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Friday, March 3, 2023

Book Blog Tour: Interview with Marissa Bañez (3 of 3)

This part 3 of my interview with Ms. Marissa Bañez, author of Hope and Fortune. She shares her tips for young writers, or anyone who dreams of writing his/her/their first book for children. 

Thank you very much, Ms. Bañez! We truly appreciate your time and generosity in sharing your expertise, experience and knowledge. Wishing all the best in all your bookish endeavors and writing adventures!

1.    What are your 5 tips for young writers?

Let me preface my response by saying that I’m nothing if not practical.  I worry about young people unwittingly getting into something that may land them in long-term financial and other trouble.  I’m not going to sugarcoat anything because that would be more harmful than helpful. 

At the same time, let me be perfectly clear:  For those who respond to the calling of being a writer, rest assured that there is no experience more gratifying or more humbling than learning that your hard work has reached and touched someone.  The world needs your ideas and perspectives – your truths – in order to keep evolving and improving through discourse and intellectual development.  It is a noble aspiration.  I don’t mean to deter or discourage anyone from pursuing their writing dreams with the following practical tips.  I just want everyone to be smart about the way they pursue their dreams by being realistic, pragmatic, and prepared before just jumping in with both eyes closed behind rose-colored glasses and only fingers crossed. 

 

a.    Read and internalize the messages within Hope and Fortune.  I don’t say this blithely.  And, this is not just to have people read the book.  I truly believe in and try to live by as many of those ideals as possible.  The messages are meant for all readers, young and not-so-young, of all walks of life but young writers in particular – because they will face numerous enormous challenges – will need the fortitude, reassurances and encouragement provided by the Fortune Fairies.  BONUS:  They will actually get 12 tips for the price this one tip.

 

b.    Identify your primary purpose in writing.  Why are you writing?  Chances are, you won’t get wealthy from writing so if your primary purpose is to get rich from your endeavors, writing is probably not for you.  If, however, your primary purpose is to simply share your thoughts and ideas with the world for the sake of the truth that lies within them, then writing may be for you.  But, as I point out below, there are many difficult hurdles in getting your work out and you need to go into this line of work with eyes wide open and a huge bucket of cold-water realism.  Today’s publishing industry is for neither the faint-hearted nor the starry-eyed idealist.

 

c.     Identify your audience(s) and “voice your work” accordingly.  Confession:  I just made up the phrase “voice your work” as a shorthand way of saying what I want to convey – i.e., give your work (the language in the text, artwork for the cover and illustrations or pictures in the story, if any) a voice that is relatable to your targeted audience(s).  I’m not giving advice on creative writing, as there are others more qualified to do that.  This is a piece of marketing advice.

 

In my case, I wanted to write a children’s illustrated book, but also more than just a children’s illustrated book.  Obviously, I needed to target children as readers, but I also wanted to target their parents and adults generally, who will be reading the book to the children and, quite frankly, will be the book buyers.

 

For the child, I wanted to write a book that I hoped would grow with the child.  So, I voiced my work in different ways:

 

                       i.            My first hook is the beautiful illustrations, intended to attract a younger child who doesn’t read or comprehend too much yet.

                       ii.            My second hook is the rhyming dialogue for the importance of phonemic awareness.

                        iii.            My third hook is the message of the story, which an older child will hopefully appreciate with age.

 

At my recent reading at a local library in New York, a 7-year-old boy was so taken with all three elements that he personally thanked me, told me he now wants to write his own book someday, and convinced his father to buy the book.

For my adult audience, I wanted to write and illustrate things that could resonate with their own experiences in life and give them the chance to share those experiences with a child.  I intentionally inserted some adult-oriented words and concepts, as well as a diverse cast of illustrated fairies that reference other cultures, races, ideals, etc.  The adults will understand those words, concepts, and references, giving them the opportunity for explanations and further discussion (and more bonding) with the children. 

(As an aside, please visit https://www.marissabanez.com/books/hopeandfortune for the page in my website (https://www.marissabanez.com/) that discusses the various concepts and references underlying each of my illustrations.  There’s more to each illustration than meets the eye.)

I also intended for the reader to be part of the story, not a simple bystander.  I used the protagonist (Esperanza) as a mere conduit to introduce the Fortune Fairies and their messages.  The illustration of each fairy features only the fairy and their individualized curated surroundings, accompanied by the text of their respective messages.  In this way, the reader becomes the recipient of the fairies’ messages and a connection may be formed between the reader and the fairy whose message speaks to the reader’s own life experiences.

As a result, numerous reviewers have said that the book should be read by adults for themselves and not just for children.  And, several have expressed their wish that they had a similar book for themselves when they were younger.

d.    Be realistic and practical so you can be prepared mentally, emotionally, and financially to meet the inevitable challenges.  As I said above, you cannot be faint-hearted or starry-eyed as a current-day author.  Writing your story is just the first step in this “thousand-mile journey.” 

 

The second step is trying to figure out what to do with this magnum opus.  Clearly, you want to get it published, right?  Well, don’t think that the publishing world will now automatically come knocking at your door.  Quite the contrary.  You must do all the door-knocking . . . and a lot of those doors won’t open at all.

 

So what are the options?

·       Self-publishing

·       “Vanity publishing”

·       Semi-traditional publishing

·       Traditional publishing

I won’t go into how each of these option work because that’s easily gleaned from other sources.  Instead, I want to focus on what happens to your work with each option after publication.

The next step after publication is marketing and promoting your work.

Self-publishing or so-called “vanity publishing” will likely get you only so far – about as far as just your family and friends – because reaching other readers will be very difficult.  Most bookstores won’t carry self-published or vanity published books so all the marketing will be all on you.  Let me be blunt:  marketing and promoting yourself and your book is time-consuming, soul-sucking, nerve-wracking, and expensive.  Realize too that whatever amount of money is spent in self-publishing or vanity publishing (because of course that’s neither free nor inexpensive) may not be recouped by sales.  Yes, there’s the internet but that’s a very crowded and noisy marketplace, with at least a million similarly situated authors vying for the same attention and the same elusive peso, dollar, etc. 

 

Small publishing houses like my own publisher will help with some of the labor, time and expense of marketing and promoting but a lot will still fall on you.  You must become an ardent and shameless self-promoter and marketer.  It’s only marginally less time-consuming, soul-sucking, nerve-wracking, and expensive.

 

If you’re lucky and an agent gets you into a big traditional publishing house that has a dedicated marketing and publishing department, they will do a lot of the leg work for you, but you still must do your part with appearances for book signings and other engagements.  And don’t forget that the cost of all that work by the agent and the publishing house comes off the top of your sales and royalties.

 

Keep in mind that publishing your work is not the end but rather just the beginning of an arduous journey to a reader.

 

e.    Keep your (or get a) “day job” and be ready to work a lot.  The vast majority of authors won’t strike it rich from their books, regardless of how many they’ve written and how many awards and accolades have been bestowed upon them.  They may get famous (within some circles at least) but fame is fleeting and, more importantly, won’t fill your stomach or put a roof over your head. 

 

For example, I know someone who won a coveted and prestigious Tony award for producing a famous long-running Broadway show, but he continues to work at his day job. 

 

The same goes for a good friend who is a best-selling author in his genre and has written 4 books.  He currently has three full-time jobs (in addition to his chores at his farm):  his day job, his writing, and the marketing/promoting/selling of his books.  Sleep is a luxury.

 

One of my good friends essentially gave up his lawyer’s work to attend a creative writing/poetry program several years ago.  He is now is a very well-received published poet with poems that have been published in prestigious poets’ publications, has readings from his first book at least once a month at various venues, and is currently almost finished with his second book.  Still, he continues to work doing document reviews and analyses in support of litigators.

 

I didn’t become a published children’s author until after I worked as a lawyer for 40 years.  I’m still working as a lawyer and intend to do so for as long as I can.  While I don’t consider my writing as a mere “side hustle,” the royalties pale to the point of almost inconsequence in comparison to my salary as a lawyer.  And I like to eat.


Author Bio

      A first-generation immigrant to the U.S. from Baguio City, Philippines, Marissa Bañez is a graduate of Princeton University and a lawyer licensed to practice in New York, California, and New Jersey. She has published legal articles for the prestigious New York Law Journal and the American Bar Association, but her true passion for writing is her children's stories.  At almost age 65, she is embarking on her new venture as a children’s illustrated book author with the debut of Hope and Fortune.  Her second book, Hues and Harmony (How the Rainbow Butterfly Got Her Colors) is scheduled for publication on July 20, 2023.  You can find her online at https://www.marissabanez.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/marissa-banez/ and https://www.facebook.com/marissa.banez.7.

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