The Carpe Annum Interviews Year End Round Up

We declared 2013 Carpe Annum—Seize the Year! It was our way of encouraging you as an artist/writer to find your own path, listen to your inner iconoclast, and to be set free to explore your true writer/reader/human self. We invited a handful of writers and other publishing industry folks on the blog throughout the year to talk about writing, not writing, publishing, not publishing, and everything that goes on in between.

We’re thrilled to have them all back today, visiting from all over North America. It’s a bit squishy in here (next time, we’re booking a larger space!), but no one minds. Let’s eavesdrop on the conversation:

Bonnie Grove: One more seat for Don Pape, please. Could we have Lesley and Tosca scooch together? Thanks. Mind Arthur Slade’s feet. He has enormous feet. Pizza’s here! Christa Allan, could you tip the delivery person? Everyone here? Great. Let’s get started. Are books dead?

Don Pape (Publisher): We have seen through digital a real devaluing of intellectual property. Once we would buy a project with a reasonable advance and sell it for $15 in the hopes of recouping your investment. Now that consumer is wanting that same property – nah they demand – at $2.99 or heavens, free! 

Nicci Jordan Hubert (freelance editor) I suggest that although the medium may change, the relationship between authors and readers will never change. There is no “end of books.” Books will live forever, of course, whether they’re read on paper, an iPhone screen, futuristic computer-glasses, or perhaps some kind of cool osmosis process.

Bonnie Grove: With publishing changing daily, how does great fiction happen? How does the great stuff get out there into the hands of readers?

Don Pape (Publisher): Nothing changes – a Really Great story!! Whether it is historical, contemporary – a really great story well told, amazing fully developed characters. And please, not another “in the tradition of Left Behind” or “Gresham-like” – let’s be original please!!

Chris Fabry: I can have a great publishing plan, a brand people recognize, and all the “right” industry choices made, but if I don’t have a good story, I don’t have anything.

Julie Cantrell: Characters. For me…it’s all about the characters. And I do consider the setting a character. 

Nicci Jordan Hubert: If you really want to be a successful writer, there are no short cuts. Okay, if you’re related to a celebrity, you’ll have an easier time getting published, but for the rest of you… There is only one path to becoming a good writer: Reading lots of good books. Studying the craft of writing. Practicing writing a lot. Self-editing ruthlessly. And seeking out honest feedback.

Bonnie Grove: Feedback. Okay writers, dish about feedback. There’s all kinds, the helpful feedback you can get while working on a novel (and unhelpful), and then there’s the painful feedback that comes after the book releases.

Tosca Lee:  You know, I remember my first one-star review. My heart started thudding. I felt anxious, defensive, and mortified. But my anxiety has ebbed with time. A few months ago I saw a one-star review that said Demon was "written with the deftness and wit of an inebriated three year old." And I remember thinking, "Who would give alcohol to a three year-old??"

Arthur Slade: I was more concerned about reviews at the start of my career and would take them more personally. But now, with the advent of Amazon and Goodreads, I actually get a kick out of the bad reviews. Sometimes they can be quite creative (my favourite had a line that went something like “I had to drink a Coke while I was reading Dust in order to stay awake”). The only time I am frustrated by reviews is when they say something that is truly false about the book. Oh, plus my mom always says the books are good.

Bonnie Grove: How does a writer move past bad reviews/feedback? Especially in this day of Amazon and Goodreads. Everyone is a critic.

Chris Fabry: I no longer see my stories as for some mass audience out there. Each story is for an individual reader. And each story is for me.

Julie Cantrell: “Whatever you do, don’t waste your scholarship to study writing. You’ll be lucky if you ever publish a greeting card.” –  My 12^th Grade English Teacher . It took me ten years to get her voice out of my head. I didn’t write a thing for an entire decade because I was foolish enough to believe what she said as truth.

Lesley Livingston: I was an actor for years before I was a writer. I’m so very used to criticism (good and bad) and rejection (yay auditions! Bleh.) that it all pretty much just rolls off my back by now. It’s not always easy and sometimes I read a review and mutter unkind things but the truth is, if you’re going to believe the good reviews, you’ve got to believe the bad ones, too. It’s just what you said—opinions. Once the book is out there, it’s no longer just yours. And everyone who reads it has the absolute right to there opinion of it. (No matter how wrong they are!! Ha!)

Chris Bohjalian: I don’t dare read the reviews on Goodreads or Amazon or BN.com. I used to. I wrote an essay once for the Washington Post about my old addiction to reading the way anonymous people would eviscerate my work. But now, in the interest of my mental health, I give the reviews as wide a berth as I can. They can really screw up a sunny day.

Tosca Lee: I think just realizing that readers’ responses are a reflection of where they’re at. It’s not about you. It’s about what resonates—or doesn’t—with them right now. For me, I know that any time I choose to get offended, I’m the one who suffers.

Bonnie Grove: What keeps you going on rough days? None of you have thrown in the towel, and you’ve all reached wonderful success as writers. Is it going according to plan?

Christa Allan: In the beginning of my writing life, my path reflected the opening of Genesis. It was without form and full of darkness. I doubt I knew a path existed or even cared. So delirious with joy over my first contract, I didn't think beyond it. Sort of like being more prepared for the wedding than the marriage, you know?

Chris Bohjalian: I was simply hoping to write a novel after (finally) selling a short story. I amassed 250 rejection slips before I sold a single word.

Arthur Slade: Long ago, a fellow writer said it’d take about ten years to get published. She was wrong. It took me twelve. 

Ariel Lawhon: The only things that matter right now, today, are the words on the page in front of me. That’s what I can control. And I will never find joy in this profession—much less write another book—if I can’t enjoy the actual process of writing. So I have to touch the story every day. Even if it’s just a word or two. The only way to stay sane is to write.

Bonnie Grove: Share a bit about your writing process.

Chris Fabry: Writing was the path to freedom. If I could write through this devastation, if I could allow the pain I was going through to inform the story, my readers would connect with the character on an even deeper level. And I would find a measure of solace in the process.

Christa Allan: My process: Hooray! NYT Bestseller idea, write reams of brain urp on yellow legal pads, write three chapters, call my BFF and scream, "I don't have a novel, and why the hell did I ever believe I was a writer?"; go back to legal pads, write to the middle, make charts and graphs and index cards while consuming coffee, Coke Zero, chocolate, popcorn, Mike&Ikes ; write, stop and make more notes and consume any combination or all of the above foods, write...continue until "The End." I doubt that process has a name or that I'll be able to turn it into a writing book.

Bonnie Grove: Advice to writers?

Christa Allan: If I didn't pursue my dream, regret would pursue me.

Julie Cantrell: I’m begging you… write as if no one will ever read it. That’s the only way you’ll find your true, original voice and feel free enough to reach the level of honesty readers really crave.

Lesley Livingston: That’s the whole thing with carpe-ing. The act of seizing is a willful act. You pretty much just have to do it. Write. You can’t edit a blank page. You can’t revise an empty screen. The lion’s share of writing is re-writing. Get the words down. Then put them in the right order. For me, it comes down to writing every day. As much or as little as I can, but every day. If I’m away from the story for a day, it takes me twice as long to get my head back into the game.

Ariel Lawhon: Everything changed for me when I realized that if I wanted to have this job—and I did, I still DO—then I had to sit down and write a novel. I knew that if anything were to come of this dream it would spring from a finished novel and nothing else.

Arthur Slade:  Don’t expect it all to happen overnight. It’s such a cliché, but write every day and always look for ways to improve your craft. Writing is like working out for a Triathlon. I’ve never done one, but they look hard and you have to train hard. Writing is the same. It takes training. And tea breaks.

Bonnie Grove: Thanks so much, everyone for sharing your wisdom with us this Carpe Annum year. Let’s all crowd in for a group picture! Mind Arthur Slade’s enormous feet.

The Carpe Annum Interviews: Don Pape, Publisher of Trade Books at David C. Cook

Novel Matters has been celebrating 2013 as Carpe Annum: Seize the Year! Here to help us do that today is Don Pape, publisher of trade books at David C. Cook, one of the most innovative and exciting fiction publishers in the CBA (Christian Booksellers Association). 

Don Pape was born in Brazil of missionary parents. He got his high school education in Canada’s capital where he attended his father’s bilingual church – French in the morning and English at night. After graduating with a degree in political science, Don went on InterVarsity staff in Toronto and that is where he met his best friend and wife of 28 years, Ruthie.

He has served in a variety of roles in publishing – graphic design, sales, marketing, literary agent  - and for the past six years has been publisher of the trade books group at David C Cook. He has seen a half dozen titles attain New York Times bestselling status and enjoys interacting with his authors. An avid reader, he enjoys swimming, hiking and listening to smooth jazz – or attending concerts at Red Rocks! He is the proud father of three sons – Jeremy, a freelance videographer; Matthew, a communications major; and Timothy, a recent graduate of the nursing program. While an American citizen, he still loves his home country of Canada – for its hockey, Tim Horton’s coffee and best of all, Swiss Chalet chicken.

Novels that I’m reading: Lisa Samson’s The Sky Behind My Feet, Kent Haruf’s Benediction and Jenny Milchman’s Cover of Snow.  Talking to the Dead by your own Bonnie Grove truly is a personal favorite of most recent novels I have published – including Nancy Rue, Elizabeth Musser and Julie Cantrell. 

I love reading novels and personal favorites are John Grisham, Ann Patchett and classics from Madeleine L’Engle. I am a varied reader, can you tell?

Novel Matters: Don, the theme this year on Novel Matters is Carpe Annum: Seize the Year! Tell us about a turning-point time in your journey in publishing when you took hold of your career. What did that look like? 

Don Pape: Ugh, this is a hard one. Well, I’ve been in this for almost thirty years. I had a stint of over a year where I had a role as a literary agent; while I loved my colleagues and the Agency where I worked I truly missed “the team.” It was a significant job to hold but I recognized then that I really am gifted to encourage and lead, and the role of publisher allows me to engage with Agents, Authors, editors, designers, copy editors, marketers, sales folks – a whole mix of people that together brings a book to market. I love that. I love being a part of that and engaging in the different aspects of getting a book to market – from start to finish.

NM: It couldn't have been easy to move away from the role of literary agent, knowing how much you cherish and care about writers. How did that moment change you as a publishing professional? 

DP: It affirmed the role that I have today. I believe it has helped me broker on behalf of various departments but ultimately I think we also have a very strong team, of which I’m a part of right now. 

NM: And it's the best of both worlds--of both your gifts--to work with the team and still remain actively involved with writers, yes?

DP: I’m working with some excellent authors but I’m also working alongside some very talented editors, copy editors, designers who all have an end-goal to serve the Author and his message well.

NM: Publishing is changing on every front. What is the biggest change you've noticed in the last few years? 

DP: Well when I first started the only market channel truly was the Christian retail. Now that is truly waning and we have a very bifurcated market – online, brick and mortar and that can mean book shops, drugstores, grocery stores… We don’t have a loyal customer either – the buyer wants a deal! 

NM: I recently got an iPhone, and I realized after only a few days that my attitude toward all of the content available on my phone had shifted from, "This is so cool," to "I want free apps!" E-books are wonderful, but they also feed into the shift in thinking that books are just like apps, download and enjoy--and apps should be free or, at least, very inexpensive.

DP: We have seen through digital a real devaluing of intellectual property. Once we would buy a project with a reasonable advance and sell it for $15 in the hopes of recouping your investment. Now that consumer is wanting that same property – nah they demand – at $2.99 or heavens, free! 

NM: Are books doomed, then?

DP: Lots of change but truly plenty of opportunity because people still want to read a good story, right? A great story –whether in physical or digital , the important thing is getting it into people's hands and that is our challenge – discoverability. Can a great story be found in the cacophony called world wide web?

NM: Tell us about those opportunities you've been excited about in terms of publishing for 2013 and into the future? 

DP: This year we are launching a number of new authors with us at Cook – Gary Thomas, Jim Wallace, Stasi Eldredge, Tim Chaddick, Matt Chandler….I'm so delighted to be working with each of them and the uniqueness of their message. I just really get excited about being a really good steward of people's message…what God has entrusted to them and they in turn entrust to us. It's an honor. And these projects I cited are just really fresh voices, new material, but ancient truths. I love it!!! We are doing some digital first projects – Mark Steel and Glenn Packiam come to mind. That’s exciting to be a part of that foray.

NM: As a publisher, what are you looking our for when it comes to fiction you want to publish? 

DP: Nothing changes – a Really Great story!! Whether it is historical, contemporary – a really great story well told, amazing fully developed characters. And please, not another “in the tradition of Left Behind” or “Gresham-like” – let’s be original please!!

NM: We're all making notes on that last answer, Don. Here's what comes through for me in this interview, and knowing you personally: you're a people person. You love writers, artists, musicians, editors, everyone involved in the arts. (I just had to sneak in this picture of you and me chatting at a conference awhile back. Good times!) How does being a people person this make your job easier, and how does it make it harder? 

DP: A people person wants everyone happy – can’t always have it that way. Discernment, tact, grace, aplomb, diplomacy….all come into play. Sometimes you have to tell the Author they can’t have what they want. Some hard decisions need to be made. So it’s great when all is moving along smoothly but when conflicts come along the people person can wreak havoc. Ugh. But age and maturity helps… I think!

NM: Nothing trumps experience and after nearly 30 years in this industry, you have so much and we're honored you've shared some of it with us today. One last question, in addition to being a people person, you're a Carpe Annum man—I know you jump into every year full of enthusiasm and drive. What are you doing this year to seize the year, professionally, personally, or both.

DP: My sons bought me an artist's kit for Christmas and I’m planning to get back into doing some watercolors. I’m always reading too and that keeps me sharp. I am challenged by business books and writers like Brene Brown, Daniel Pink, the Heath Brothers and Jonah Berger – they are making me think outside the box as well as to dream. Sometimes publishing is quite corporate and not in any way creative so it is nice to occasionally read an inspiring book that keeps you going.

Thank you so much, Don, for taking time from your insanely busy schedule to spend time with us on Novel Matters today. As always, it's a pleasure to talk to you.