Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Spooky Success: An Interview with Laurie Stolarz


The prolific author of YA chills discusses her work and the many benefits (still) of traditional publishing.  ♦
When it comes to reading Laurie Faria Stolarz’s books, it’s a truly scary world we're about to enter—one where a teenage girl uses witchcraft to solve crimes, or has the ability to sense feelings through touch, or where a group of young people find themselves living through their worst nightmares. Over the course of three series and more than fifteen books—including Deadly Little Secrets, Welcome to the Dark House, and her newest, Return to the Dark House—Stolarz has written about subjects not commonly found in any YA literature, finding inspiration everywhere from stories she overhears to current news articles, in the process building a devoted following of readers book-by-book.
    It’s also a much scarier publishing world than it was twelve years ago, when Stolarz’s first novel, Blue Is for Nightmare, was released to great acclaim; back then, e-books were nonexistent and bookstores for avid readers such as Borders and Barnes & Noble were thriving. Now, in an age in which the physical book is threatened by its electronic counterpart and online marketplace sellers such as Amazon forebode the end of all brick-and-mortar bookstores, publishers and authors are finding it more difficult to reach an audience and have had to adapt to the demands of the fast-paced, quickly-changing industry.
    While Stolarz admits that getting a book published through traditional—and especially Big Five—publishers “has always been difficult” regardless of the times, she continues to find enormous success publishing through big houses (both Welcome to the Dark House and Return to the Dark House are published by Hyperion) and says that there’s still a lot of value to emerging writers in considering traditional publishing.
    In this interview, Stolarz reflects on her own path to success, discusses the changes she’s seen in publishing during her twelve-year career, and offers advice and reassurances to those writers just starting out that hope is not lost.
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How has the publishing world changed since you published Blue is For Nightmares?
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[Back then] the sales team paid for all sorts of promos in bookstores, because people were shopping. My books were on face-outs, promo tables, on posters, and billboards at stores. There’s not nearly as much of that going on now, since there are fewer bookstores. Borders closed during this ten-year period. Indie bookstores are fewer and farther between. Barnes & Noble has a whole Nook section and gaming section taking up space where there used to be books. Publishers are less sure how to reach readers and much more cautious about where to throw marketing dollars.
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What about in terms of YA specifically? 
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I think the YA department has quadrupled since I first published. What was barely one or two shelves in Barnes & Noble is now aisles and aisles of young adult books. We saw this change about eight years ago. But now, with there being Nook sections and gaming sections, traditional book aisles and displays are scaling back a bit as bookstores have to accommodate with Nook and other games. I also think that young adults have so much more to choose from than they used to, and that the young adult genre has spread not to just teens but [now] adults reading them.
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How does this shift in audience make you feel as a writer? 
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I think that this is an exciting time for everyone. Readers are all trying out different books, and while things have changed since I first got published, I think this is an interesting time to see the change.
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Do you believe that self-publishing is good for aspiring writers? 
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I’m not against self-publishing, but I think people need to be really careful about what they’re “buying” into. Self-publishing carries a stigma in the mainstream publishing arena. Also, some self-publishing outsourcers take advantage of those who want to self-publish, promising more than they can deliver. It can get very costly, and then, in the end, is your book going to be in Barnes & Noble? Will it get beyond Amazon? There’s no way of knowing.
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Would you recommend traditional publishing or self-publishing for any aspiring writers? 
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I would try mainstream publishing first, unless I already had an audience. If I were a teacher, my audience could be my students. If I were a doctor writing a medical book, my audience could be my patients and colleagues. Or if I were a famous blogger and had thousands and thousands of followers, I might go self-publishing. But other than that, new writers will struggle financially trying to distribute their books. And, not only that, they will have a harder time getting their books read.
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How do you think would be the best way for aspiring authors to publish their novels through the traditional publishing houses? 
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Do your homework. Know to whom you’re sending your query letter, who that person’s clients are, what that person’s track record is, and what that person is looking for. Every letter should be personalized and reflect that you’ve done your research. But nonetheless, perseverance is the key. 
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Writers often say that an important element of their work is being able to work well with others, to find other writers who share the same passion. Do you have a group of people that you talk to, and if so, how did you go about finding them? 

I found one while in grad school. We were all in the same sequence of classes together: writing the young adult novel. So we were all working on our novels over several semesters. When we finished classes, we knew we loved each other’s work and so we didn’t want to stop seeing one another. We would meet at one another’s houses or apartments to workshop our pages—there were four of us, and we all ended up selling our novels.
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What advice would you give to aspiring writers in terms of actual writing and publishing?

My biggest piece of advice is to persevere. There are many talented writers who give up after five, ten, or even fifty rejection letters. Be open to learning and to getting better in your craft. Consider joining up with other writers. There’s nothing better than being in a group of like-minded writers who can help inspire and cheer you on, and who can provide constructive feedback that can help to strengthen your work.

   Often, writers comment that writing can get lonely, and given the big changes the literary world is going through, it seems like this might be the case now more than ever. But, as Stolarz reminds us, a writer is never alone—there are many others in the same boat, weathering those big waves of change together. And doesn't this encourage us, as aspiring authors, even more?
     I think it does.
     So let's get writing.
  • About the Author
    Mayu Nakano is currently a junior majoring in Creative Writing and Japanese at Miami University. She is both an avid reader and writer of young adult fiction. Her interests also include culture and books in English translation.

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