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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