers. It's a story where the gay relationship is the only consistently joyful thing against the otherwise bleak background of war, genocide and the American empire.

In this episode we discuss:

• Recognizing how your real life becomes infused in your best writing.
• Shaking off the self-consciousness of writing.
• Being aware of what's not in the books you're reading and striving to create what's not "out there."

Plus, Sebastian's #1 tip for writers. About the Author

Sebastian Barry is the author of seven novels, including A Long Long Way and The Secret Scripture (now a major motion picture starring Rooney Mara and Vanessa Redgrave). He has won the Costa Book of the Year Award, the Hughes & Hughes Irish Novel of the Year Award, and the Walter Scott Prize. His work has twice been short-listed for the Man Booker Prize. He lives in Ireland.

Days Without End

The book is inspired by and dedicated to Barry's son, who came out as gay recently and on whose behalf Barry advocated for LGBT marriage rights during the Irish marriage referendum. The letter he wrote for the Irish Times on the subject went viral, and was read aloud in the Irish and Australian parliaments. The character of John Cole is a portrait of his son Toby's boyfriend, Jack.

Writing gay love was new territory for Barry, and part of his historical research for the novel was looking into the (elusive) history of gay life during that time through primary sources. There is a seriously researched and utterly moving history of proto drag on the frontier. John and Thomas, the main characters, first find work crossdressing, working as dance partners in saloons for lonely miners in frontier towns. Barry takes on the psychology of drag from Thomas' point of view—what his costumes mean to his identity, which is split between his occupation as a soldier and the secret family he has built with John.

Days Without End shifts the narrow expectations of what "masculine" literature can be and do. The book is in dialogue with and in some ways a rebuttal to Annie Proulx's Brokeback Mountain, in that the gay relationship is the only consistently joyful thing in otherwise bleak novel about genocide and American empire, rather than the source of anguish and frustration it is in Proulx's novel. With John and Thomas, Barry wanted to portray the joy that he observes in his son's relationship with his boyfriend, rather than shame and persecution.

In Days Without End, Thomas McNulty, a "wren-sized" young man barely seventeen and an Irish refugee of the Great Famine, signs up for the U.S. Army in the 1850s with his brother in arms John Cole. The two friends are sent to fight in the Indian Wars against the Sioux and Yurok, and ultimately in the Civil War. Fans of Sebastian Barry's subtly interconnected novels will rediscover the McNulty family—based on members of Barry's own family—in the New World, as Thomas McNulty travels from the contested frontier plains of Wyoming, to the Union battlegrounds of Virginia and Maryland, to the starving remains of scorched earth towns in Tennessee.

Days Without End is a powerful literary portrait of a time when Americans were pitted against Americans in bloody struggles fought to define the borders and identity of the nation. Barry writes of this period as it was experienced by common soldiers: men who did not determine or even necessarily understand the wars they fought, but who fought anyway, merely to survive them. Not just a war novel, Days Without End is also a poignant love story, about two men and the unlikely family they form with a young Sioux girl, Winona.

For more info and show notes: DIYMFA.com/133

 

Hey there word nerds!

Today I have the pleasure of interview award-winning author Sebastian Barry, about his latest book Days Without End.

Sebastian Barry is the author of seven novels, including A Long Long Way and The Secret Scripture (now a major motion picture starring Rooney Mara and Vanessa Redgrave). He has won the Costa Book of the Year Award, the Hughes & Hughes Irish Novel of the Year Award, and the Walter Scott Prize. His work has twice been short-listed for the Man Booker Prize. He lives in Ireland.

Days Without End is a historical novel set during the Indian Wars in the American west, and the Civil War, about two young men who are brothers in arms and also lovers. It’s a story where the gay relationship is the only consistently joyful thing against the otherwise bleak background of war, genocide and the American empire.

 

In this episode we discuss:

• Recognizing how your real life becomes infused in your best writing.
• Shaking off the self-consciousness of writing.
• Being aware of what’s not in the books you’re reading and striving to create what’s not “out there.”

Plus, Sebastian’s #1 tip for writers. About the Author

Sebastian Barry is the author of seven novels, including A Long Long Way and The Secret Scripture (now a major motion picture starring Rooney Mara and Vanessa Redgrave). He has won the Costa Book of the Year Award, the Hughes & Hughes Irish Novel of the Year Award, and the Walter Scott Prize. His work has twice been short-listed for the Man Booker Prize. He lives in Ireland.

Days Without End

The book is inspired by and dedicated to Barry’s son, who came out as gay recently and on whose behalf Barry advocated for LGBT marriage rights during the Irish marriage referendum. The letter he wrote for the Irish Times on the subject went viral, and was read aloud in the Irish and Australian parliaments. The character of John Cole is a portrait of his son Toby’s boyfriend, Jack.

Writing gay love was new territory for Barry, and part of his historical research for the novel was looking into the (elusive) history of gay life during that time through primary sources. There is a seriously researched and utterly moving history of proto drag on the frontier. John and Thomas, the main characters, first find work crossdressing, working as dance partners in saloons for lonely miners in frontier towns. Barry takes on the psychology of drag from Thomas’ point of view—what his costumes mean to his identity, which is split between his occupation as a soldier and the secret family he has built with John.

Days Without End shifts the narrow expectations of what “masculine” literature can be and do. The book is in dialogue with and in some ways a rebuttal to Annie Proulx’s Brokeback Mountain, in that the gay relationship is the only consistently joyful thing in otherwise bleak novel about genocide and American empire, rather than the source of anguish and frustration it is in Proulx’s novel. With John and Thomas, Barry wanted to portray the joy that he observes in his son’s relationship with his boyfriend, rather than shame and persecution.

In Days Without End, Thomas McNulty, a “wren-sized” young man barely seventeen and an Irish refugee of the Great Famine, signs up for the U.S. Army in the 1850s with his brother in arms John Cole. The two friends are sent to fight in the Indian Wars against the Sioux and Yurok, and ultimately in the Civil War. Fans of Sebastian Barry’s subtly interconnected novels will rediscover the McNulty family—based on members of Barry’s own family—in the New World, as Thomas McNulty travels from the contested frontier plains of Wyoming, to the Union battlegrounds of Virginia and Maryland, to the starving remains of scorched earth towns in Tennessee.

Days Without End is a powerful literary portrait of a time when Americans were pitted against Americans in bloody struggles fought to define the borders and identity of the nation. Barry writes of this period as it was experienced by common soldiers: men who did not determine or even necessarily understand the wars they fought, but who fought anyway, merely to survive them. Not just a war novel, Days Without End is also a poignant love story, about two men and the unlikely family they form with a young Sioux girl, Winona.

For more info and show notes: DIYMFA.com/133

Hey there word nerds!

Today I have the pleasure of interviewing Shanthi Sekaran, author of the new novel Lucky Boy, a book that has been getting a lot of pre-publication buzz and is an Indie Next Great Read pick for January 2017.

In this episode Shanthi and I discuss:

• The importance of fiction in humanizing different groups of people by bringing them and their experiences to life on the page.
• Using both research and imagination to create a vivid experience for your readers, and in particular how she crafted the dramatic immigration scenes in her book.
• Connection to the point of view of the characters and how to capture their experiences and emotions with authenticity.
• Crafting her book around the theme of motherhood, and how "mother" can mean very different things to different people.
• The universality of the "immigrant experience" in America, and how there are many common threads between immigrants from wildly different experiences.
• How there are also stark differences between immigrants with different levels of privilege, and how it's important for us to understand these varied experiences.
• Why it's important that writers live their lives and be present in the world.

Plus, her #1 tip for writers. About the Author

Shathi teaches creative writing at California College of the Arts, and is a member of the Portuguese Artists' Colony and the San Francisco Writers' Grotto. Her work has appeared in Best New American Voices and Canteen, and online at Zyzzyva and Mutha Magazine. A California native, she lives in Berkeley with her husband and two children.

Lucky Boy

Lucky Boy is a moving story about two unforgettable women in California: an undocumented Mexican woman and an Indian-American wife. Both love the same child but can't have him. The novel beautifully weaves together the themes of motherhood, immigration, infertility, adoption and minority life in America (and tackles immigrant detention centers) and is a must-read in our current political environment.

For more info and show notes: DIYMFA.com/132

 

Hey there word nerds!

Today I have the pleasure of interviewing Shanthi Sekaran, author of the new novel Lucky Boy, a book that has been getting a lot of pre-publication buzz and is an Indie Next Great Read pick for January 2017.

 

In this episode Shanthi and I discuss:

• The importance of fiction in humanizing different groups of people by bringing them and their experiences to life on the page.
• Using both research and imagination to create a vivid experience for your readers, and in particular how she crafted the dramatic immigration scenes in her book.
• Connection to the point of view of the characters and how to capture their experiences and emotions with authenticity.
• Crafting her book around the theme of motherhood, and how “mother” can mean very different things to different people.
• The universality of the “immigrant experience” in America, and how there are many common threads between immigrants from wildly different experiences.
• How there are also stark differences between immigrants with different levels of privilege, and how it’s important for us to understand these varied experiences.
• Why it’s important that writers live their lives and be present in the world.

Plus, her #1 tip for writers. About the Author

Shathi teaches creative writing at California College of the Arts, and is a member of the Portuguese Artists’ Colony and the San Francisco Writers’ Grotto. Her work has appeared in Best New American Voices and Canteen, and online at Zyzzyva and Mutha Magazine. A California native, she lives in Berkeley with her husband and two children.

Lucky Boy

Lucky Boy is a moving story about two unforgettable women in California: an undocumented Mexican woman and an Indian-American wife. Both love the same child but can’t have him. The novel beautifully weaves together the themes of motherhood, immigration, infertility, adoption and minority life in America (and tackles immigrant detention centers) and is a must-read in our current political environment.

For more info and show notes: DIYMFA.com/132

Hey there word nerds!

Today, I'll be sharing a recap of all the exciting things I discovered at Digital Book World (or DBW) last week. 2017 marks the eighth year of this industry-focused event, with a shift toward solution-focused strategies paired with insightful in-depth programming. This year was also the the first time DBW has run a segment of the conference exclusively for indie authors.

While this event is intended for the members of the publishing community—it truly is an industry event—there are a lot of things author can learn from DBW in order to thrive in today's evolving landscape. And this doesn't mean you need to be an indie author; even if writers planning to go the traditional route, there were a lot of important takeaways I got from digital book world this year.

Three Main Themes at DBW

While I heard a lot of fascinating statistics and gained so many new insights into publishing, there were three main themes that rose to the top.

• Innovation: Cool new stuff that both publishers and authors are doing to connect with their audience and enhance the reading experience.

• Efficiency: To succeed in this business, it's not just about working harder, it's about working smarter, and this conference was brimming with awesome strategies and cool new tools I can't wait to try.

• Sales: Let's face it, if we want to create a sustainable career as writers, we have to understand sales. This means both knowing what the trends are now, and where the next opportunities might be.

This last piece is extremely important. It's only when we understand the money piece that we can develop creative new ideas for earning a sustainable living from our writing. If we don't know what's going on in the industry around us, then we're operating in a vacuum.

As I go through each of these three themes from DBW, I'm also going to give you a little piece of homework—an assignment with each one—so you can implement these concepts with concrete, actionable steps.

Let's get started!

Innovation What cool new stuff is the industry up to?

Hands down, one of the places where I saw the most creative thinking was in platforms, and I don't mean your author platform, but social media and other tech platforms where both authors and publishers are doing cool creative things. Trends include...

• Audio! By far the biggest buzz at DBW is around audiobooks.
• Using Facebook ads to build your email list as well as to sell directly.
• Platforms that are offering unique reading experiences (like Crave) or increasing authors' reach (like Wattpad).

Efficiency How can you work smarter?

The two big areas of focus when it comes to efficiency focus creation and promotion.

• Finding new opportunities for your intellectual property (e.g. branded stories on Wattpad, capitalizing on audio rights, etc.).
• Agents play a huge part in helping authors make smart choices with their IP. While the query process can be tough, agents are still hungry to discover great talent.

"Any given Thursday, you can walk into a bar and hear people singing karaoke who are pretty decent. But as agents, we're not looking for 'pretty good,' we're looking for someone who can sing at the Met or who can sell out Madison Square Garden."

—Regina Brooks, Lead Agent and President of Serendipity Literary Agency

• Understanding how to reach out to the media for publicity, and developing a multi-faceted PR approach.
• Take a "sniper rifle approach" to marketing and promotion, instead of a shotgun.
• Patience and persistence were common themes, especially at DBW Indie. You need to try different approaches but give them time to build traction (especially with SEO and digital tools).

Sales What's happening in our industry and what does this mean for authors?

Perhaps my favorite session was given by Peter Hildick-Smith, Codex Group founder and president. He broke down the sales process into three steps, then talked about different strategies pertaining to each one. These steps are: Discover, conversion, and sourcing.

• Discovery: Do readers know the book exists? How can we make potential readers more aware of books? Readers need two or more "exposures" to the book before they want to buy it, and that number goes up if the price of the book is higher. The good news is that the author's connection to his/her audience can be a big influencer at this stage.

• Conversion: Now that readers are aware the book exists, do they want to read it? This is where cues like the cover and messaging around the book can make a big difference at this stage. Price and reviews/recommendations can also be a big influencer here.

• Sourcing: Readers know about the book, they want to read it, but will they buy it? Here is where things vary based on the specific book. Delivering a varied mosaic of information about the book (and where to buy it) from day one improves chances of sales.

About Digital Book World

Starting with the only conference designed to address the radically changing commercial publishing environment, Digital Book World has evolved into a year-round platform offering educational and networking resources for consumer publishing professionals and their partners — including agents, booksellers and technology vendors — online and in person.

You can keep up with Digital Book World and what they're up to by following them on Twitter.

For more info and show notes: DIYMFA.com/131

 

Hey there word nerds!

Today, I’ll be sharing a recap of all the exciting things I discovered at Digital Book World (or DBW) last week. 2017 marks the eighth year of this industry-focused event, with a shift toward solution-focused strategies paired with insightful in-depth programming. This year was also the the first time DBW has run a segment of the conference exclusively for indie authors.

While this event is intended for the members of the publishing community—it truly is an industry event—there are a lot of things author can learn from DBW in order to thrive in today’s evolving landscape. And this doesn’t mean you need to be an indie author; even if writers planning to go the traditional route, there were a lot of important takeaways I got from digital book world this year.

Three Main Themes at DBW

While I heard a lot of fascinating statistics and gained so many new insights into publishing, there were three main themes that rose to the top.

 

• Innovation: Cool new stuff that both publishers and authors are doing to connect with their audience and enhance the reading experience.

• Efficiency: To succeed in this business, it’s not just about working harder, it’s about working smarter, and this conference was brimming with awesome strategies and cool new tools I can’t wait to try.

• Sales: Let’s face it, if we want to create a sustainable career as writers, we have to understand sales. This means both knowing what the trends are now, and where the next opportunities might be.

 

This last piece is extremely important. It’s only when we understand the money piece that we can develop creative new ideas for earning a sustainable living from our writing. If we don’t know what’s going on in the industry around us, then we’re operating in a vacuum.

As I go through each of these three themes from DBW, I’m also going to give you a little piece of homework—an assignment with each one—so you can implement these concepts with concrete, actionable steps.

Let’s get started!

Innovation What cool new stuff is the industry up to?

Hands down, one of the places where I saw the most creative thinking was in platforms, and I don’t mean your author platform, but social media and other tech platforms where both authors and publishers are doing cool creative things. Trends include...

• Audio! By far the biggest buzz at DBW is around audiobooks.
• Using Facebook ads to build your email list as well as to sell directly.
• Platforms that are offering unique reading experiences (like Crave) or increasing authors’ reach (like Wattpad).

Efficiency How can you work smarter?

The two big areas of focus when it comes to efficiency focus creation and promotion.

• Finding new opportunities for your intellectual property (e.g. branded stories on Wattpad, capitalizing on audio rights, etc.).
• Agents play a huge part in helping authors make smart choices with their IP. While the query process can be tough, agents are still hungry to discover great talent.

“Any given Thursday, you can walk into a bar and hear people singing karaoke who are pretty decent. But as agents, we’re not looking for ‘pretty good,’ we’re looking for someone who can sing at the Met or who can sell out Madison Square Garden.”

—Regina Brooks, Lead Agent and President of Serendipity Literary Agency

• Understanding how to reach out to the media for publicity, and developing a multi-faceted PR approach.
• Take a “sniper rifle approach” to marketing and promotion, instead of a shotgun.
• Patience and persistence were common themes, especially at DBW Indie. You need to try different approaches but give them time to build traction (especially with SEO and digital tools).

Sales What’s happening in our industry and what does this mean for authors?

Perhaps my favorite session was given by Peter Hildick-Smith, Codex Group founder and president. He broke down the sales process into three steps, then talked about different strategies pertaining to each one. These steps are: Discover, conversion, and sourcing.

 

• Discovery: Do readers know the book exists? How can we make potential readers more aware of books? Readers need two or more “exposures” to the book before they want to buy it, and that number goes up if the price of the book is higher. The good news is that the author’s connection to his/her audience can be a big influencer at this stage.

• Conversion: Now that readers are aware the book exists, do they want to read it? This is where cues like the cover and messaging around the book can make a big difference at this stage. Price and reviews/recommendations can also be a big influencer here.

• Sourcing: Readers know about the book, they want to read it, but will they buy it? Here is where things vary based on the specific book. Delivering a varied mosaic of information about the book (and where to buy it) from day one improves chances of sales.

 

About Digital Book World

Starting with the only conference designed to address the radically changing commercial publishing environment, Digital Book World has evolved into a year-round platform offering educational and networking resources for consumer publishing professionals and their partners — including agents, booksellers and technology vendors — online and in person.

You can keep up with Digital Book World and what they’re up to by following them on Twitter.

For more info and show notes: DIYMFA.com/131

Hey there word nerds!

Today's DIY MFA Radio guest has a fantastic double life. Author Frédérique Molay began her career in politics and administration as chief of staff for a commission of the French National Assembly. She then worked for local government in Burgundy, ran in the European elections, and was elected in Saône-et-Loire.

She also writes crime novels and won France's prestigious crime fiction award the Prix du Quai des Orfèvres for The 7th Woman, which went on to become an international bestseller.

We had our conversation through a translator, a different format than you're used to from DIY MFA Radio, but I hope you'll stick with it. Molay has some brilliant insights about writing and I'm so excited to share our interview.

In this episode we discuss:

• Publishing foreign titles in the United States with Le French Book
• Vulnerability and idealism in writing
• Work life - family life - writing life balance.

Plus, their #1 tip for writers. About the Author

Writing has always been a passion for Frédérique Molay, author of the award-winning international bestselling Paris Homicide series. She graduated from France's prestigious grande école the Institut d'Études Politique and has a Master's degree in Business Administration. She began her career in politics and administration as chief of staff for a commission of the French National Assembly. She then worked for local government in Burgundy, ran in the European elections, and was elected in Saône-et-Loire.At the height of this brilliant political career, Molay was also writing crime novels and won France's prestigious crime fiction award the Prix du Quai des Orfèvres for The 7th Woman, which went on to become an international bestseller. She took a break from politics to write Crossing the Line and The City of Blood, two other titles in the Paris Homicide series. In addition to being a knight in the Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin—an order of wine lovers who promote Burgundy wines—Frédérique also taught French in middle school for a short time, sharing her passion for writing with young teens.The political virus never left her, however, and in June 2015, while writing Looking to the Woods, Frédérique returned to politics, as chief of staff for a newly elected senator. She now splits her time between Paris and Chalon-sur-Saône, between police procedurals and politics.

Looking to the Woods

When a ten-year-old girl's mutilated body is found in a public park in Paris, chief of police Nico Sirsky takes action. But his elite team of homicide detectives isn't on the case for even twenty-four hours before a second child is found murdered and left to rot inside a middle-school classroom. With the City of Light on edge awaiting another gruesome discovery, the clock starts ticking for Sirsky to catch the elusive killer who calls himself the gamemaster.

As the pressure mounts, Sirsky is also confronted with a conundrum in his personal life: his girlfriend is inexplicably pulling away from him. But he must once again put his own problems aside when the investigation turns up nothing but taunts from the killer. It will take an entire team of police psychologists, forensic specialists, and criminal investigators to uncover the truth hidden in a web of murder more tangled than any of them could have imagined.

For more info and show notes: DIYMFA.com/130

 

Hey there word nerds!

Today’s DIY MFA Radio guest has a fantastic double life. Author Frédérique Molay began her career in politics and administration as chief of staff for a commission of the French National Assembly. She then worked for local government in Burgundy, ran in the European elections, and was elected in Saône-et-Loire.

She also writes crime novels and won France's prestigious crime fiction award the Prix du Quai des Orfèvres for The 7th Woman, which went on to become an international bestseller.

We had our conversation through a translator, a different format than you’re used to from DIY MFA Radio, but I hope you’ll stick with it. Molay has some brilliant insights about writing and I’m so excited to share our interview.

In this episode we discuss:

• Publishing foreign titles in the United States with Le French Book
• Vulnerability and idealism in writing
• Work life - family life - writing life balance.

Plus, their #1 tip for writers. About the Author

Writing has always been a passion for Frédérique Molay, author of the award-winning international bestselling Paris Homicide series. She graduated from France’s prestigious grande école the Institut d'Études Politique and has a Master's degree in Business Administration. She began her career in politics and administration as chief of staff for a commission of the French National Assembly. She then worked for local government in Burgundy, ran in the European elections, and was elected in Saône-et-Loire.

At the height of this brilliant political career, Molay was also writing crime novels and won France's prestigious crime fiction award the Prix du Quai des Orfèvres for The 7th Woman, which went on to become an international bestseller. She took a break from politics to write Crossing the Line and The City of Blood, two other titles in the Paris Homicide series.
     
In addition to being a knight in the Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin—an order of wine lovers who promote Burgundy wines—Frédérique also taught French in middle school for a short time, sharing her passion for writing with young teens.

The political virus never left her, however, and in June 2015, while writing Looking to the Woods, Frédérique returned to politics, as chief of staff for a newly elected senator. She now splits her time between Paris and Chalon-sur-Saône, between police procedurals and politics.

Looking to the Woods

When a ten-year-old girl's mutilated body is found in a public park in Paris, chief of police Nico Sirsky takes action. But his elite team of homicide detectives isn't on the case for even twenty-four hours before a second child is found murdered and left to rot inside a middle-school classroom. With the City of Light on edge awaiting another gruesome discovery, the clock starts ticking for Sirsky to catch the elusive killer who calls himself the gamemaster.

As the pressure mounts, Sirsky is also confronted with a conundrum in his personal life: his girlfriend is inexplicably pulling away from him. But he must once again put his own problems aside when the investigation turns up nothing but taunts from the killer. It will take an entire team of police psychologists, forensic specialists, and criminal investigators to uncover the truth hidden in a web of murder more tangled than any of them could have imagined.

For more info and show notes: DIYMFA.com/130

Hey there word nerds!

Today I'm thrilled to welcome Manjula Martin on the show. Manjula is editor of Scratch: Writers, Money, and the Art of Making a Living from Simon & Schuster. She's the creator of the blog Who Pays Writers? And was the founder and editor of Scratch magazine, an online periodical focused on the business of being a writer. Her work has appeared in various publications like the Virginia Quarterly Review, Pacific Standard, SF Weekly, The Billfold, and The Toast, plus, she is the managing editor of Zoetrope: All-Story.

Today, Manjula and I will be talking about writers and money, how to make ends meet, and generate revenue from your writing.

In this episode we discuss:

• Why it's so difficult—but so important—for writers to talk about money. Also why it doesn't have to be difficult.
• Different options and strategies for how writers can make a living beyond a book deal.
• The pros and cons of working for free, and the broader implications this has on the publishing landscape.
• Knowing your strengths and weaknesses and leveraging them to help you make a living.

Plus, her #1 tip for writers. About the Author

Manjula Martin is editor of Scratch: Writers, Money, and the Art of Making a Living (Simon & Schuster, January 2017). She created the blog Who Pays Writers? and was the founder and editor of Scratch magazine, an online periodical that focused on the business of being a writer. Her writing has appeared in the Virginia Quarterly Review, Pacific Standard, SF Weekly, The Billfold, The Toast, and other publications. She is the managing editor of Zoetrope: All-Story and lives in San Francisco.

You can learn more about Manjula Martin at her website: https://manjulamartin.com/.

Scratch: Writers, Money, and the Art of Making a Living

A collection of essays from today's most acclaimed authors—from Cheryl Strayed to Roxane Gay to Jennifer Weiner, Alexander Chee, Nick Hornby, and Jonathan Franzen—on the realities of making a living in the writing world.

In the literary world, the debate around writing and commerce often begs us to take sides: either writers should be paid for everything they do or writers should just pay their dues and count themselves lucky to be published. You should never quit your day job, but your ultimate goal should be to quit your day job. It's an endless, confusing, and often controversial conversation that, despite our bare-it-all culture, still remains taboo. In Scratch, Manjula Martin has gathered interviews and essays from established and rising authors to confront the age-old question: how do creative people make money?

For more info and show notes: DIYMFA.com/129

Hey there word nerds!

Today I’m thrilled to welcome Manjula Martin on the show. Manjula is editor of Scratch: Writers, Money, and the Art of Making a Living from Simon & Schuster. She’s the creator of the blog Who Pays Writers? And was the founder and editor of Scratch magazine, an online periodical focused on the business of being a writer. Her work has appeared in various publications like the Virginia Quarterly Review, Pacific Standard, SF Weekly, The Billfold, and The Toast, plus, she is the managing editor of Zoetrope: All-Story.

Today, Manjula and I will be talking about writers and money, how to make ends meet, and generate revenue from your writing.

In this episode we discuss:

• Why it’s so difficult—but so important—for writers to talk about money. Also why it doesn’t have to be difficult.
• Different options and strategies for how writers can make a living beyond a book deal.
• The pros and cons of working for free, and the broader implications this has on the publishing landscape.
• Knowing your strengths and weaknesses and leveraging them to help you make a living.

Plus, her #1 tip for writers. About the Author

Manjula Martin is editor of Scratch: Writers, Money, and the Art of Making a Living (Simon & Schuster, January 2017). She created the blog Who Pays Writers? and was the founder and editor of Scratch magazine, an online periodical that focused on the business of being a writer. Her writing has appeared in the Virginia Quarterly Review, Pacific Standard, SF Weekly, The Billfold, The Toast, and other publications. She is the managing editor of Zoetrope: All-Story and lives in San Francisco.

You can learn more about Manjula Martin at her website: https://manjulamartin.com/.

Scratch: Writers, Money, and the Art of Making a Living

A collection of essays from today’s most acclaimed authors—from Cheryl Strayed to Roxane Gay to Jennifer Weiner, Alexander Chee, Nick Hornby, and Jonathan Franzen—on the realities of making a living in the writing world.

In the literary world, the debate around writing and commerce often begs us to take sides: either writers should be paid for everything they do or writers should just pay their dues and count themselves lucky to be published. You should never quit your day job, but your ultimate goal should be to quit your day job. It’s an endless, confusing, and often controversial conversation that, despite our bare-it-all culture, still remains taboo. In Scratch, Manjula Martin has gathered interviews and essays from established and rising authors to confront the age-old question: how do creative people make money?

For more info and show notes: DIYMFA.com/129